6 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



Wednesday morning presented us with a dismal 

 fog, or blight, as they call it here, and the after- 

 noon with a steady downpour. 



It may be observed that I began this chapter 

 in sunshine and glory I have to finish it in 

 doleful despondency. To sit quietly for two days 

 in private lodgings, however cosy they may be, 

 is not an enlivening experience. We have books 

 and papers in galore, but we cannot be always 

 reading. We found watching the straight down- 

 pour of the continuous rain helped to pass the 

 dreary time, but our cramped energies demand 

 some more exciting outlet. In yonder meadow 

 is a cow bellowing and bemoaning the weaning 

 of her calf; a donkey strutting about among 

 some big cart horses, rubbing necks with them, 

 and thinking himself equal to the best of them. 



" Two harmless lambs are butting one the other 

 Which done, both bleating run, each to his mother." 



We play at draughts till the game palls upon 

 us; we gossip with the landlady and listen to 

 her stories. One of us is now, in this month of 

 June, croodling over the fire with a bad cold 

 and sore throat; the other, finding nothing more 

 congenial to do, has for some time set himself 

 to conclude this chapter, which began so happily, 

 by abusing the fishing, and so relieve his mind 

 of the monotony which is wholly attributable 

 to the weather; if the general tone of what I 



