ANGLING. 231 



exercise of the attention and the ingenuity, with the addi- 

 tional pleasure derived from the varied scenery, the fresh 

 odors of vegetation, and the many cheerful sounds from 

 animated nature, unite in rendering it one of the most 

 interesting of employments. 



Though I have never been a skilful or inveterate angler, 

 the review of my angling excursions always brings be- 

 fore me some of my most pleasing recollections. The 

 stillness of the occupation prepares the mind to receive 

 impressions from adjacent scenes with singular vivid- 

 ness. The sight of the little fishes, as they are darting 

 about among the long stems of the water-lilies, is then as 

 pleasant to us as to a child. We watch every minute 

 object with close attention, though it be but the little 

 water-beetles as they wliirl about on the surface near the 

 shore, or the minute blossoms of the potamogeton that 

 lift up their lieads above the glassy wave. The lighting 

 of a butterfly on the blue spikes of the pickerel-weed, or 

 the humming of a dragon-fly, as he pursues his micro- 

 scopic prey among the tall sedges and pond-weeds, never 

 fails to attract our notice while engaged in our day-dream- 

 ing occupation. 



While watching the float as it sails gently about with 

 the wind, occasionally dimpling the surface of the water, 

 we do not confine our attention to this alone. Not a 

 bubble on the glossy sheen of the lake or the flitting 

 shadow of a cloud as it passes over the sky escapes our 

 notice. Everything that moves, — everything that can 

 be seen or heard excites our curiosity as in the still dark- 

 ness of night. When the fishes are inactive, as they often 

 are during the heat of the day, we have little to do except 

 to watch and observe the scenes and objects around us. 

 At such times our attention is frequently attracted to 

 something that hitherto miglit have been unobserved ; 

 and the squirrel tliat sits watching us from the bough 



