80 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



village shoemaker, and the pedal encasements which 

 he turns out are worthy of the highest praise. If an 

 angler wants a pair of stout Tweed fishing-boots, or of 

 walking boots to wade in, by themselves or along with 

 waterproof leggings, we should, in all honesty, recom- 

 mend him to John Younger. He is now old, however 

 having indeed passed the point fixed by the Psal- 

 mist for summing up human existence. He was a 

 militia-man in 1804, when the false alarm of a French 

 invasion spread from beacon to beacon all over the 

 south of Scotland, and he marched boldly to Kelso to 

 help in repelling Bonaparte. He has been a poet from 

 his youth upwards, and only the other day we noticed 

 a copy of capital verses from his pen in a Newcastle 

 publication. Besides providing the inhabitants of St. 

 Bos well's with shoes for half a century, John was ex- 

 alted at one time to the position of postmaster for the 

 village ; but we believe he did not find Her Majesty's 

 service very remunerative, and resigned it. It is how- 

 ever, in his capacity as an angling- writer and fly- 

 dresser, that we take the liberty of making mention of 

 our patriarchal friend here. Eighteen years ago he 

 published (through the Blackwoods) a treatise " on 

 River Angling for Salmon and Trout, more particu- 

 larly as practised in the Tweed and its Tributaries," 

 full of sound information, as well as containing some 

 original suggestions. Since then, he has written, we 

 believe, several articles upon the natural history of 

 salmon, all evincing much sagacity and careful obser- 

 vation. As a fly-dresser, John has turned out as ser- 

 viceable insects, whether for salmon-fishing or trout- 

 fishing, as any man on Tweedside, and, aided by his 



