with rainbow trout. They did well and grew fast, and so far as I know,
none died. The water was not suited for their breeding, but the fish were
very ornamental, and rose freely to the fly.




FOUNTAINS AND SPRINGS


Is it true that our fountains and springs of sweet water are about to
perish? A writer in _Country Life_ says "Yes," that in parts of the
Southern counties the hidden cisterns of the springs are now sucked dry,
and that the engineers employed to bring the waters from these natural
sources to the village or the farm lament that where formerly streams
gushed out unbidden, they are now at pains to raise the needed water by
all the resources of modern machinery. When the old fountains fail new
sources are eagerly sought, and where science fails the diviner's art is
called in to aid. At the Agricultural Show the water-diviner sits
installed, surrounded by votive tablets picturing the springs discovered
by his magic art; and County Councils quarrel with the auditors of local
expenditure over sums paid for the successful employment of his mysterious
gift.

It is not strange that the springs of England should still suggest a faint
echo of Nature-worship. If rivers have their gods, fountains and springs
have ever been held to be the home of divinities, beings who were by right
of birth gods, even though, owing to circumstances, they did not move
exactly in their circle. _Procul a Jove, procul a fulgure_ may have
been the thought ascribed by Greek fancy to the gracious beings who made