254 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



these arts the time and attention they demand if even 

 a fair degree of skill is to be attained. For the angler 

 of " elegant leisure " this has no weight perhaps, but 

 he too will, as a rule, find better tackle than he can 

 make, readily at his command at a cost so inconsider- 

 able as to quite justify me in saying that his amateur 

 work will not pay — for, if he be young, out-of-door 

 sports will far better serve to lay up in his still devel- 

 oping frame the treasures of health and vitality for 

 future use. There are those, indeed, for whom it is a 

 proper employment of time and who are endowed with 

 the peculiar faculties required. To such it is a charm- 

 ing occupation, a delightful distraction, and a choice 

 factor in the enjoyment of the winter angler by the 

 fireside. 



Every angler ought to keep a record or diary of his 

 angling bouts. Most anglers do so, I think. Therein 

 should be recorded not only the weight and size of daily 

 catch, the number saved, and the number thrown ~back, 

 (I look back with especial pride upon my record in this 

 direction), but also some jottings of scenes, impressions, 

 and incidents. Reading therefrom years after at the 

 fireside he will detect a faint perfume of old forests in 

 the winter air, and hear again in fancy the swirl of 

 swift waters sweeping among mossy rocks. 



I take up my own, quoting from it almost at random. 

 Note, if you please, how, in untamed words, have ex- 

 pressed themselves the exhilaration of the stream — the 

 tingling of healthy blood through ample veins — the joy 



