PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 199 



pardons gave occasional expression, in shout and 

 song, to their ecstatic emotions ; and if I responded 

 in kind, it was simply because it was quite impos- 

 sible to refrain from giving some audible token of 

 my entire sympathy with them. It is not often 

 one reaches such a condition of mind and body as 

 to find himself in perfect accord with the poet : 



One sip of this 



Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight 

 Beyond the bliss of dreams. 



Such moments, however, occasionally come to 

 every one of us, but never more impressively 

 than when surrounded by the sublime and beauti- 

 ful in nature ; when enveloped in an atmosphere 

 charged with the very elements of perpetual 

 youth, serene and balmy as the breath of God. 

 Where more than in the solitudes of the forests 

 are these emotions likely to come to the spirit of 

 the thoughtful and devout ? The Psalmist had a 

 glimpse of what w T as attainable amid such sur- 

 roundings, when he exclaimed : 



4i Oh, that T had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly 

 away, and be at rest. 



" Lo ! then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilder- 

 ness." 



In six hours we compassed the distance which 

 required two days of hard work to accomplish 

 when moving against the current. The flight 



