AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 5 



Father Thames, where I need not seek for order or rent ; where 

 all are at liberty to wet their lines in peace so long as they do 

 not infringe those good rules laid down in the interests of fair 

 sport. 



" I sometimes ask myself if it can be possible that there are 

 millions of toiling men whose love of Nature would be as great 

 as mine were not the beauties of spring, the fragrance of summer, 

 and the splendour of autumn unknown to them. Had I pen that 

 would write or voice that could speak, I would use them, hoping 

 to hasten on the day, which is coming, when slavish, unceasing 

 toil will no longer be the price demanded for the bare necessities 

 of life. Science, machinery, emigration, combination and educa- 

 tion, more merciful than man, are at work; and will most 

 assuredly work out their task of lightening and redistributing the 

 labour necessary for the life and comfort, if not of all, why then 

 of the great majority instead of the small minority. 



" Stupid fears, selfish interests, class prejudices, cruel indiffer- 

 ence, robbery and jobbery are clogs upon the wheels; but the 

 wheels turn, and are bringing the day when men shall no longer 

 live, slave and die without occasional communion with Nature's 

 truthful preachers. 



" Can any one have witnessed, as you and I have done these 

 ten days past, the hills, dales, woods and meads all clothed in 

 their gayest, pleasing at every turn, and sometimes so grouped as 

 to cause us to stand and wonder at their beauty and grandeur, 

 without feeling that of a certainty an all-wise Creator must have 

 meant these scenes for truer, better men, or for all ? That they 

 may have been intended for all, and that the day may soon come 

 when all shall have opportunities of enjoying them, is my earnest, 

 humble, prayerful hope." 



The chairman of the Piscatorial Society was a 

 true prophet. Anglers have multiplied and are 

 much in evidence on all public waters within a 

 considerable radius of our towns and cities. During 

 the same period the more wealthy votaries of the 

 sport have gone farther afield, and for them the 

 cost of fishing goes up ! up ! up ! Almost any price 



