12 



THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



selves to dabbling about in the shallows at the 

 foot. Two young ones, who would not go over- 

 head voluntarily, were, to prevent them taking 

 cold, thrice ducked nolen volens ; and another, who 

 would not bathe, was gently bumped against a sod- 

 dyke. They now proceed to the serious business 

 of the afternoon, fishing. The strongest, as a 

 matter of right, select such parts of the water as 

 appear to them best ; the weaker fish where they 

 can ; and those who have neither rod nor line wait 

 on such as have, or try to catch minnows and 

 loaches with their hands, or to spear eels with the 

 prongs of an old fork stuck in a broomstick. 



Here is a chubby little fellow, in a pinafore, five 

 last birthday, making his first essay as an angler. 

 His rod is an untrimmed stick of hazel, which he 

 has picked up by the way ; his line a couple of 

 yards of packthread ; his hook one of the four old, 

 beardless, rusty ones which he bought as a bargain 

 of a schoolfellow ; and his bait the worms which 

 he dug in his grandmother's garden, breaking the 

 handle of her fire-shovel in turning up the earth. 

 But though rude his tackle and small his skill, ere 

 the sun set great was his reward. The water was 

 in prime order, and the fish bit freely. He caught 

 five minnows, and an eel twice as long as his middle 

 finger, and almost as thick ; and lost, as he affirmed 

 and verily believed, a trout about three pounds 

 weight, which dropped off just as he was whisking 

 him out. This is the first step of the angler's pro- 



