A Defense of Fishermen 



stood by listening fishermen ; and they, 

 to their enjoyment and edification, are 

 permitted by a properly adjusted men- 

 tal equipment to believe what they 

 hear. 



This faculty is one of the safest 

 signs of full-blooded right to member- 

 ship. If incredulity is intimated by a 

 professional member no injustice will 

 be done if he is at once put under 

 suspicion as a squaw-fisherman. As 

 to non-members who accuse true 

 fishermen of falsehood, it is per- 

 fectly clear that they are utterly un- 

 fitted to deal with the subject. The 

 only theory fitting the condition leads 

 to the statement that any story of per- 

 sonal experience told by a fisherman 

 is to the fishing apprehension indu- 

 bitably true; and that since disbelief 

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