Worms 



AS the migratory birds flock, cackle, and feed to- 

 / \ gether for the great flight to the South in the 

 JL Vfall, so every spring do the skilful and migratory 

 fishermen gather around the club tables in New York to 

 cackle and feed while planning their vernal and pisca- 

 torial adventures. Whether their skill lies in the way 

 they do it or the way they tell it, is a secret known only 

 to many close-mouthed and wise-eyed old guides who 

 hibernate in the outposts of civilization while recuperating 

 from the arduous labours pertaining to their professions, 

 which consist largely of baiting hooks for fly-fishermen, 

 and of accepting the lions' shares of their employers' 

 winter earnings. 



Three talented and empirical lovers of the dry fly 

 and the " wet " story were outdoing each other in their 

 attempts to entertain, with the aid of cocktails and fish 

 tales, a dandified old party. There was no doubt about 

 the old party (whom for the sake of brevity we will 

 henceforth call O. P.) absorbing their drinks, but whether 

 their stories " took " or not is left for the reader to 

 decide. He was polite and listened attentively, thereby 

 satisfactorily playing the part allotted to him by his 

 triumvirate of hosts. After nodding " Yes " to the 

 waiter many times and nodding appreciatively to his 

 hosts innumerable times at the culmination of each story, 

 he timidly ventured with a deprecating air: 



" Gentlemen, I consider it a privilege to have had the 

 honour of being entertained by three such patently 

 experienced fishermen. The value of the information 



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