54 



The American Angler 



fullest what was there provided — not to 

 saw wood, or grind tanbark ; neither to 

 spin nor to weave — and if, by their 

 transgression of disobedience, they 

 were afterwards made to shift for them- 

 selves, not only for pleasure, but for 

 existence, is there a theology which 

 would teach that we as partakers of the 

 fruits of their error should be required 

 to trudge on interminably in harness 

 like the mule in the mine ? 



We know that the aboriginee rejected 

 such doctrine, yet no follower in the 

 line of man's better development can 

 say that he is happier than the Indian, 

 whose daily venison and smoked fish 

 were procured at less cost than that of 

 the roast beef and pumpkin pie of to-day; 

 and while in his simplicity he believed 

 there were few trappings which need gO 

 with his spirit to other hunting grounds, 

 we, in our enlightenment and superior 

 wisdom, seem to forget that we are even 

 poorer — that we can take absolutely 

 nothing ; and still we go on with that 

 unnecessary toil which we endure in 

 cheating ourselves into believing is best 

 for us, in order that those granaries of 

 our worldly accumulations may be filled 

 to the rafters for our progeny who shall 

 come after and scatter. 



As before said, those persevering 

 workers who take any considerable in- 

 terest in occasional rest are few. With 

 most men who are deliberately wearing 

 out their lives by assiduous attention to 

 business, with its damaging conse- 

 quences, its dangers even, the force of 

 habit is strong. Such persons are not 

 easily enticed away from those idols 

 which they insist upon making the 

 objects of a too zealous worship ; but it 

 may l^e that some teacher may )^et be 

 able to convert them from their error. 



They should be tempted into other and 

 better ways which make life worth the 

 living. 



Then, not to advance a suggestion 

 but simply to express a thought ; which 

 is, that there are fields for the mission- 

 ary which hitherto have not been work- 

 ed. That the gospel of recreation may 

 be extended and still more profitably 

 preached ; not unto those familiar 

 hearers who compose the club, or such- 

 like organization, but to the people at 

 large. That it might be well for pub- 

 lishers of those admirable periodicals 

 which show us the way, in our outdoor 

 sports, to the best and truest content- 

 ment, to distribute some tracts: to 

 disseminate more thoroughly among 

 the uninformed, those principles which 

 are taught in their pages. To seek 

 how they may best arouse more en- 

 thusiasm for the love of innocent, 

 health- giving sport ; an enthusiasm not 

 less heart}^ than that which was sudden- 

 ly experienced by the lassie. 



The words are quoted from memory : 



" Whistle, my daughter, whistle ; 

 And I'll give thee a cow. 



I never whistled in my life ; 



And I can not whistle now. 

 Whistle, mj' daughter, whistle ; 

 And you shall have a man. 



I never whistled in my life ; 



But— I'll whistle if I can." 



If, by touching the right chord ; the 

 doctor, the lawyer, the merchant, the 

 minister, the mechanic and whosoever 

 may be thereby induced to go out now 

 and then and play ; such converts, by 

 their own example, will draw others in- 

 to those innovations in their lives which 

 will bring more happiness, and which 

 will prove from the beginning and in 

 the end a blessinu". 



