"Brooks Adams kept a diary from his boyhood days and on through the years. One day when he was eight years old he wrote in his diary, 'Went fishing with my father; the most glorious day of my life.'

Brooks' father was an important man — Charles Francis Adams — the United States Ambassador to Great Britain under the Lincoln administration. Interestingly, he too had made a note in his diary about the fishing trip. He wrote simply, 'Went fishing with my son; a day wasted.'"