tious waters of the State. 
protected there is no reason why it 
should not grow into a prolific bass 
If properly 
stream. 
But, as there was never a flower so 
pure and beautiful as not to be plucked 
by some devastating hand, as there 
could not have been a heaven without 
presupposing a hell, no more can there 
be a beautiful and fruitful bass stream 
that does not, sooner or later, feel the 
blighting touch of the dynamiter and 
seiner, and Walnut is by no means ex- 
empt from the depletion incident to the 
ravages of this lawless element. The 
man who deliberately, ‘‘ with malice 
aforethought,’”’ will seine the waters of 
a State prohibiting seining, would steal 
his neighbor’s stock, his purse, or fire 
his house or barn, had he not the fear 
of the greater punishment attending 
the committing of these crimes, and, 
like all criminals, the sooner his place 
is filled by a law-abiding citizen, the 
The American Angler 
higher the moral sentiment of that 
community, the lower the rate of taxa- 
tion, the better the fishine: 
All this means I have done no fishing 
this season; therefore, have no big 
catches to report, no long and brilliant 
battles to describe, that I don’t appre- 
ciate a good thing when I see it, but 
am soft enough to give it away to Tom, 
Dick and Harry. In extenuation of 
this unexampled softness, let us hope 
that ‘‘in the lands of the blessed”’ I 
will be credited with having attempted 
to make true sportsmen out of a lot of 
chump pole-fishermen, and that any 
falling short of the end in view may be 
charged to the proper account—the un- 
adulterated greed and innate depravity 
of the pupils, rather than to any ineffic- 
iency on the part of the teacher. 
And in October, when I take my an- 
nual outing, I may have ‘‘something”’ 
to send THe ANGLER of the fishing on 
on the Tippecanoe in 1895. 

The Pike. 
