22 FLY-FISHING AND FLY-MAKING. 



is, on the fish's part,, piling the Pelion of idiocy on the 

 Ossa of absurdity. Then, again, the salmon takes that 

 poem of color, a salmon fly, when the natural minnow 

 fly or worm will not lure him. Why ? Is it sheer wan- 

 tonness akin to that which prompts the omnivorous ap- 

 petite of the ostrich or camel, who swallow with relish 

 anything from a door-key to a newspaper, or are the fish, 

 as Sir Bedivere, 



" Like a girl 

 Valuing the giddy pleasure of the eyes " 



over the gem-like insect, counterfeit ? The man who says, 

 honestly, "I don't know," is to be respected. Eespect 

 me, therefore, oh ! gentle reader, for I am ignorant in 

 this matter. Perchance the fish see in the fancy fly 

 some of the qualities which are the quintessence of 

 delight and piquancy to its fishy palate. Suppose a 

 boy came across a fruit, hanging on a .tree, within reach, 

 having the odor of strawberry and pine-apple, the juicy, 

 luscious appearance of pear and peach, together with the 

 creamy pulp of the banana in short, possessing all the 

 sublimated Dualities of the most delicious of imaginable 

 fruits, to the eye and nose could we wonder at him 

 for plucking and attempting to eat it, even if the taste 

 were ashes like that of Dead Sea apples ? Indeed, the 

 " gardener Adam and his wife," did just that thing. 

 Perhaps, I say, the trout and salmon find themselves in an 

 analogous position. Imagine one of the Silver Doctor's 

 or Parmachene Belle's, made by Orvis, floating over a blase 

 trout, the sunlight rippling through its many-hued fibers, 

 and lighting it up until its appearance excels that of the 

 apparel of an Eastern queen, and further remember that 



