CHAPTER VII. 



The Mountain Teovt. 



Forest and stream are nearer to Nature than 

 anything else. I give thanks for having been 

 born in the forest, one hundred miles from a 

 railroad; and having lived in steam — hot 

 v?ater — most of the subsequent period. I have 

 enjoyed that life. I am not satisfied, but I am 

 satisfied vdth what lot God has permitted me 

 to escape. 



In my side-line — politics — I have made a 

 considerable amount of enemies ; but I made a 

 few firm friends, such as Conkling, Blaine, 

 Logan, Ransom, and Vance. I escaped the con- 

 tagion of free silver, free warehouses, free corn 

 cribs, and free love ; and when the Republican 

 party miscegenated with the Populist, I took 

 refuge in another domicile. 



In the beginning of this chapter of accidents 

 I may as well warn the reader that fishing for 

 trout in the mountains anywhere, is by no man- 

 ner of means a gay sort of sport ; but on the 



