PREFATORY NOTE. TU 



end of the term, owing to the illness which 

 attacked his lungs, and rendered him very weak 

 and unfit for work, though at times, sometimes 

 for months, he rallied in a wonderful way, and 

 looked and felt quite well. About a fortnight 

 ago, when he realised that he was dying, he 

 asked that I should write to you and send the 

 part of his last article which he had written, 

 together with some notes intended to be embodied 

 in it, and request you to get it finished for him, 

 and have it published in the Fishing Gazette, so 

 that when you published the series of articles in 

 book form, as arranged, this one might appear 

 also." 



Of course, I was glad to promise that this 

 should be done, and hope that ' ( Val Conson " will 

 kindly add the few words that are all that seem 

 necessary to complete the chapter. 



During my long connection with this paper, 

 the only sad part of it has been this recording 

 the loss of friends and contributors. It is doubly 

 sad when the record is of a bright young fellow 

 cut off " just when the doors of manhood were 

 opening to him. . . . Like the flowers which 

 covered his coffin, his young life exhaled a 

 fragrance that will linger long in the hearts of 

 those who knew him best/' 



What we fly fishers have lost in him has been 

 well and truly said in the letter I have quoted 

 above from " Val Conson." 



E. B. MARSTON 



(Editor, Fishing Gazette). 



