PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 17 



"brief vacation, whether to hamlet or palace, to lake 

 or river, to forest or sea-shore, to valley or moun- 

 tain, will enter into every one's calculations as reg- 

 ularly as any other of the necessaries of life. If, as 

 some allege, Americans have degenerated in mus- 

 cular development and in general physique, it may 

 be attributed to their intense and unceasing appli- 

 cation to business, rather than to any thing deterio- 

 rating in our climate. It is quite as true of the 

 worker, whether of brain or of muscle, who never 

 gives himself a day's real rest in a score of years, 

 as it is of the wicked, " that he shall not live out 

 half his days." Those who deliberately and from 

 a settled purpose to get gain at any cost, wear them- 

 selves out prematurely, are foremost among " the 

 wicked " referred to ; and the admonition is for 

 their benefit quite as much as for the epicure or 

 debauchee. 



I remember, many years ago, while " lying round 

 loose " for a few days at Lebanon, meeting a friend 

 who accosted me with, " Why, D., what are you 

 doing here \ I had not heard you were ailing, and 

 supposed you enjoyed perfect health." " Yes," 

 I replied, " thanks to a kind Providence, I am 

 never really sick, and to-day I am as free from ail- 

 ment as a sky-lark from bronchitis." " Well, I am 

 glad to hear it, certainly ; but if you are perfectly 

 well, why are you here ? " " To keep well, judge." 

 I will never forget the shadow of sadness which 

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