A Word to Fishermen 



unless it be a desire to catch fish. We 

 have, in point of fact, no closer re- 

 lationship than this with the murder- 

 ously inclined, whose only motive in 

 fishing is to make large catches, and 

 whose sole pleasure in the pursuit is 

 the gratification of a greedy propen- 

 sity. Nevertheless we, and those with 

 whom we have so little sympathy, are 

 by a sort of unavoidable law of gravi- 

 tation classed together in the same 

 fraternity, and called fishermen. Oc- 

 casionally weak attempts have been 

 made to classify the best of this fra- 

 ternity under the name of Anglers, 

 or some title of that kind, but such 

 efforts have always failed. Even 

 Izaak Walton could not change the 

 current of human thought by calling 

 his immortal book "The Compleat 

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