BROOK TROUT 



The result is inevitable. With bowed and reverent 

 head the angler hopes that when he has crossed the 

 Delectable Mountains, and, one poor thread in the 

 web of universal history, has waved back his mute 

 farewells to his favorite trout-stream before he enters 

 the Unknown and is swallowed by Oblivion, a merci- 

 ful and loving Heaven may furnish to him the coun- 

 terpart of this brook. Will he not find a heavenly 

 stream on that Other Side ? Will not its waters sing 

 as with a new song, its forests whisper, its flowers en- 

 chant? Yes, for there stands the message of Holy 

 Writ, the last words of John, Seer and Prophet — 

 words of inspiration and promise: "And he shewed 

 me a pure river of water of life." 



184 



