42 The Angler's Secret 



gentle art from the hand-line gentry, from 

 the fisherman who uses both net and 

 line for market purposes, and from the 

 wasteful, brutal, indiscriminate fish-killer. 

 The commercial fisherman is not an 

 angler. And no person is modernly 

 termed an angler who fishes without fish- 

 ing tackle. Mere fishing is not angling. 

 All men who paint and draw are not ar- 

 tists. The terms "angler" and "gentle 

 art " both belong to fresh water, and it is 

 a courtesy on the part of the real angler 

 to extend the expressions to salt water, 

 where so many scoffers are to be con- 

 tended with. But the angler knows that 

 there are many true brothers of the 

 gentle art who follow salt-water play, and 

 to the terms "angler" and "gentle art" 

 these particular gentlemen are welcome. 

 It was along the quiet, silvery stream's 

 mellow bank, shaded by the green trees, 

 charmed by the birds and the floral per- 

 fume, that the angler took his name, 

 gently casting here and there, now over 



