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                             LITTLE RIVERS


[Illustration: The noise of the falls makes constant music.]

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                             LITTLE RIVERS

                          A BOOK OF ESSAYS IN
                          PROFITABLE IDLENESS


                                   BY

                             HENRY VAN <DW18>


   “And suppose he take nothing, yet he enjoyeth a delightfull
   walk by pleasant Rivers, in sweet Pastures, amongst odoriferous
   Flowers, which gratifie his Senses, and delight his Mind; which
   Contentments induce many (who affect not _Angling_) to choose
   those places of pleasure for their summer Recreation and Health.”
     COL. ROBERT VENABLES, _The Experienc’d Angler_. 1662.


                              ILLUSTRATED


                                NEW YORK
                        CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
                                MDCCCCIV


          _Copyright, 1895, 1903, by Charles Scribner’s Sons_


[Illustration]




                               DEDICATION


               To one who wanders by my side
               As cheerfully as waters glide;
               Whose eyes are brown as woodland streams,
               And very fair and full of dreams;
               Whose heart is like a mountain spring,
               Whose thoughts like merry rivers sing:
               To her—my little daughter Brooke—
               I dedicate this little book.

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                                CONTENTS


     _I._ _Prelude_                                                 1

    _II._ _Little Rivers_                                           7

   _III._ _A Leaf of Spearmint_                                    37

    _IV._ _Ampersand_                                              67

     _V._ _A Handful of Heather_                                   93

    _VI._ _The Ristigouche from a Horse-Yacht_                    135

   _VII._ _Alpenrosen and Goat’s-Milk_                            165

  _VIII._ _Au Large_                                              215

    _IX._ _Trout-Fishing in the Traun_                            267

     _X._ _At the Sign of the Balsam Bough_                       295

    _XI._ _A Song after Sundown_                                  337

          _Index_                                                 341

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                             ILLUSTRATIONS

                    _From drawings by F. V. DuMond_


 _The noise of the falls makes constant music_       Frontispiece iv

                                                         Facing page

 _The farmers’ daughters with bare arms and gowns
 tucked up_                                                       30

 _The bed whereon memory loves to lie and dream_                  40

 _Memory is a capricious and arbitrary creature_                 120

 _Lulling and soothing the mind into a quietude_                 162

 _The same that Titian saw_                                      174

 _The moon slips up into the sky from behind the
 Eastern hills_                                                  292

 _If I should ever become a dryad I should choose
 to be transformed into a white birch_                           304

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                                PRELUDE


                        AN ANGLER’S WISH IN TOWN

             _When tulips bloom in Union Square,
             And timid breaths of vernal air
               Are wandering down the dusty town,
             Like children lost in Vanity Fair;_

             _When every long, unlovely row
             Of westward houses stands aglow
               And leads the eyes toward sunset skies,
             Beyond the hills where green trees grow;_

             _Then weary is the street parade,
             And weary books, and weary trade:
               I’m only wishing to go a-fishing;
             For this the month of May was made._

                         ~~~

             _I guess the pussy-willows now
             Are creeping out on every bough
               Along the brook; and robins look
             For early worms behind the plough._

             _