128 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



rats at night, he expired a few hours after entering 

 the hospital. 



Fishing on the Suir, County Tipperary, some 

 years ago I chanced to come on a man putting 

 his rod together. He was "yoking up," as the 

 old farmer, in whose premises we stalled our 

 horses, explained to us. A stranger to me, I 

 was rather astonished when he greeted me with : 

 "If you are a true fisherman, you have achieved 

 a triumph. You have succeeded in one of the 

 greatest endeavours of life — obtained happiness." 

 Such sentiments coming from a stranger, so 

 different from the usual topics of weather, flies, 

 etc., made it clear to me that I had come upon 

 a philosopher. I took little notice of this strange 

 meeting until I happened to read a pamphlet on 

 Fishing and Recreation by Lord Grey of Falloden. 

 In it I learn that there is more in sport than 

 recreation: "sport is a philosophy of life." He 

 emphasises the fact that the sport indulged in 

 must be of such a nature as to cause undoubted 

 happiness. Happiness has many definitions, and 

 according to Hamilton it is the complement of 

 all the pleasures of which we are susceptible. 

 There are degrees of happiness, such as glad- 

 ness, joy, etc. Thus triumph is joy, a sort of 

 exaggerated mental feeling of pleasure, usually 

 of a temporary nature. My view is that com- 



