THE POINT OF VIEW 207 



whose house I was staying claims I lost more 

 than I caught by having them flounder off the 

 hook while trying to take them by the gills and 

 by flinging them ashore." The italics are mine. 

 And this fellow had the temerity to add that 

 some poor devil (an itinerant parson, he called 

 him) annoyed him by wading in and fishing 

 with a "stick cut from the forest." Had Wash- 

 ington Irving witnessed this fellow's fishing I 

 doubt that he would have been moved to write: 

 "There is certainly something in angling that 

 tends to produce a gentleness of spirit and a 

 pure serenity of mind." 



There are men calling themselves anglers! 

 save the mark who limit the number of fish 

 to the capacity of creel and pockets, and to whom 

 size means merely compliance with the law a 

 wicked law, at that, r which permits the taking 

 of immature trout. It is not an inspiring sight 

 to see a valiant angler doing battle with a six- 

 inch trout, and, after brutally subjecting it to 

 capture, carefully measuring it on the butt of 

 his rod which he has marked for the purpose, 

 stretching it, if necessary, to meet the law's re- 

 quirements, and in some cases, if it does not 

 come up to the legal standard, rudely flinging it 

 away in disgust to die as a result of its mis- 



