INTER-OCEAN HUNTING TALES 



wickedness of destroying animal life; yet they 

 saw no harm in catching fish with a light rod 

 and play their quarry for a long time. 



The huntsman endeavors to kill his game 

 as soon as possible; he does not prolong its 

 agony for his amusement. No protests are 

 made against fishing as a sport so far as I 

 have observed. The reason for this is not 

 hard to discover. The fish is a cold-blooded 

 creature to whom the heart does not seem to 

 go out in sympathy to any extent; the slimy 

 scales do not invite the contact of the fingers 

 like the warm fur of a deer or the soft down 

 of a duck; there is nothing in its "yellow 

 orbs" to excite sentimental regard; it is not 

 an object one would pet or fondle like a 

 spotted fawn; wanting in qualities which 

 appeal to the fancy, no plea is set up in its 

 behalf. In further evidence of the incon- 

 sistency in question I have heard ladies almost 

 melt with emotion while deprecating the de- 

 struction of animal life by the sportsman, who 

 128 



