206 PORTRAITS IN INK 



When the delayed opportunity arrives, he is as 

 little exalted by success as cast down by failure, 

 and calmly accepts good fortune with quiet thank- 

 fulness. 



Whether he bears home a light or heavy bag, he 

 seems never to be weighted with the burden of 

 disappointment nor to be troubled with jealousy, 

 while you can but envy his constant pleasure of 

 anticipation, his sure enjoyment of participation. 



Happy old man, long may he potter in endless 

 preparation, long continue his meandering in the 

 woods, a rarely harmful foe to all their denizens. 



V. A PROFESSOR OF FISHING 



WHENEVER you may chance to visit his haunts, in 

 almost all weathers and seasons, you are likely 

 to meet the old fisherman, wearing dilapidated 

 clothes and bearing unconventional equipments. 

 Robins are not yet mating, nor the plovers call- 

 ing in the tawny grass lands, before he is stealing 

 along the brimming trout brooks, or is discovered 

 on the flood-invaded river bank, in sun and shower 

 and flurry of sugar-snow, so silent and so seldom 

 moving, that the uninterrupted purr of the frogs 

 arises from the drift of dead water-weeds close be- 

 side him, and the turtles bask undisturbed on the 

 nearest log, the muskrat swims beneath the stead- 

 fast slant of his pole, and the wild duck whistles 

 past him in unerring flight. 



