THE ANGLERS PASS/OX 



415 



the running brook is as she hides un- 

 der the bending willow or hurries out 

 of sight beneath the shelter of the 

 alder boughs. Like the modest vio- 

 let that seems to dread a comparison 

 of its tiny bit of blue with the immen- 

 sity of the great sky, the brook is al- 

 ways trying to get out of sight. To 

 be sure, the brook is sometimes play- 

 ful and merry, singing and dancing 

 with a winning motion and a smiling 

 face. To see her then one would think 

 she never had a sorrow or a dark day. 

 Yet what true lover does not know 

 there are thick clouds that stop the 

 sunbeams from shining on her face 

 and great boulders in every brook path 

 that must be met and passed. John 

 •Burroughs reminds us that obstruc- 

 tions in both brooks and lives seem 

 to make the current deeper. The 

 angler respects the brook's purity and 

 never steps into it, when walking on 

 the moss at the side will do just as 

 well. Xo stream looks attractive 

 when it is roily, and the angler's suc- 



cess lies along the pathway of consid- 

 eration and respect. He learns to 

 know the whims and caprices of his 

 favorite brooks and his "Remembered 

 Little Rivers"; and when far away 

 from them, like Wordsworth's daf- 

 fodils, 



"They flash upon that inward eve 

 Which is the bliss ot solitude.''' 



Happy indeed is he who begins the 

 cultivation of the angler's passion as 

 a boy, before the cry of other allure- 

 ments is heard. The lad may not 

 know what is happening in his life, 

 die buttressing of his soul with pure 

 and noble thoughts. Life is getting 

 its direction and impulse. Natural- 

 ism is being solidified in him so that 

 artificiality may find no welcome. The 

 boy thinks he is angling for trout and 

 that his creel will contain his catch at 

 nightfall ; but those who have angled 

 longer than he, and not always on 

 smooth waters, know well that physi- 

 cal and moral fiber are the best crown 

 and fruitage of an angler's love. 



rEUR PHOTO BY H. S. JOHNSON. 



NOT AN AFFAIR OF HONOR. 

 Highly Commended in Recreation's 4th Annual Photo Competition. 



