THE FISHERMAN'S TOOLS 



of the occupation there can be no two opinions ; some of 

 the finest imaginable specimens of manhood can easily be 

 picked from among British, Scandinavian, or American 

 fishermen ; men of seventy years of age may be seen work- 

 ing with the speed and energy of lads of twenty. 



There is a romance too, a fascination, about the call- 

 ing that is seldom to be found in any other. The hard 

 labour, the ever-present danger, and the decidedly un- 

 romantic smell of fish or tar or oil are, in the fisher's 

 estimation, amply outweighed by the sense of freedom 

 that his daily contact with the sea produces. The labour 

 and the smells he takes for granted ; the danger he seldom 

 troubles about to think about it is often to incur it. 

 He is a sort of cheerful fatalist ; if he is marked for 

 drowning, drown he must, some day or another. 



He would not, in one case out of a hundred, change his 

 trade for any other ; all other methods of life are to him 

 cramping and enervating, and lacking in liberty. There 

 is an old Kent-coast fisherman who worked regularly on 

 board his smack, in foul weather and fair, till he was 

 eighty years old. Then he at length yielded to the per- 

 suasions of a wealthy grandson, who took him to London, 

 gave him rooms in his own house, and supplied him with 

 all manner of luxuries. The dear old fellow tried town 

 life and idleness for nearly a year; then one day he 

 suddenly disappeared he had gone back quietly to the 

 work of his boyhood. He is now eighty-three, and prides 

 himself on doing as good a day's fishing as the rest of his 

 crew. Had he remained in London he would probably 

 have been dead long ago. 



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