an she. All this was
especially fortunate because there was a very hard and trying experience
before her--one in which she would have need of all her strength and
vitality, and in which her chances of life would be very small, indeed.
It came with planting time, when she and a host of her companions were
whisked through a rubber tube and deposited in a big can made of
galvanized iron, in which they were borne away to the trout stream. The
journey was a long one, they were pretty badly cramped for room, and
before they reached their destination the supply of oxygen in the water
became exhausted. The baby trout began to think they had blown out the
gas, and they all crowded to the surface, where, if anywhere, the minute
bubbles that keep one alive are to be found. They gulped down great
mouthfuls of water and forced it out through their gills as fast as ever
they could, but, somehow, all the life seemed to be gone out of it, and
it did them no good whatever. Pretty soon a few turned over on their
backs and died, and every last one of them would have suffocated if the
man who had charge of the party hadn't noticed what was going on and
come to the rescue. Picking up a dipperful of water and troutlets, and
holding it high in the air, he poured it back into the can with much
dashing and splashing. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny bubbles were caught
in the rush and carried down to the bottom, and so the oxygen came back
again to the tired gills, and the danger was over.

The emigrants reached the trout stream at last, and one would have
supposed that their troubles were ended. In reality the chapter of
trials and tribulations had only just begun, for the same fishes and
frogs and lizards that had so persecuted our friend and his brothers and
sisters were on hand to welcome the new arrivals, and very few escaped.
And so, in spite of its quiet beginnings in the peaceful surroundings
of the hatchery, this young lady trout's life proved quite as exciting
and adventurous as our friend's, and it is possible that the good care
which she received during her early infancy really served to make things
all the harder for her when she came to be thrown entirely on her own
resources. The mere change in the temperature of the water when she was
turned out of the can was quite a shock to her nervous system; and,
whereas most trout are somewhat acquainted with the dangers and
hardships of the stream, almost from the time they rip their shells