CHAPTER II 



" BOB " AND HIS APPRENTICES 



WHAT was it that made me take so keenly to 

 angling? I imagine it was the result of all these 

 early boyish experiences which fostered self-reliance. 

 One might easily have been discouraged in a remote 

 district where things could not be had in shops, if 

 one had not been brought up to do all sorts of things 

 for oneself, with the corollary that the necessary rod 

 was forthcoming, and the real start made. 



In a village community there are no strangers. 

 People all know one another. They are thrown to- 

 gether, however, in certain groups. It was in the 

 church choir that I was brought into association, at 

 a somewhat later date, with a better fisherman than 

 Old Dick. My real apprenticeship to angling, as 

 was the case with several others, began when I got 

 to know " Bob." My voice had just begun to break, 

 which meant that I had been turned out of the choir, 

 and set to blow the organ. " Bob " was, in conse- 

 quence, anxious that some of us should learn to 



sing bass and so not be lost to the choir. 



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