148 The Atlantic Salmon 



largely prevail on this side of the Atlantic, is ah 

 art so easily acquired as to bring it within the 

 compass of the most moderate ability, and withal 

 it yields more pleasure to the lover of sport and of 

 nature than does any other. No properly consti- 

 tuted man can be insensible to the healthful 

 charms of life in the open air, in a world just as 

 God made it, nor to the companionship of the 

 spruce-clad and rugged mountains of the North 

 through which the river has cleft its way, and, full 

 of sparkling ripples, foaming rapids, and swirling 

 eddies, follows in crystal clearness its winding 

 course to finally lose itself in the broad bosom of 

 the ocean. These and many more appeals to the 

 better parts of his nature are the portion of the 

 salmon angler, and his unfailing rewards for 

 blank days and untoward accidents. 



Besides, he has the keen satisfaction in many 

 cases of proving his inherited possession of the 

 faculties which enable him to cope successfully 

 with the normal conditions of life, to get along 

 comfortably with meagre conveniences, and to cre- 

 ate these by his own ingenuity from the materials 

 offered by nature, and to throw aside for a time, 

 as superfluous and effeminate, the bulk of the 

 customs and luxuries of civilization, which is an 



