SPECKLED TROUT. 115 



from the water after it : they will dispute with each 

 other over it;, it is a morsel they love above every- 

 thing else. With such bait I have seen the born/ 

 angler (my grandfather was one) take a noble string 

 of trout from the most unpromising waters, and on 

 the most unpromising day. He used his hook so 

 coyly and tenderly, he approached the fish with such 

 address and insinuation, he divined the exact spot 

 where they lay ; if they were not eager he humored 

 them and seemed to steal by them; if they were 

 playful and coquettish he would suit his mood to 

 theirs ; if they were frank and sincere he met them 

 half way ; he was so patient and considerate, so en- 

 tirely devoted to pleasing the critical trout, and so 

 successful in his efforts surely his heart was upon 

 his hook, and it was a tender, unctuous heart, too, as 

 that of every angler is. How nicely he would meas- 

 ure the distance, how dexterously he would avoid an 

 overhanging limb or bush and drop the line in exactly 

 the right spot ; of course there was a pulse of feel- 

 ing and sympathy to the extremity of that line. If 

 your heart is a stone, however, or an empty husk, 

 there is no use to put it upon your hook ; it will not 

 tempt the fish ; the bait must be quick and fresh. 

 Indeed, a certain quality of youth is indispensable to 

 the successful angler, a certain unworldliness and 

 readiness to invest yourself in an enterprise that 

 don't ay in the current coin. Not only is the an 

 gler, like the poet, born and not made, as Walton 

 says, but there is a deal of the poet in him, and he 



