Lines. 75 



mistakes, and rot the line in the process of preparation. 

 This will at once be detected on proving it in this way. 

 This precaution should never be neglected, lest you 

 " sound the depths of dark despair," as did the writer, 

 who, on one occasion, was caught as follows in the wilds 

 of Maine, with a brand-new tapered forty-yard line then 

 used for the first time, and bought from a most reputa- 

 ble dealer. For months the trip had been anticipated 

 and prepared for. You know, or if not, may you soon 

 know, the April fever of the trout fisherman that rest- 

 less longing for the green woods and silvery stream 

 which precedes the opening season when no matter 

 how happily he may be circumstanced, something essen- 

 tial seems wanting. If it has a parallel, it is only in the 

 sensations of the confirmed smoker, who, in a moment 

 of weakness and repletion, has " sworn off." 



The legion, who, without other cause, have committed 

 this folly, and who remember with what longing they 

 looked towards the appointed time, and the halting march 

 of the carefully counted days, unrelieved by the assur- 

 ance of the considerate friend "that the watched pot 

 never boils " those who remember this, and how " free- 

 dom shrieked " when once again the way to the tobac- 

 conist was open such only, outside the brotherhood of 

 anglers, can appreciate the thrill with which my maiden 

 cast was at last delivered. 



Two fine trout rose at once to the flies, leaping clear 

 of the water in their eager rivalry, their red and golden 

 sides flashing like jewels in the morning sun. A quick 

 strike, and the line comes back, but where are the flies 

 and the trout? 



He who sits down on an imaginary chair ; he who 

 would raise his hat to salute his would-be sweetheart, 



