CHAPTER XXIII 



THE EMPTY CREEL AND THE FULL 



THROUGHOUT these chapters I have held to a 

 principle expressed by a well-known angler years 

 ago: "It is not all of fishing to fish." In this 

 and the succeeding chapter I purpose enlarging 

 upon the thought, and so conclude "Trout Lore." 

 Many a day have I returned from a trouting ex- 

 pedition, creel guiltless of fish, but more than sat- 

 isfied with myself and the world; upon the other 

 hand, I have returned at nightfall with a basket 

 all but bursting from its weight of fish, yet not 

 satisfied. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who 

 said: "Little do ye know your own blessedness; 

 for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to 

 arrive, and the true success is to labor." Just 

 what I would say is found in this quotation; 

 though I do not know that I shall succeed in say- 

 ing it. 



THE EMPTY CREEL 



One perfect May morning I caught an early 

 train which dropped me within easy walking dis- 



186 



