so it was; and the only feeling of which I
was conscious was a strong desire to detain this visitor as long
as possible, and have some talk with him. So I grasped at the only
expedient that flashed into my mind.

"Well, then, sir," I said, "you are most heartily welcome, and I trust
you will not despise the only hospitality I have to offer. If you will
sit down here among these birch trees in Contentment Corner, I will give
you half of a fisherman's luncheon, and will cook your char for you on
a board before an open wood-fire, if you are not in a hurry. Though I
belong to a nation which is reported to be curious, I will promise to
trouble you with no inquisitive questions; and if you will but talk to
me at your will, you shall find me a ready listener."

So we made ourselves comfortable on the shady bank, and while I busied
myself in splitting the fish and pinning it open on a bit of board that
I had found in a pile of driftwood, and setting it up before the fire to
broil, my new companion entertained me with the sweetest and friendliest
talk that I had ever heard.

"To speak without offence, sir," he began, "there was a word in your
discourse a moment ago that seemed strange to me. You spoke of being 'in
a hurry'; and that is an expression which is unfamiliar to my ears; but
if it mean the same as being in haste, then I must tell you that this
is a thing which, in my judgment, honest anglers should learn to forget,
and have no dealings with it. To be in haste is to be in anxiety and
distress of mind; it is to mistrust Providence, and to doubt that the
issue of all events is in wiser hands than ours; it is to disturb the
course of nature, and put overmuch confidence in the importance of our
own endeavours.

"For how much of the evil that is in the world cometh from this plaguy
habit of being in haste! The haste to get riches, the haste to
climb upon some pinnacle of worldly renown, the haste to resolve
mysteries--from these various kinds of haste are begotten no small
part of the miseries and afflictions whereby the children of men are
tormented: such as quarrels and strifes among those who would over-reach
one another in business; envyings and jealousies among those who
would outshine one another in rich apparel and costly equipage; bloody
rebellions and cruel wars among those who would obtain power over their
fellow-men; cloudy disputations and bitter controversies among those who
would fain leave no room for mode