76 TROUT FISHING 



convenient cottage or handy inn, there is of late 

 years the new resource of the vacuum flask, so 

 nobody now need despair of tea at the proper time. 



To some stern souls this zeal for tea may seem 

 contemptible, but I could advance many things in 

 extenuation. Apart altogether from the question 

 of food and drink, it seems to me no bad thing to put 

 a definite line between the afternoon and the 

 evening fishing. Thus you make your fishing day 

 more important, and perhaps more interesting. 

 Divided into parts the day has more variety, seems 

 longer, and gives more opportunity for the feeding 

 of that hope which is apt to be somewhat starved 

 after the lapse of a few hours. The intervals for 

 lunch and tea, if they do nothing else, afford oppor- 

 tunities for reflection, and reflection should calm 

 the mind and stimulate the imagination. By the 

 time the tobacco is lighted the angler is fit to fare 

 forth and conquer, however many reverses he may 

 have known during preceding hours. 



I am inclined to think — nay, I am sure — that a 

 further interval for dinner is also an excellent thing 

 in circumstances where it is possible. It makes the 

 day still more important, and it also makes a sort 

 of midnight dinner unnecessary. In high summer 

 you can go on fishing till ten o'clock, but it plays 

 havoc with your conscience if you know all the time 

 that there are unfortunate people waiting to give 



