26 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



20 Ib. to be a fair day's sport, he and the said 

 Italian having during seven days' fishing taken 

 150 Ib. weight of pike. 



The first morning of our stay was too hot 

 and still for fishing ; and though we. went on 

 the lake, we returned for the mid-day table 

 d'hote at half-past twelve, to find the table 

 graced by a German school master and mistress, 

 with a dozen pupils, who were engaged on one 

 of those holiday tours through the Black Forest 

 which are so common in Germany. It is a 

 practice for which there is much to be said. 

 It gives boys and girls an opportunity of seeing 

 the world in an intelligent way ; but it is one 

 which could not be followed in England, where 

 the expense of hotels and railways would soon 

 disgust parents. At half-past five we again 

 wended our way to the lake, as the sun was 

 sinking, and the opposite side beneath the pine- 

 woods was fully shaded. We had not rowed 

 for ten minutes in the pleasant shade of the 

 dark pines before we hooked and landed a jack 

 of 3 Ib. This was an unexpectedly good be- 

 ginning, since the air was hot and the water 

 quite calm ; but though we rowed about for 

 another hour, not another pike would look at 



