1 82 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



so smooth, soft, and seductive, that you must, 

 at first, believe him. 



It is quite the real article I write of now. He 

 headed the table and was in his happiest mood. 

 He had pretty listeners, prettily decked out, on 

 either side of him, who listened to his every word 

 while their eyes travelled up and down the table to 

 take note of how we below the salt were affected 

 by such Solomonic wisdom. We were not moved 

 so very much, so the voice was raised a little and 

 we heard it say : " Country life has no charms 

 for me, and the twaddle that one reads about the 

 songs of birds and the music of brooks is only 

 fit for children. Intellectual men have serious 

 problems to occupy their thoughts. Country life 

 and sport are for country people. Sport in any 

 shape or form, does not appeal to me ; it is a mere 

 will-o'-the-wisp, a killer of time and, sometimes, I 

 fear, a brutaliser of all the finer instincts." 



What could one answer ? A man who has no 

 love for country life or sport of any kind must be 

 a slightly lopsided creature, but I could not tell 

 him so. He paused awhile, so I had my chance of 

 taking up the cudgels, but I preferred to let him 

 run his gait, which he soon recommenced to do 

 by apologising for being in Ireland. He came to 

 study the Irish Question on the spot, and he had 

 formed opinions that must, he felt sure, be shared 

 by all observant and thoughtful persons who had 

 taken pains to study the Irish character in Ireland. 



