36 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



The chub will give pleasure and a supper to " some 

 poor body/' as Walton says. And here I may 

 remark that I have never yet had any difficulty in 

 finding grateful recipients for freshwater fish of the 

 less esteemed kinds. I have heard superior people 

 ask what is the good of catching fish which are of 

 no use when you have got them. One has only to 

 see how gladly many a labourer will accept a brace 

 of fish for his or his children's supper, or how his 

 good wife welcomes such an offering, and one feels 

 that the lofty critic is answered. Criticism is too 

 often merely a statement of a personal point of 

 view. 



The novice's first eel disposed of, the next 

 .business is tea at the mill house. At the risk of 

 provoking a smile, I feel bound to emphasise the 

 importance of the angler's tea with country bread 

 and butter, new milk, and possibly home-made jam. 

 I strongly advise the novice never to neglect this 

 simple meal when he is fishing, and to take some 

 trouble, if need be, to ensure getting it. My reason 

 is partly the pleasure of it a townsman never more 

 fully realises the charms of the country than when 

 he is seated in the parlour of some cottage or simple 

 inn, looking out into an old-world garden, and 

 enjoying the scent of the wallflowers and partly 

 the use of it. The half-hour's rest after what has 



