478 APPENDIX. 



A WORD IN CONCLUSION. 



And now, brethren of the angle students in fish-culture 

 men anxious to develop American fisheries and establish ef- 

 fective game-laws farewell. If true anglers, you are sure to 

 be gentle ; and as the truly gentle are always virtuous, you 

 must be happy. But the best friends must part. 



I have endeavored to throw together some pleas in favor 

 of the "gentle craft," and to hint at the importance of water- 

 farming. If my mite, contributed to the general stock for 

 the promotion of rational enjoyment and useful occupation, 

 shall be found worthy of those readers whom it is my pleas- 

 ure to honor, it will be a source of gratification to know that 

 my labors have not been in vain. 



Let neither prosperity nor adversity deaden "the fresh 

 feeling after Nature" which the use of the rod and reel al- 

 ways heightens or confers. Whether overladen with good 

 fortune or suffering under the shocks of adversity, forget not 

 to take the magic wand and repair to the murmuring waters. 

 "The music of those gentle moralists will steal into your 

 heart ;" and, while invigorating physical energy, your souls 

 will be charmed, and your minds soothed and tempered by 

 the music of birds, the sights of nature, and the sounds of in- 

 ferior animals above, around, and beneath the enlivening 

 waters. 



With rosy dreams and bright streams, breezy morns and 

 mellow skies, a light heart and a clear conscience, may "God 

 speed ye well." 



