" BOB " AND HIS APPRENTICES 35 



breath of play, and which earlier on led to the 

 chopping of firewood and the milking of cows, now 

 carried us a step forward into the realm of serious 

 imitation. We used to practise at home all that we 

 had seen " Bob " do at his little vice on the round 

 table. Gradually we got into the way of selecting 

 the right kind of feathers, and whipping them on 

 to suitable hooks. In process of time some of us 

 acquired a set of somewhat similar tools to " Bob's," 

 and I remember particularly how we treasured and 

 compared and polished our tweezers. Feathers and 

 furs were easier to get than suitable tools, and some 

 of them found their way into " Bob's " cupboard as 

 an offering to the God of Fishing. 



" Bob " was a man of many parts, and much in 

 request in the little country town when there was 

 anything afoot like a concert, a Band of Hope meet- 

 ing, or a volunteer drill. So*to our infinite sorrow 

 we could not spend quite all the long winter nights 

 with him. But when at home he was not always 

 making flies. Sometimes we would find him either 

 mending or making a rod, not like old Dick's, but 

 lighter, and with a butt of young ash tree. The tops 

 were, however, invariably of lancewood; though I 

 remember he once finished a rod top off with a planed 

 down piece of an old greenheart ramrod. His butt 

 piece was cunningly scraped away from just above 



