10 Fly -rods and Fly -tackle. 



jungle and morass by sheer brute force, rather than that 

 of the civilized man, who sweeps the one from his path 

 and bridges the other. 



A lady seeking to tickle the ear of a celebrated painter 

 with that refinement of flattery only possible to women, 

 asked how he mixed his colors to produce effects so 

 lovely and so unusual. Like the trout, his sense of pro- 

 priety was, at least temporarily, dormant. He refused 

 absolutely to rise to that fly, notwithstanding the skill 

 and delicacy of the cast. Gruffly he replied that he 

 mixed them with his brains. 



So the angler should fish with his brains, promptly 

 tracing an effect to its cause, taking to heart every hint 

 so obtained, whether it tends to improvement of tackle, 

 or its use. Otherwise he is nothing but a pot-fisherman, 

 whose proper fishing-ground is the market, and whose 

 only tackle should be hard cash. 



The Angler considers his pursuit as a fine art, of 

 which merely to obtain fish is but small part these 

 he can get more cheaply and in greater abundance in 

 the market. It is the way the thing is done this and 

 the open air, the odor of the woods and flowers, the 

 laughter of the running water, the beauty and song of 

 the birds, and that peace and content which open the 

 heart of man to see and love the ever-changing beauties 

 of nature these give to that pastime a charm pos- 

 sessed by no other. Though old age and infirmity come 

 on, and the foot once familiar with wood and stream is 

 now confined to the narrow limits of a chamber, when 

 every other earthly pursuit has lost its zest, who ever 

 heard even then that the enthusiasm of the angler had 

 diminished, or that the dim eye failed to kindle at the 

 recollection and tale of earlier triumphs with the rod. 



