"So, this is a river?" ventured the lad.
"The River," corrected the River Rat. "It's the mighty St. Lawrence and all of its islands."
"And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!"
"By it, and with it, and on it, and in it," said the River Rat. "It's brother and sister to me, friends and food and drink. It's my world and I don't want any other. What it hasn't got is not worth having, and what it doesn't know is not worth knowing."
A "River Rat" can cleat his boat before he knows how to tie his shoe. River Rat is the essence of the North Country - the spirit of the 1000 Islands Region.