t. Then we all turned
to and dug some angle-worms. The poles were brought--lines, hooks and
sinkers were made ready and in an hour or so we were on our way up the
river, Mr. Wright and I and Uncle Peabody being in one of the canoes,
the latter working the paddle.

I remember how, as we went along, Mr. Wright explained the fundamental
theory of his politics. I gave strict attention because of my pride in
the fact that he included me in the illustration of his point. This in
substance is what he said, for I can not pretend to quote his words
with precision although I think they vary little from his own, for here
before me is the composition entitled "The Comptroller," which I wrote
two years later and read at a lyceum in the district schoolhouse.

"We are a fishing party. There are four of us who have come together
with one purpose--that of catching fish and having a good time. We have
elected Bill guide because he knows the river and the woods and the fish
better than we do. It's Bill's duty to give us the benefit of his
knowledge, and to take us to and from camp and out of the woods at our
pleasure and contribute in all reasonable ways to our comfort. He is the
servant of his party. Now if Bill, having approved our aim and accepted
the job from us, were to try to force a new aim upon the party and
insist that we should all join him in the sport of catching butterflies,
we would soon break up. If we could agree on the butterfly program that
would be one thing, but if we held to our plan and Bill stood out, he
would be a traitor to his party and a fellow of very bad manners. As
long as the aims of my party are, in the main, right, I believe its
commands are sacred. Always in our country the will of the greatest
number ought to prevail--right or wrong. It has a right even to make
mistakes, for through them it should learn wisdom and gradually adjust
itself to the will of its greatest leaders."

It is remarkable that the great commoner should have made himself
understood by a boy of eight, but in so doing he exemplified the gift
that raised him above all the men I have met--that of throwing light
into dark places so that all could see the truth that was hidden there.

Now and then we came to noisy water hills slanting far back through
rocky timbered gorges, or little foamy stairways in the river leading up
to higher levels. The men carried the canoes around these places while I
followed gathering wild flowers and watchin