CHAPTER XXVI. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



IF this book should be the means of making a single day 

 happier in the life of any angler, or of making some 

 crooked things straight to the young hand, or of saving the 

 life of one Bass that might have been otherwise killed by 

 illegitimate means or sacrificed to unworthy motives, I shall 

 be glad that it is written ; for these considerations alone, 

 and not for any personal profit or aggrandizement has it 

 been penned. 



And though there have been rods, and reels, and lines, 

 and other articles of tackle named for me by enthusiastic 

 friends and admirers, the honor itself has been my only 

 recompense, for I assure the reader that I have never re- 

 ceived, and would scorn to accept, any pecuniary fee or re- 

 ward for any thing devised by myself, or made prominent 

 by my efforts, for Black Bass fishing. 



My sole aim and intention has been to elevate the Black 

 Bass as a game-fish, and to provide suitable tackle for its 

 pursuit and capture, and to inculcate a more healthful and 

 humane and gentlemanly spirit among anglers. 



If I have succeeded, in the slightest degree, my work has 

 proved, as Walton said of angling, " like virtue, a reward 

 to itself." 



It is with a saddened heart, and an unwilling pen, that I 

 now finish the concluding chapter of this supplement, for I 

 feel that it is the last that will ever be added to this book. 



(195) 



