56 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



reputed by those who live upon its banks as the best 

 of any," a statement by Izaak Walton which is quite 

 confirmed by my own limited experience. I have 

 also heard of black bass caught somewhere in the 

 Southern States, which, as articles for human food, 

 are about on a par with the sole of a boot and a 

 blacking brush combined. Might one not then rea- 

 sonably argue that the particular chub mentioned in 

 the interesting speech above referred to is one of a 

 baser sort than that which Izaak Walton so lovingly 

 presented to the milkmaid ? Or it may be, as I have 

 already hinted, that the proper cooking of chub in 

 these degenerate days has become a lost art. I admit 

 that, even in those good old times, the chub had an 

 unsavoury reputation ; but what says the master ? 



Pise. " I doubt not but at yonder tree I shall catch 

 a chub ; and then we'll turn to an honest, cleanly 

 hostess, that I know right well, rest ourselves there, 

 and dress it for our dinner." 



Ven. (evidently alarmed at the prospect) replies : 

 "Oh, sir, a chub is the worst of fish that swims; I 

 hoped for a trout for my dinner. " 



Pise. " Trust me, there is not a likely place for a 

 trout hereabouts. . . . The sun is got so high and 

 shines so clear that I will not undertake the catching 

 of a trout till evening ; and, though a chub be by you 

 and many others reckoned the worst of fish, yet you 

 shall see /'// make it a good fish by dressing it." 



Ven. " Why, how will you dress him ? " 



Pise. "I'll tell you, by-and-by, when I have caught 

 him." 



Needless it is for me to tell how he was caught, or 



