THE BLACK BASSES. ei 



I have already often quoted the opinions of that wisest of anglers, 

 Charles Hallock, and I cannot otherwise than rejicat in this ])lace his 

 prophecy concerning the future estate of the Black Bass. 



" No doubt the Bass is the appointed successor of the trout ; not througn 

 heritage, nor selection, nor by interloping, but by foreordination. Truly, 

 it is sad to contemplate, in the not distant future, the extinction of a 

 beautiful race of creatures, whose attributes have been sung by all the 

 poets ; but we regard the inevitable with the same calm philosophy with 

 which the astronomer watches the burning out of a world, knowing that 

 it will be succeeded by a new creation. 



'*As we mark the soft vari-tinted flush of the trout disappear in the even- 

 tide, behold the sparkle of the coming Bass as he leaps into the morning 

 of his glory ! We hardly know which to admire the most — the velvet 

 livery and the charming graces of the departing courtier, or the flash of 

 the armor-plates on the advancing warrior. The Bass will unquestionably 

 prove himself a worthy substitute for his predecessor, and a candidate for 

 a full legacy of honors. 



'' No doubt, when every one of the older States shall become as densely 

 settled as Great Britain itself, and all the rural aspects of the crowded 

 domain resemble the suburban surroundings of our Boston ; when every 

 feature of the pastoral landscape shall wear the finished appearance of 

 European lands ; and every verdant field be closely cropped by lawn- 

 mowers and guarded by hedges ; and every purling stream which meanders 

 through it has its water-bailiff, we shall still have speckled trout from 

 Avhich the radiant spots have faded, and tasteless fish, to catch at a dollar 

 per pound (as we already have on Long Island), and all the appurtenances 

 and appointments of a genuine English trouting privilege and a genuine 

 English ' outing.' 



" In those future days, not long hence to come, some venerable piscator, 

 in whose memory still lingers the joy of fishing, the brawling stream which 

 tumbled over the rocks in the tangled wildwood, and moistened the arbutus 

 and the bunchberries which garnished its banks, will totter forth to the 

 velvety edge of some peacefully-flowing stream, and having seated himself 

 on a convenient point in a revolving easy chair, placed there by his care- 

 ful attendant, cast right and left for the semblance of sport long dead. 



'•' Hosts of liver- fed fish rush to the signal for their early morning meal, 

 and from the center of the boil which follows the fall of the handfuls 

 thrown in, my piscator of the ancient days will hook a two-pound Trout, 

 and play him hither and yon, from surface to bottom, without disturbing 

 the pampered gourmands which are gorging themselves uj^on the disgusting 

 viands; and when he has leisurely brought him to hand at last, and the 

 gillie has scooped him with his landing-net, he will feel in his capacious 

 pocket for his last trade dollar, and giving his friend the tip, shuffle back 

 to his house, and lay aside his rod forever." 



