CHAPTER IX. 



A DAY IN ELYSIAN FIELDS. 



A wet day on the Ver Fishing a failure Trout tailing In 

 a shed not waterproof Lark's nest A lecture on cruelty to 

 birds A solitary trout A run to catch train Too late A 

 pleasant pub. and a good supper. 



HAT wild enthusiast about everything of a 

 fishy nature who, over the pseudonym of 

 "Dragnet," drags into his net all those 

 interesting and amusing scraps in "The 

 Fishing Gazette" which constitute its "lighter vein," 

 has insisted, on behalf of the editor, on my writing 

 a story of some sort for this Christmas number. 

 But, bless him, I have no story to tell ! When I 

 happen to have any reminiscences to fall back upon 

 I record them truthfully, and without the garnish of 

 a vivid imagination. I leave the imaginative to the 

 poetic " Dragnet ; " in his column truth is rarely 

 found, and fiction doth abound. 



There are many men so happily fixed in the world 

 as to be able to devote all the time they want to the 

 delightful pleasures of angling. Others there are 

 who, like myself, can but rarely indulge in waterside 



V 



