FOREWORD 



THIS book owes its existence to the kindly recep- 

 tion accorded to odd papers on fishing and kindred 

 subjects read to various literary and angling 

 societies. 



The first chapter in the book attempts to repro- 

 duce the circumstances and atmosphere in which I 

 lived up to the age of twenty-one. 



Certain potentially valuable impulses in country- 

 bred lads are touched upon. They are no different 

 in nature, of course, from town lads, but their 

 opportunities in regard both to work and pleasure 

 present a striking contrast. They constantly see 

 their elders doing different kinds of both outdoor 

 and indoor work, and, as soon as ever they are big 

 enough, take a helpful part in it themselves. 

 Nature has endowed them with a faculty for 

 imitation. Their leanings to particular forms of 

 work and pleasure yary considerably. One lad 

 desires above all else to be a good mower with a 

 scythe, another, because he loves horses, to be a 

 ploughman, on the aesthetic side another wants to 

 play the violin, and a fourth in his spare time to be 

 a fisherman. Whatever such natural impulse is, 

 it is all for good, if opportunity for satisfying 



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