Salmon Fishing. 39 



are you afraid of? You don't pull an ounce; 

 here, give me the rod a moment!" Such, or 

 something very like them, were the words I 

 rattled out in no very measured a tone, I fear. 

 When I handed back the rod to the owner, 

 the poor fish was as near beaten as possible; 

 but even then some time elapsed, and many a 

 cry of hope and despair dropped from his lips, 

 ere he had the inexpressible joy of landing 

 the prize. " Whoop! whoop! whoop!" was the 

 exultant cry that echoed and re-echoed far 

 and near up and down the valley ! and with 

 a grasp of my hand, as though it had been a 

 pump-handle, he exclaimed, " Excuse my feel- 

 ings, it is my first salmon!" 



What an advantage is it to an embryo salmon- 

 fisher to know how to handle a trout-rod, and 

 kill fish with it! Had my young friend been 

 thus benefitted, he would not have made so 

 ludicrous an exhibition as the above. 



It is astonishing how success, even in a small 

 way, emboldens the youthful. When next 



