THE QUESTION OF A VICE 81 



good and the light at a bad angle. With a 

 vice you need a table, in the first place ; and 

 secondly, the light must fall at a certain angle. 

 Very often when away from home a convenient 

 light (especially artificial) is not available. It 

 is then a great advantage to be able to dis- 

 pense with the table, and (like Mahomet and 

 the mountain) to go to the light and adjust 

 your own person to the proper angle, when it 

 is impossible to make the light come to you 

 and adjust it to the proper angle. I have ere 

 now had to stand actually under an artificial 

 light before I could get enough to see what I 

 was doing, and if I had been unable to dis- 

 pense with a vice I should have had to dispense 

 with the fly until the following morning, when 

 probably I should want to be fishing and not 

 dressing flies. 



Even when a good table and a good light 

 are available, tying with a vice, implying as 

 it does that the hook has to remain fixed in 

 one position all the time, is much more of a 

 strain upon the eyes than using the unaided 

 hands. 



Nevertheless, a vice has its advantages. 



For instance, when tying floss silk bodies in 



6 



