APOSTOLIC FISHERMEN. 19 



other things of which, in their contemplative lives, they 

 had thought without talking. 



In an age when few men were learned, and, in fact, 

 few in any grade or walk of life could even read or write, 

 1 am inclined to think there was no class from whom 

 better trained intellects could be selected than from 

 among these thoughtful fishermen. They had doubtless 

 the Oriental characteristics of calmness and reserve, and 

 these had been somewhat modified by their employment. 

 Given to sober reflection, patient to investigate, quick to 

 trust when their faith was demanded by one whom they 

 respected, slow to act when haste was not necessary, 

 prompt and swift on any emergency, filled full of love 

 for nature, all harsh elements of character softened into 

 a deep benevolence and pity and love such are the 

 fishermen of our day, and such, I doubt not, were the 

 fishermen of old. They were men with whom a mother 

 would willingly trust her young boy, to whom he would 

 become attached, with whom he would enjoy talking, 

 and, above all, who would pour out their very souls in 

 talking with him, when among their fellow- men they 

 would be reserved, diffident, and silent. They were men, 

 too, who would recognize in the boy the greatness of his 

 lineage, the divine shining out from his eyes. Who shall 

 prevail to imagine the pleasantness of those days on the 

 sea when Peter and John talked with the holy boy, as 

 they waited for the fish, and their boat rocked to the 

 winds that came down from Lebanon. Who can say 

 that there were not some memories of those days, as 

 well as of the others when we know Christ was with 

 him, which, when he was tired of the waiting, led Peter 

 to say, " I go a-fishing." 



I believe that he went a-fishing because he felt exactly 



