82 THE ANGLER'S GUIDE 



bass with; he could catch his fish "just as well with 

 common tackle and a yellow devil," the yellow devil being 

 a brutal, sure-killing instrument of torture that looks like 

 a painted chicken egg decorated with spikes, feathers and 

 safety-pins. 



Earlier discoverers than the yellow devil advocate found 

 still more killing apparatus in the spear, the bowgun and 

 drag net; so, it is not even necessary to use a rod or line 

 or any sort of tackle if mere slaughter is the glory of the 

 day. 



Man may fish with or without tackle, but he can not 

 angle without it. 



_ We could play checkers with frying-pans and make as 

 high a score as with the fine, neat, more handy little disks; 

 we could follow the hounds in fox hunting aboard a loco- 

 motive or auto-car instead of manfully astride the shapely 

 horse, and we could pot the fox with a charge of shot at 

 the start if the brush itself were the main object of the 

 hunt, just as we could take more fowl with a cannon than 

 with the truer sporting arm, or gather more foot balls in 

 an athletic shop than on the field in play. 



Thoreau says we can eat nails. 



An ancient writer sets forth : "The hunter follows in the 

 chase and enjoys the run with both hound and hare, and 

 is glad if the hare escapes." 



It is not in evidence that the spirit and sport of yacht- 

 ing is lessened by the advent of the speedy machine boat, 

 or that the gentle pastime derived from coaching or driving 

 or riding is forgotten by the pleasure-seeker because the 

 electric train gets the business man to his office faster 

 than the stage or street car. 



So, all the sure-killing, crate-filling devices and greedy 

 methods of the mere fisherman do not appeal and never 

 will appeal to the angler, for, like the connoisseur who 

 prefers a few fine treasures and the study of art to a whole 

 bargain-counter of daubs and never a glimpse of art out- 

 side of the catalogue and auction room, the angler loves 

 the gratification of his favorite following only under 

 similar conditions a fair field, a fine equipment, a gallant 

 game, and an honest purpose, rather than the mere 

 getting of quantity by indifferent methods. 



To those who value fishes solely by weight and measure 

 and number, the market stall is just as joyous a fishing 

 place as the silvery lake, the pearly brook, the placid 

 river, the breezy bay or the green ocean surf, but to those 

 who delight in the day and the play more than in the greedy 

 mess, we condemn the hand-liner's sure killing gear, the 

 marketman's boat and bait, and the raid upon the fish's 

 spawning bed, and recommend instead the outfit of the 

 angler, the feeling of the gentleman and the conduct of the 

 sportsman. 



Thus equipped in mind and matter, brother, we will in 

 fancy sally forth to one of the most delightful of all the 

 angler's joys the taking of bluefish on fine tackle. 



