THE FASCINATION 201 



lure of angling is to attempt the impossible. 

 Were I to succeed I would have to do with my 

 typewriter what Phil, the misshaped violinist in 

 "The Blazed Trail," did with his instrument. In 

 cold words, it is the Lure of the Open which 

 may account for that insistent Urge that calls us 

 to lake and stream. The Lure of the Open. 

 Away back in the beginning of things, when our 

 forefathers wore the skins of wild beasts, wrest- 

 ing their food from unwilling Nature with rude 

 implement and weapon, they, perforce, lived close 

 to Nature. Remaining to us, through countless 

 thousands of "go-betweens," is that love for the 

 Open, that desire for the Wild. Here, then, 

 is found the true attractivity of fishing. To hear 

 the soft wind sough through the leafless branches 

 in early spring, caressing the willow-cats until 

 they arch their furry backs in delight, is the call 

 that sends us forth to observe, religiously, "Open- 

 ing Day." The insect life of June, the green 

 trees, the up-springing flowers, the songs of mul- 

 titudinous birds those are the things which call 

 us out; not the desire to catch fish. Every true 

 angler is an embryonic poet, feeling things which 

 he cannot express, seeing things which he cannot 

 describe. He who fishes for fish is not an angler 

 but a mere fisherman. He who angles that he 



