ODDS AND ENDS 



is the worse — most of those who fish are the better — for being 

 fishermen. 



Besides — and this is something — of all game sports, fly- 

 fishing is the least cruel. 



To the men or women who fish because they are fishermen, 

 the extraordinary fascination of fishing with a fly-rod requires 

 neither explanation nor elaboration. To the non-fisherman, 

 no words, however eloquent, can thrill his pulse or move his 

 soul, or endow him with this seventh sense. 



A fisherman, after a prolonged and successful four hours' 

 tussle with a large salmon, came back in triumph and related 

 his tale to his aunt, laying wearisome emphasis, as fishermen 

 will, on the time occupied, the muscle expenditure, the ex- 

 haustion, the anxiety, &c. " Well, but my dear Tom," she 

 remarked at last, " why didn't you cut the string and get rid 

 of the brute ? '* 



II.— Bags, Flies, &c. 



The Editor asks for a few bags. 



What can one say ? To detail heavy bags looks like affec- 

 tation, or worse. To give blanks, or betwixt and between, 

 would be of no interest. 



I therefore obey, with this caveat, that these white- stone 

 days are very rare ; that they are due more to chance and 

 perseverance than to skill ; and that the number of blank 

 or of mediocre days one has enjoyed are overwhelmingly 

 numerous in comparison. 



A friend remarked sympathetically to a fisherman trudging 



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