84 AN ANGLER'S BASKET. 



It is a grand sport, a noble sport ; it is the only sport of 

 which it can be said that the man who can wander about a 

 riverside in thunder, lightning, hail, rain, wind, and snow, 

 or sit all day without bite or sup on a wet sod in a cramp- 

 inviting position, surrounded by a fog thick with influenza, 

 asthma, and rheumatic gout, is the same man who cannot be 

 induced to go to church because the pews are uncomfortable. 



The fly-fishing novice who goes out believing he is 

 provided with an unrivalled collection of death-dealing 

 tackle and flies which must certainly empty the river, is 

 about as foolish as that other fellow who thinks a grass- 

 widow is green. 



* * 



I remember asking a Loch Leven boatman if the 

 numerous pike in the loch often took the spinning baits of 

 trout anglers. " Dom them," said he, " the greedy brutes 

 would tak' o' the Sawbath day." 



* * 



I once heard a farmer's wife say it was possible to get 

 manured to anything. 



* * 



All stuff, like a charity dinner. 



* * 



" Who made this vile body ? " said the parson to the little 

 girl. " Mi mother made mi body, sir, and mi sister Sallie 



made mi skirt." 



* * 



A man who cannot pray without a velvet cushion to kneel 

 on, might as well keep his mouth shut. 



