36 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



elastic as the hour approaches when he can " take 

 a ride." It may be that the " hobby " is trotted 

 out daily in the form of a rose-bud, a sheet of 

 music, the framework of some impracticable piece 

 of mechanism, an unsolvable problem in mathe- 

 matics, or a newly-devised " fly," lovingly fondled 

 in anticipation of its grand achievements upon 

 some remote sunny holiday, when the dear 

 " hobby " shall prance by the side of a murmur- 

 ing meadow brook or a babbling mountain rivu- 

 let. However, wherever or whenever ridden, 

 (whether with every sunset or with the wan- 

 ing moon, or only once a year when trout and 

 salmon are in season,) it is well to have a harm- 

 less " hobby " standing in some cozy nook of the 

 imagination, to be led out at will, and to be 

 straddled and ridden when the muscles ache, when 

 the brain is weary and when the heart is sad. The 

 man without a " hobby " may be a good citizen 

 and an honest fellow, but he can have but few 

 golden threads running through the web or woof 

 of his monotonous existence. 



Of all the " hobbies " known to advanced civil- 

 ization, none is more harmless, none more exhila- 

 rating, none more healthful and none which ambles 

 more gently than that of the angler. The months 

 of grooming of anticipation and of preparation 

 are only less delightful than the pleasurable 



