nd its waters compared
with those of the latter are as copper compared with silver. It is very
irregular in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of a slow moving
grassy creek, then expanding into a broad deep basin with rocky shores,
and commanding the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the
pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together,--the fish the soul
of the purest spring water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the
dark mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds; yet in Moxie
they were both found in perfection. Our camp was amid the birches,
poplars, and white cedars near the head of the lake, where the best
fishing at this season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval head,
rather shallow, but bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of
springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad chest, with two islands
tufted with pine-trees for breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in
the neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the size of the
Adam's apple, and we paddled across and around the broad expanse below.
Our birch bark was not finished and christened till we reached Moxie.
The cedar lining was completed at Pleasant Pond, where we had the use
of a bateau, but the rosin was not applied to the seams till we reached
this lake. When I knelt down in it for the first time and put its
slender maple paddle into the water, it sprang away with such quickness
and speed that it disturbed me in my seat. I had spurred a more restive
and spirited steed than I was used to. In fact, I had never been in
a craft that sustained so close a relation to my will, and was so
responsive to my slightest wish. When I caught my first large trout from
it, it sympathized a little too closely, and my enthusiasm started a
leak, which, however, with a live coal and a piece of rosin, was quickly
ended. You cannot perform much of a war-dance in a birch-bark canoe:
better wait till you get on dry land. Yet as a boat it is not so shy and
"ticklish" as I had imagined. One needs to be on the alert, as becomes a
sportsman and an angler, and in his dealings with it must charge himself
with three things,--precision, moderation, and circumspection.

Trout weighing four and five pounds have been taken at Moxie, but none
of that size came to our hand. I realized the fondest hopes I had dared
to indulge in when I hooked the first two-pounder of my life, and my
extreme solicitude lest he get away I trust was pardonable. My fr