280 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



these arts the time and attention they demand if even 

 a fair degree of skill is to be attained. For the angler 

 of ' ' elegant leisure " this has no weight perhaps, but 

 he too will, as a rule, find better tackle than he can 

 make, readily at his command at a cost so inconsider- 

 able as to quite justify me in saying that his amateur 

 work will not pay for, if he be young, out-of-door 

 sports will far better serve to lay up in his still devel- 

 oping frame the treasures of health and vitality for 

 future use. There are those, indeed, for whom it is a 

 proper employment of time and who are endowed with 

 the peculiar faculties required. To such it is a charm- 

 ing occupation, a delightful distraction, and a choice 

 factor in the enjoyment of the winter angler by the 

 fireside. 



Every angler ought to keep a record or diary of his 

 angling bouts. Most anglers do so, I think. Therein 

 should be recorded not only the weight and size of daily 

 catch, the number saved, and the number thrown lack, 

 (I look back with especial pride upon my record in this 

 direction), but also some jottings of scenes, impressions, 

 and incidents. Reading therefrom years after at the 

 fireside he will detect a faint perfume of old forests in 

 the winter air, and hear again in fancy the swirl of 

 swift waters sweeping among mossy rocks. 



I take up my own, quoting from it almost at random. 

 Note, if you please, how, in untamed words, have ex- 

 pressed themselves the exhilaration of the* stream the 

 tingling of healthy blood through ample veins the joy 



