8 WATERSIDE SKETCHES. 



oils his winches, and resolves himself into a committee of 

 inquiry respecting the joints and tops of his rods, which he 

 regards as companions to be communed with, praised for 

 merits, and remonstrated with for faults. Rest satisfied, 

 therefore, that our friends who to-day have brought their 

 implements into the light for the first nirne since autumn 

 have set about their task in the spirit of no common or 

 vulgar ransackers. 



To-morrow arrives : All Fools' Day, as we pleasantly 

 remind each other. Happily March had come in like a 

 lion, or rather like a bellowing bull, and had, true to 

 tradition, departed like a lamb, leaving immediately behind 

 it the loveliest of spring mornings. Three hours before 

 we had the smoke and noise of London; now we are 

 surrounded by sights and sounds that make us glad at 

 the mere thought of life. Our veteran, whose rod the 

 keeper is carrying, drinks in the balmy air in great gulps, 

 and if the grass were a trifle less wet, would frisk it merrily 

 amongst the lambkins in the mead. The birds, still in 

 their honeymoon, make unceasing melody in the hedges, 

 and you can hear a grand responsive chorus away in the 

 dark wood, from whose trees the grip of winter has just 

 been relaxed. The impudent water rats evidently hold us 

 in supreme contempt, scarcely deeming it necessary to 

 plunge from their holes and perform that light-hearted 

 somersault which so often startles the unsuspecting rambler. 

 There is life and the promise of life everywhere, and we 

 revel in it, and feel kindly towards all mankind. 



Rods are put together, and it will go hard with not a 

 few innocent fish if the eager looks of certain of our 

 band carry out all they express. April clouds are scudding 



