20 



" You ought to have joined us at luncheon, Captain 

 Vandeleur," said she. " I can't imagine what amuse- 

 ment you can find in sitting all day watching a float." 



To men whose shoulders and arms were aching after 

 five hours' greenheart drill at long distances, and who 

 prided themselves upon being above every form of 

 fishing lower than spinning, the truly knock-down nature 

 of this blow can only be imagined by those who under- 

 stand the subject. The captain, who is reckoned one 

 of the worst men in the regiment to venture with in the 

 way of repartee, was so amazed at the damsel's ignor- 

 ance that he answered never a word, leaving some of 

 her friends in muslin on the garden chairs around to 

 explain the difference between fishing with and with- 

 out a float a duty which they appeared to perform 

 with true womanly relish as a set-off against the pre- 

 vious scoring of the pert maid from Mayfair, who had 

 borne rather heavily upon them from a London season 

 elevation. 



Allow me to recommend angling as a manly exercise, 

 as physically hard in some of its aspects as any other 

 field sport. During the lifetime of those of us who will 

 no more see middle age this recreation has become 

 actually popular, and it is generally supposed that the 

 multiplication a hundredfold of rod-and-line fishermen 

 in a generation is explained by the cheaper and easier 

 modes of locomotion, the increase of cheap literature 

 pertaining to the sport, and the establishment of a 

 periodical press devoted to it amongst other forms of 

 national recreation. These reasons are undoubtedly 

 admissible. Yet I venture to add another, namely, the 

 great and beneficial movement which has opened the 

 eyes of men and women to the importance of physical 

 exercise. 



When the young men who had in their boyhood 



