TROUT AND ANGLING. 385 



a man in the most civilized state of society, who 

 employs artifice, machinery, and the resources of 

 various other animals, to secure his object, the ori- 

 gin of the pleasure is similar, and its object the 

 same ; but that kind of it requiring most art may 

 be said to characterise man in his highest or intel- 

 lectual state ; and the fisher for salmon and trout 

 with the fly, employs not only machinery to assist 

 his physical powers, but applies sagacity to con- 

 quer difficulties ; and the pleasure derived from 

 ingenious resources and devices, as well as from 

 active pursuit, belongs to this amusement. How 

 delightful in the early spring, after the dull 

 and tedious time of w^inter, when the frosts disap- 

 pear and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, 

 to wander forth by some clear stream." 



To this feeling, whether as fly-fishers, or more 

 general anglers, w^e most cordially respond, and 

 not the less so as it applies to the stream in ques- 

 tion, among other favorite resorts, for the circum- 

 stance of the necessity of wet feet. There are 

 sundry places where It Is customary to enter 

 Marshpee Brook, either higher or lower, according 

 to circumstances. To stem the current and fish 

 upwards. Is out of the question, and never practised, 

 neither should we recommend ever " tracing up the 

 brooks," though unimpeded by trees. If it were for 

 no other reason than the derangement of the fine, 

 25 



