XI. 



ONCE SILVER STREAMS. 



THERE is, and always has been, something fasci- 

 nating about running water. Savages name their 

 children after it, and their songs and legends 

 .are full of allusions to it. Not only is this 

 so with primitive people, but enlightened ones. 

 Even now, men direct their roads by the water- 

 ways, and for reasons far other than those of 

 trade and commerce. What these reasons are 

 may be known to every walker by the waterside 

 if only he possesses eyes, and knows how to 

 use them. No one knew better than Charles 

 Kingsley what charms there are about brightly- 

 running streams, and none enjoyed them more 

 than he. And this because he was an angler. 

 He knew and said that he saw a hundred sights, 

 and heard a hundred sounds, that were hidden 

 from the traveller on the dusty highway. The 

 pedestrian of the road sees only the outside of 

 the land sees only its commonplace sights ; but 

 the angler is brought face to face with Nature's 



