OUR OPENING DAY. 15 



one of the brotherhood a City man of course produces 

 with a flourish. 



What follows aptly illustrates the unexplainable fancies 

 of the fish world. For an hour the previously unsuccessful 

 fisherman hauls out as fast as he can bait his hook, and his 

 three friends, who had been pitying him for hours, are now 

 recipients of our compassionate regrets. There is no rhyme 

 or reason for this sudden whim of the tench, and at the 

 termination of the hour, the biting ceases as suddenly as it 

 began, and not another fish is brought to land. 



The tench had taken well-scoured marsh worms, abso- 

 lutely refusing to touch either striped brandlings, tempting 

 lobs, or able-bodied gentles, and it was noticed as a curious 

 circumstance that while at one spot the bites were sharp 

 and vigorous, the float disappearing without much hesita- 

 tion, a few yards off the fish dawdled over the bait, as tench 

 frequently do, leaving the angler in doubt whether the 

 movement of the float was not a mere accident. As the 

 bottom was muddy rather than gravelly, the anglers had 

 naturally fished a couple of inches from it, and, all told, 

 were, on quitting the field, able to show a total of over 

 twenty pounds, which, for so capricious a fish as the tench, 

 may be considered great sport. 



Our Opening Day we deem on the whole all that could 

 be wished. We can say with the philosopher " Our riches 

 consist in the fewness of our wants." If we can boast of no 

 .sensational creels, we are all satisfied and at peace with 

 each other. Hungry as hunters, we gather in the eventide 

 round the table of our pleasant room, beneath whose bal- 

 cony a bye-stream hurries, mad with the impetus received 

 from a weir at the bottom of the garden, and foaming with - 



