202 t)e ar&en's 



and select diet, wherein Nature has placed such 

 magical charms that all his powers can never 

 resist them, if fastened on the hook with that 

 exactness, that his life may shine, and the bait 

 seem undeprived of natural motion." When 

 Theocritus sang, " Sweet is the life of frogs," he 

 little thought of the pike, and the use the classic 

 Rana would be put to by the modern angler. I 

 think these old angling authors should be read 

 during a midsummer drought their stories are 

 so cool, and ripple from their quills so sponta- 

 neously. 



In connection with bees and insects, Jesse 

 himself provokes a smile when he declares that, 

 together with wasps and bumble-bees, the hor- 

 net "may be perfectly managed. . . . Two or 

 three whiffs of tobacco-smoke, used as a fumi- 

 gator, with a rose-nozzle a very small one, that 

 can be held between the teeth, is large enough 

 will instantly tranquillize all such insects, and 

 render them quite harmless as to their sting ; 

 making them appear as if they had forgotten 

 they possessed such formidable weapons. . . . 

 The sting of a wasp is the least painful of 

 all," he paradoxically continues; "the sting of 

 a hornet I have never felt, nor that of the 

 largest bumble-bee." But Jesse is not often 

 caught napping, despite this paradox and his 



