OF GREAT BRITAIN. 41 



little, we rapidly crammed down the throats of our 

 Trout as many small round pebbles as they could 

 bear without bursting. . . . Well, yes, it ivas very 

 shocking — I'm sure, dear reader, you wouldn't 

 have done such a thing ! . . . We "won the race," 

 however — rather a close thing, by-the-bye, after 

 all — and luckily escaped detection on " weighing 

 in," notwithstanding the suspicious abdominal ap- 

 pearances of our fish. " Singular," was the only 

 remark the old gentleman made, " but your Trout 

 seem to be all in roe ! " 



Of course we confessed our shameful imposture 

 — after the champagne had been drunk. 



A propos of lady-anglers, I would point out here 

 that fishing — especially such fishing as I have been 

 describing — is of all field sports that most suited 

 to their strength and physique. On this subject 

 I have observed in the " Badminton Library of 

 Sport,'^ " A woman's figure makes the handling of 

 the gunstock always rather awkward, and the recoil 

 is sometimes apt — unless very light charges are 

 used — to be dangerous. But to fishing there is 

 no drawback, unless, indeed, it be the petticoats 

 with which some thick-ankled leader of fashion in 

 bygone times has managed to cramp and disfigure 

 one of the prettiest parts of the human form. No 

 skirts will vex the ' tameless ankles ' of our women 

 of the future. Already there is a marked and 

 healthy improvement visible in the length of the 

 dress, and women need no longer draggle about 



