Repairs. 245 



ing again without silk, wax, a knife, and a file ; for with 

 these you can repair on the spot most of the accidents 

 to which an angler is liable, while without them you will 

 be helplessly crippled. Good-day, and good-luck. 



TIME, evening ; same parties. 



NOVICE. Good-evening. You see I have brought my 

 rod as you suggested. 



ANGLER. You have done well. What luck did you 

 have after we parted this morning? 



NOVICE. Oh, not so bad. But it is not essential to 

 my enjoyment of stream fishing that I take a trout every 

 five minutes. The cool fragrant air, the music of the 

 running water, and the beauties of the trees and flowers 

 which shade and grace the stream these, together with 

 the constant endeavor to improve my cast, and the sense 

 that my efforts were not in vain, made the day one con- 

 stant pleasure, though I caught but few fish and those 

 not large. 



ANGLER. You have the true angler's spirit, and this 

 makes it a double pleasure to assist and instruct you. 



NOVICE. While you are finishing your cigar, and be- 

 fore we enter on new ground, I should like to ask you one 

 or two questions about mending broken rods. How long 

 should the splice be by which the fragments are united? 

 For it seems to me that a short splice can hardly stand 

 the strain inseparably from use; while, on the other hand, 

 an excessive length unnecessarily shortens the rod. 



ANGLER. The question is very pertinent. The length 

 of the splice should be at least twelve times the diam- 

 eter of the joint at the break, perhaps even a little more 

 if the rod is very dense in the grain. It is well in such 



