Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts 2.djvu/113

 fishermen here find no worms for bait, but use pork, clams, etc. The outlet of Lake Calhoun, though muddy, is not dark-muddy, but like in color to the sand of the lake and the water very transparent, so that the fish are all seen.

It does not appear that Thoreau fished for them; he had long since given up that sport; but possibly his young comrade, Horace Mann, may have done so. Thoreau was characteristically pursuing a more evanescent prey. He says:

Going over a low hill which had its wood cut off a year or two since (and the fire had run over it afterward), I stooped to pluck a flower, and smelled the spring fragrance I have so often perceived here, but stronger and nearer than ever. So, going on and breaking off plants that were freshly leafed and vigorously growing, and smelling at them, I found at last a square-stemmed one which yielded the strong anise scent that I had noticed, especially when bruised. But then it was far from being so agreeable as