FISHES 



19 



vex those who hve too long in cities. To 

 hear the elk's whistle and the ouzel's call, 

 the whirr of the grouse's wings and the 

 rush of the water in the canyon, will get 

 out of your brain the shriek of cable cars, 

 the rattle of the elevated railway, and all 

 the unwholesome jangle of men who meet 

 to make mone5'. 



So there is a third reason for going 

 a-fishing — not so good as the first two, 

 but still very noble. We may fish for rest 

 or exercise, which is but another form of 

 rest. We may fish placidly in the placid 

 brooks as Walton did, for chub and dace, 

 till our thoughts flow as placidly as the 

 Charles, or the Suwanee, or the Thames. 

 Or we may fish in the rush and roar of 

 the Des Chutes or the Buttermilk, tramp- 

 ing high through the pines to Agua Bo- 

 nita, or far across the desert to Trapper's 

 Lake, or struggling through the wooded 

 reaches to the Saranac. We may come 

 back at night tired enough to lie flat on 

 the floor and "drip off the edges" of it, 

 but withal at peace with all the world — 

 it matters not whether we have fish or 

 not. 



There is one reason for fishing which is 

 wholly indifferent — that is to go a-fish- 

 ing for the meat which is in the fish. This 

 is pan-fishing or pot-fishing. If you get 

 your living by it, that is your business. 

 It is frequently an honest business. But 

 it is not a matter of pride. If you caught 



a hundred trout in the xA.u Sable and ate 

 them all you were fortunate. They helped 

 out your store of provisions, and trout 

 are very fair eating when properly fried. 

 But don't brag about it. It interests the 

 rest of us no more than if you boasted of 

 catching ten frogs, or eating a hundred 

 chickens in a hundred consecutive days. 

 The matter of fish as food belongs to 

 economics or some other dismal science. 

 By eating trout or bass you can never get 

 "on the good side of the man who knows 

 fish." 



There remains one reason for going 

 fishing which is positively horribly, dis- 

 gustingly bad — that is, to see how many 

 fish you can catch, just for numbers' sake. 

 This is called "hog fishing," and whether 

 your purpose be to brag over the size of 

 your basket or to lie about the catch, or 

 both, it is bad — bad -for the fish, bad for 

 the rivers, bad for your neighbors, bad 

 for you. The good man will never slay 

 fish wantonly. We creatures of God on 

 the earth together should enjoy each 

 other, and the beautiful world, which is 

 ours alike. 



Because man is the wisest of all, with 

 greatest power of knowledge and capac- 

 ity for happiness, it is all the more in- 

 cumbent on him to preserve the world as 

 fair as he found it, and to respect the 

 rights so far as may be of every other 

 man and beast. 





