PRACTICAL FLY FISHING 



wheel. As they kept no horses, only a donkey, 

 the coach-house stood empty, and was used as 

 a workshop; the water-wheel was built below, 

 and drove a lathe in the loft. There Mr. Beever 

 occupied himself when he was kept indoors, as 

 any one must be for a great part of the time in 

 rainy Coniston and he used to turn all sorts 

 of pretty and curious articles, to carve long 

 before the days when wood-carving came into 

 fashion and to make elaborate inlaid mosaic 

 of ingenious design. In most of these works 

 he employed the young joiner as an assistant ; 

 got him also to make the printing-press, still 

 standing there, at which Mr. Beever used to 

 print the little books written by Miss Susanna. 

 But the chief object of this industry was to 

 provide the texts and tickets for the Sunday- 

 school, in which he was an earnest worker, like 

 his sisters. 



He was very fond of children, and beloved 

 by them. Miss M. H. Beever, his cousin, says 

 that to her and her sister, who came to spend 

 happy holidays at the Thwaite, he was a delight- 

 ful companion, and the most wonderful story- 

 teller in the world. In his Coniston Nights' 

 Entertainments they all figured under fancy 

 names, and the stories went on day after day, 

 and week after week, as inexhaustible as the 



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