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times in respect of salmon. " It 's just this time forty 

 years," he said, " that I was fishing the Kelso waitter ; 

 and atween twae o'clock on the Monday morning and 

 sax o'clock on the Tuesday morning, we killed saxteen 

 hundred salmon and grilse. G — d! there were as mony 

 fish killed in the Tweed in that ae week as are killed 

 in a hale year noo ! " He was criticising the manage- 

 ment of Ellemford Inn after he left it — for the tenant 

 has since then been changed yearly. " They dinna ken 

 hoo to chairge^^^ he summed up, as the climax of their 

 mistakes. Geordie's own tariff was according to his 

 estimate of his guest's means : when he knew that the 

 purse was ample, he kept a boy with a donkey flying 

 to Dunse for the viands of the season, gave dinners at 

 Ellemford that would not have disgraced a good Edin- 

 burgh tavern, and did not scruple to exact ample re- 

 numeration for his care and trouble. Others he satisfied 

 with more indifferent fare, and with the most moderate 

 charges. So throughout the season Ellemford was 

 usually full of anglers, all satisfied with their treat- 

 ment. His successors, he said, fed all alike and charged 

 all alike ; but we suspect that Geordie's absence was 

 itself one great reason of the falling-off of customers. 

 While on the subject, we may mention that even within 

 the last few years we have observed a great diminution 

 of the drinking at fishing-inns. Geordie often sat up 

 almost the whole night over his potent toddy ; and al- 

 though he himself rose punctually at five o'clock, no 

 matter how deep or late the carouse, his guests were 

 not always able to follow his example, or indeed to fish 

 very well after they got to the water- side. There is 

 nothing that the angler ought more to avoid than too 



