When Mill Brook had more water

February 29.

Minott told me this afternoon of his catching a pickerel in the Mill Brook once, — before the pond was drawn off, when the brook had four or five times as much water as now, — which weighed four pounds. Says they stayed in it all winter in those days. This was near his land up the brook. He loves to recall his hunting days and adventures, and I willingly listen to the stories he has told me half a dozen times already. 

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, February 29, 1856

The stories he has told me half a dozen times already. See October 2, 1857 (The chief incidents in Minott's life must be more distinct and interesting to him now than immediately after they occurred, for he has recalled and related them so often that they are stereotyped in his mind.”)