264 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



near where he lived, and at a very early age he 

 angled in it, with a hazel-stick for a rod, and a 

 crooked pin for a hook, catching occasionally a 

 gudgeon, a small roach, or a ruffe, and plenty of 

 minnows, which he was sometimes fortunate enough 

 to be able to sell for bait to the village doctor, who 

 was a fisherman, and who lent him his bait-can. 

 Then he set his heart upon a real rod and line, 

 such as the gentlemen fishermen used, but not so 

 expensive. His mother was willing to gratify his 

 wish, of course ; and by dint of saving a penny now 

 and a penny then, and by going without a new 

 gown, which she sadly needed, she managed to buy 

 him a cheap rod and line. From that time forward 

 he was an angler, and as his love for the pastime 

 grew, so did his knowledge of the true and the 

 beautiful. 



Thenceforth he was above the grosser vices of his 

 coevals ; thenceforth he grew up a man superior to 

 his fellows, and rose so much above them as to 

 become a tradesman in a small way on his own 

 account. 



It is fishing which has made life happy for him. 



He married young, and he was fond of his wife, 

 but she does not enter into or understand his tastes, 

 and so he leads a separate life, as it were, into 

 which he retires when things go wrong, or his wife 

 is cross. 



With his small wants and his unselfish nature, 

 the past has been a happy time in spite of its hard- 



