80 FISHING IN EDEN 



Willie, who was fishing near me, said, " If thoo 

 strikes like that t' gig shaft itsel' won't be strang 

 enough for tha." I have never broken a rod since, 

 and I am now inclined to think that my first big hook 

 must have caught a root owing to the savage jerk I 

 gave it. 



There is evidently something in heredity, for the 

 first time I took my youngest boy out to fish I 

 tackled him up, put him into a deep hole, and sat 

 down behind him to put on a minnow myself. Just 

 as I was in the act of tying I was astonished to get 

 a hard knock on the top of the head, and found it 

 to be a half-pound trout he had thrown over his own, 

 without any thought of waiting for a net. He was 

 as proud as Lucifer, and, in spite of all I said, would 

 set off home, a distance of a mile and a half, to show 

 the monster to his sister. He did not snap his rod, 

 but he forgot to take it home with him. All that 

 mattered was the fish. But I was quite satisfied that 

 the family continuity in angling was established. 



