276 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



find a " cumberer " in all the land who would change 

 places with him, take his joyless life, saj)less heart, 

 frozen yisage, narrow views and great wealth, and give 

 in return the angler's light heart, happy disposition, 

 love of God, his fellow-man and Nature ; his re- 

 sources within himself, engendered by his fondness for 

 the wild woods, to enjoy the past and anticipate the 

 future, whatever betide ; his desire to see good in every 

 thing, his clear conscience and his fishing tackle. 



Bear in mind that the pleasure of angling is not 

 alone the consummation of your hopes for a large 

 score. Hear what Sir Humphrey Davy says on this 

 subject: 



"From the savage in his rudest and most primitive 

 state, who destroys a piece of game, or a fish, with a club 

 or spear, to man in the most cultivated state of society, 

 who employs artifice, machinery, and the resources of 

 various other animals, to secure his object, the origin 

 of the pleasure is similar, and its object the same: but 

 that kind of it requiring most art may be said to 

 characterize man in his highest or intellectual state; 

 and the fisher for salmon and trout with the fly 

 employs not only machinery to assist his physical 

 powers, but applies sagacity to conquer difficulties; 

 and the pleasure derived from ingenious resources and 

 devices, as well as from active pursuits, belongs to this 

 amusement. Then, as to its philosophical tendency, 

 it is a pursuit of moral discipline, requiring patience, 

 forbearance, and command of temper. 



