COARSE-FISHING MEMORIES 



By H. T. SHERINGHAM 



" Coarse "-fishing it has been now for generations, and coarse- 

 fishing I fear it will remain, for human wit has been quite un- 

 able to devise another name for it which shall win the united 

 suffrages of its devotees. Gallant enough efforts there have 

 been — newspaper referendums and the like — but the deplor- 

 able adjective still holds its own, and still invites the odious 

 comparisons that are drawn by the " Corinthians " of the sport, 

 whose lofty minds despise all that is not salmon or trout. 

 Whether their aspersions and contempt are to be regretted I 

 am not sure. In the gloomy days that are coming, when the 

 millionaire shall have bestridden every worthy salmon or trout 

 river on the one hand, while the tax-gatherer on the other shall 

 have clipped all margins from every hard-earned and inadequate 

 middle-class income, in those days a little gudgeon-fishing 

 from the towing-path of Thames, or a patient session by the 

 Grand Junction Canal, will be about all that circumstances 

 will permit to Walton's downtrodden disciples. And in those 

 days there will be an echo of King Henry's words upon Saint 

 Crispin's, " I pray thee, wish not one man more." For there 

 will not then be many gudgeon, and the roach of the canal 

 will be starveling things. 



Even so, and then there will be a gleam or two of pleasure 



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