168 TROUT FISHING 



had become clear, attract curiosity by a 

 proceeding exactly opposite. Frequently, 

 in set phrases as definite to the ear as the 

 dog's gambols are to the eye, they speak 

 when they have absolutely no meaning to 

 convey. At other times their words are 

 dogmatic and challenging in proportion 

 to the haziness of their ideas when they 

 really have some. Of the one set of 

 phenomena examples had been provided 

 in the phrases about the air and the lady 

 who bumped. Of the other " Efficiency " 

 seemed typical. It was a word too big for 

 the doctrine it enclosed : a balloon, as it 

 were, without gas enough to float it, 

 striving to rise, but constantly falHng, 

 unshapen, to the earth : a symbol without 

 a substance : a political ideal exciting to 

 many persons until they should have had 

 time to discover its close kinship with the 

 primitive, simple-seeming maxims, such as 

 " Men are born free and equal," which in 

 all ages inspire eager minds before the dis- 

 covery that nature is too picturesque to be 

 perfect, knowing nought of the ideologue's 



