Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-02-03
HEAD OF THE MILL POOL.

opened and it is time to go fishin',".
 perhaps arouses in him most joy. and
 perhaps most recollections shall clus-
 ter around fishing luck. We have re. gently been reading beautifully illus.
 trated article in the English maga.
 zine called Country Life, and find that this particular man in recounting boy hood experiences dwells longest and
 most pleasantly on the fishing days:
 After the stream had come rushing from under the arch by the mill it passed down through the fold of the valley. frinRed with willows. alders,
 birches and all kinds of high and low floral growth, and so on down to level water-meadow country where it pursued less hurried and vehement courses. and went between dull. mud. dy banks which it often overnowed in foodtime. making all the meadows like a lagoon. Just where if ceased from its most energetic vehemence, after passing the archway. it formed, round little bend of the bank. still pool. which was the home invariably. as it seemed. of the biggest trout fin the river. or, at least, in that part of it.; and in that pool We learned our earliest lessons in the natural history of fishes. fear the greater number of the trout that we caught were taken with lure less subtle and sci. entific than the fly. The worm was more deadly in our hands. But the chapter of natural history of this wonderful pool was our schoolrooni. was this. So soon as We caught. at the beginning of the season-that ia to say. as early as April or even the latter end of March in that country the monster (sometimes running 10 the prodigious weight of half pound or sol of the pool. his place on the very day following would he inevita- bly, taken by another. only one de- gree less monstrous. Then. when ws had captured monster number two. monster of the third degree. just one ounce. or even half an ounce only. it may be. less in weight. came into oc. curancy of the pool; and so on all through the season-so fast as we caught one good fish in that pool an- other would come ID to take its place. always a rather smaller fellow than his predecessor; hut by SO little small sr that the difference was only just perceptible. The lesson which this seemed to teach was that this pool was the favorite lodging for . trout in all the river. or. at least. in ell that part of it--also that it was very much more properly to be called a lodging than a hotel"
 Many lessons the river taught this English boy. and we like his manner of telling how he gradually learned about the art of angling. "ihere was often an edsinz of ice stretching ont over the placid flow of water And here. too. we learned a lesson. Ii hardly maftered how gently we crept up on tip;oe fo the waters edge: when the fringss were coated thus with thick ice-layer it was almost impossible to approach 70 quietly a noi to communicate trembling of fhs earth under our footsteps to the ie., snd from the ice to the silent wste-. which scxnowIsdgea the motion hv urinklins into little riDples. These rippls,. of course. were tt-e frsa signs visible to gs os the iTenor that sur footsteps carried to the water.
 When -e saw for eursrIvrs ihs truth of this warning thus sfrikinriy shovn by the vrinklina or the water si ths edges os the ice as ve cane. ever % sirzsriy. to the bank. aen rs rsrs irdsss ssricken vish reTererz. for the wisdom of ses which knew sS much. snd were satisfied that if ,ke water were dls-Ert.5 thus in rs-- nsr so plainly vssiele to our -yss q. Ts st0oi ca the he7k. is vas likely ss ra-ET very distinct n0tirs Of oar rrz- ing so the thszzs that srsszIsy Iir.d fr tts water ftsslf Tier. ru n. 1teczity in reeliztrs t rffk tsk .sf- se.os before ssr visisz- ans ths vas . lessoc tkaf preaahIy cosf rarr . fsk kfa Hfs If -rr <a~xs |. n. ..~~ x.-~