them. Yet, for its length, it is nBt^'a *Bad brook. The trout are not 

 numerous, nor large, nor especialh^ fine, but every one you catch renews 

 your surprise that you should catch any in such a ribbon of a brook. Still 

 farther north is another stream, something larger, and much better or 

 worse, according to your luck. It is easy of access, and quite unpretend- 

 ing. There is a bit of a pond, some twenty feet in diameter, from which 

 it flows, and in that there are five or six half-pound trout, who seem to 

 have retired from active life and given themselves to meditation in this 

 liquid convent. They were very tempting but quite untemptable. Stand- 

 ing afar off we selected an irresistible fly, and with long line we sent it 

 pat into the ver\' place. No trout should have hesitated a moment. The 

 morsel was delicious. The nimblest of them should have flashed through 

 the water, broke the surface, and with a graceful but decisive curve 

 plunged downward, carrying the insect with him. Then \ve should in our 

 turn very cheerfully lend him a hand, relieve him of his prey, and admiring 

 his beauty, but pitying his untimely fate, buried him in the basket. But 

 he wished no translation. We cast our fly again and again; we drew it 

 hither and thither; we made it skip and wriggle; we let it fall plash like 

 a surprised miller; and our audience calmly beheld our feats. 



Next we tried ground bait, and sent our vermicular hook down to 

 their very sides. With judicious gravity they parted, and slowly sailed 

 toward the root of an old tree on the side of the pool. Again changing 

 place, we will make an ambassador of a grasshopper. Laying down our 

 rod, we prepare to catch the grasshopper; that is in itself no slight feat. 

 The first step you take at least forty bolt out, and tumble headlong in the 

 grass; some cling to the stems, some are creeping under the leaves, and 

 not one seems to be in re^ch. YoM step again; another flight takes place, 

 and you ^yerJ^evy^ith ^fierce, pei^t^ation, as if you could catch some one 

 Vkrith y^oxxY.^^J^ovi c^jinot^thpu<>^h. You i)rush the grass with your foot 



again. Another hundred snap 

 out, and tumble about in every 

 direction. At length you see 

 a verv nice voung fellow climb- 

 ihpf a >tc'ci)le stem. You take 

 good sixxix aim giab at him. 

 r? i-Yi^xjiitc^ the spire, but he has 

 juBipedfa safe rod. Yonder is 

 'another, creeping among some 



^t^:^$^ 



