IN ANGLING TIME 



WITH the breaking forth of the buds in 

 spring there is a certain primitive and in 

 extinguishable passion that breaks forth in 

 the hearts of men. It is the well-nigh uni 

 versal desire to go a-fishing. There is no 

 other outdoor longing that seems to pos 

 sess so generally all ages and conditions of 

 mankind. The savage still survives in most 

 of us to this gentle degree, that, after the 

 long semi-hibernation, which even our mod 

 ern life scarcely modifies, we must needs go 

 forth at the time when Nature liberates all 

 her creatures once more, and replenish our 

 larders, material and immaterial, from the 

 bounties of lake and stream. Man and 

 boy and to a growing extent woman also 

 are seized in spring by that deliciously im 

 perative feeling that it is time to "wet a 

 line." The "most grave and reverend 

 senior" puts on an old suit of clothes and 

 a soft, faded hat, and humbly stoops beside 



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