ALDERS AND REEDS. 93 



willow float, shot under one of the arches. Before 

 it was half-way through, tug tug would be felt. 

 There was no need to strike, for the fish, in the 

 act of turning, after taking the worm, hooked them- 

 selves. Many a good fry of trout, which had been 

 caught in that primitive fashion, would some of 

 those carter-lads have for breakfast. If two lads 

 were on the bridge, one only fished, the other 

 watched the proceedings ; if four of them were 

 there, two went at it one to each arch. That 

 would certainly not be allowed now, although the 

 trout are in the streams still, and have their hovers 

 under these bridges as of old. 



The streams that run through common lands 

 have been fished in from time beyond our parish 

 records, yet I have known men constitute them- 

 selves the guardians of such. In one hamlet I often 

 visited, a person who came from no one knew where, 

 rented the largest unoccupied house. Before he 

 had been in the place six months he made himself 

 obnoxious by conceiving the idea that the common 

 stream, under his management, could be converted 

 into a very nice fishing - water for the exclusive 

 pleasure of himself and his friends. He even went 



