CHAPTER XIV 



The Thames Trout Fisherman 



Never can Hurley backwaters seem lovelier 

 to anglers, lovers, and boating folk than on 

 placid August days. Beautiful beyond the 

 power of words or of paint-brush to depict, 

 on a Saturday, a Sunday, or even in the throes 

 of a bank-holiday, how infinitely more are 

 they so in the quiet of the week, on days as 

 fair as that which Herbert hymned ! The 

 influx of boating men and women from 

 London, and of non-boating men and women 

 in boats, the crush at the locks, the pant- 

 ings and screamings and steamings of the 

 launches, the scatterings broadcast of pastry 

 and pork-pie wrappers — these are the dread- 

 fully familiar features which too often 

 combine on high days and holidays to 



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