250 FLY FISHING 



boyhood to suffer anguish after losing an un- 

 expectedly large fish. The whole of life then 

 seems laid waste by despair ; the memory of past 

 joys counts for nothing ; one is sure that no 

 future success can ever compensate for the 

 present loss ; and one rails against the established 

 order of everything, and . is indignant that any 

 human being should ever have been born to 

 undergo such intolerable misery. Even in later 

 years we cannot hope to face the loss of very 

 large fish with equanimity. Nobody can become 

 perfect in bearing what is unbearable, and it may 

 be counted to our credit if in these very bitter 

 moments silence descends upon us, and we pre- 

 serve outward appearances. 



Burn fishing is not without its charm even in 

 later years, and is a peculiar form of angling 

 separate from all others. I am thinking now of 

 those north country burns too small for fly 

 fishing, which run in narrow stony channels 

 between overgrown banks. Here one must fish 

 with a worm and a short line, and the difficulty 

 consists in getting the worm into the water with- 

 out any part of oneself being seen by the trout. 

 The usual method is to advance stealthily, some- 



