PREFATOKY. IX 



field attractive and not discouraging by a pedantic display 

 of its mysterious paraphernalia. 



A taste for out-of-door sports must be nurtured carefully. 

 Its growth cannot be forced. Gradually and completely 

 can we wean our families from the dissipation, late hours, 

 and unhealthy conventionalisms of fashionable watering- 

 places. By degrees we shall teach our wives and daughters 

 to participate in the favorite pastimes of their husbands and 

 sons ; for do they not always take a warm interest in any- 

 thing that affects us ? Do they not sympathize "with our 

 views and plans, and mould their tastes to ours ? Why, 

 then, should not a sporting literature be provided which our 

 women may read with pleasure, and our children with profit ? 

 More suitable or healthy light reading could not be put into 

 their hands for perusal in the summer days. 



Not vain enough to suppose that the material of these 

 pages meets this requisition, nor intending to write a book 

 upon such a model, I nevertheless indulge the belief that it 

 answ^ers in many essentials the public demand, and that a 

 cordial welcome will be extended to the Fishing Tourist. 



THE AUTHOR. 

 New Yoek, February 1, 1S73. 



