The Contented Angler 7 



a fish now and then he would surely never 

 appreciate the capture of one. 



It is the love of nature, not the desire 

 to destroy it, that prompts the honest 

 man of the rod and gun. 



And the angler is humane. He never 

 subjects his quarry to cruelty, and is 

 never indifferent to the sufferings of do- 

 mesticated animals, as are so many brutal 

 persons we know of who are not anglers. 

 There is no cruelty in proper fishing and 

 field sports. The fishes and birds and 

 beasts hunted by the practical fieldman do 

 not suffer in his hands. The sportsman 

 knows this, but he can never convince 

 the whole world of it so long as impracti- 

 cable men are allowed to go forth and 

 slaughter unmercifully, in and out of 

 season, by fair means and foul, and yet 

 proclaim they, too, are sportsmen be- 

 cause they kill game. 



The desire to torture and kill is less 

 entertained by the angler and hunter than 

 by any other class of men. 



