He knew the sedges along the bank with their
nodding tassels and stiff lance-like leaves, the feathery grasses,
the velvet moss upon the wet stones, the sea-green lichen on
boulder or tree-trunk. There, in that corner of Echo Lake, grew
the thickest patch of pipewort, with its small, round,
grayish-white, mushroom-shaped tops on long, slender stems. If he
had styled it Eriocaulon septangulare, would it have shown a closer
knowledge of its habits than did his careful avoidance of its
vicinity, his keeping line and flies at a safe distance, as he
muttered to himself, "Them pesky butt'ns agin!" He knew by sight
the bur-reed of mountain ponds, with its round, prickly balls
strung like big beads on the stiff, erect stalks; the little
water-lobelia, with tiny purple blossoms, springing from the waters
of lake and pond. He knew, too, all the strange, beautiful
under-water growth: bladderwort in long, feathery garlands,
pellucid water-weed, quillwort in stiff little bunches with
sharp-pointed leaves of olive-green,--all so seldom seen save by
the angler whose hooks draw up from time to time the wet, lovely
tangle.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25