THE RIVER ARROW 79 



unequalled by any other in the country. He 

 was an exact prototype of Goldsmith's "Village 

 Schoolmaster": 



" 'Twas certain he could write and cipher too, 

 Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage 

 And even the story ran that he could gauge." 



But beyond all these accomplishments, and this 

 is the point I have been aiming at, he was a 

 most expert angler; he made his own flies, and 

 of course no other could make flies like those 

 of his make. I think it must have been his great 

 skill and his wonderful success that first drew 

 my boyish imagination in the way of fishing. It 

 was to this old village, once reigned over by my 

 old friend the schoolmaster, that we ("Piscator 

 Major " and I) found our way on Saturday even- 

 ing, June 3rd, for the purpose of testing the old 

 river as to its May Fly capabilities. 



This is not the first time we have fished in 

 "The Arrow." In June, 1900, we (the Professor, 

 the Major, and I) had a stretch of this river 

 higher up. What we did on that occasion is 

 fully described in my book, "An Old Man's 

 Holiday," in the chapter entitled "In Pursuit 

 of the May Fly." 



We arrived at this old inn late in the evening; 

 in the midst of a post-prandial repose we were 

 aroused by the sudden apparition in our room 

 of a remarkable spectre not unlike the accom- 



