16 SALMON FISHING 



occasion such as that. Was there no happiness in 

 this world that could do without " improving " ? 

 When the minister went away, the other boy laughed 

 heartily and made grimaces, which was a natural and 

 not unwise way of taking the incident ; but I ques- 

 tion whether he could have acted so had he been 

 the hero and penitent of the hour. To myself, 

 whose nerves and mind had by the struggle with 

 the salmon been toned up into a state of acute per- 

 ceptiveness, the incident was neither amusing nor 

 evanescent. The white-haired gentleman wore a 

 wideawake hat. Ever since then his school of 

 thought and his type of head-dress have been 

 depressing things, from which I have been inclined 

 to flee. 



This reminiscence is not set down with oblique 

 intent. It is not primarily designed to deride 

 Wideawakery. It is intended to show how sensitive 

 the mind is when exalted by the excitement of sport. 

 Sensations experienced then endure in memory as 

 few others do. They are so vivid, so indisputable, 

 that one must take them to be the closest possible 

 approximation to knowing the truth of things. If 

 by chance some apprehension of ethical phenomena 

 presents itself amid the bustle, as it did through the 

 reverend gentleman's exhortation, that, I think, is 

 as much to be trusted as the singularly complete 

 and exact picture of scenery and incident which 

 is impressed upon the brain during a struggle with 

 a salmon. In the joy of battle the imagination 

 of mediocrity glows into perceptive genius. 



