114 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



wilderness of the far west who cannot endure con- 

 tact with their fellow men, and are only happy 

 when remote from all human habitations. But 

 this exaggerated love of isolation of perpetual 

 separation from their kind is no proof of intel- 

 lectual superiority or of an exalted appreciation of 

 the beauty and grandeur of nature uncontaminated 

 by the depravities and meannesses of a selfish civil- 

 ization. Moral or esthetic considerations seldom 

 enter the minds of these " mighty hunters." Their 

 hermit-life is simply proof of a morbid and dis- 

 torted condition of mind, which is neither to be 

 commended, admired nor imitated. It would be as 

 untruthful and as unjust to associate the angler 

 who seeks, temporarily, for repose and recreation, 

 the solitudes of the forest, with these uncouth, un- 

 kempt and unlettered trappers, as it would be to 

 proclaim all angling debasing because professional 

 " pot-hunters," who are alike indifferent to times 

 and seasons and the processes by which they 

 achieve results, engage in it. 



Nor must it be inferred that isolation is the fixed 

 status of the angler. At proper times and seasons 

 in no class of men is the social element more fully 

 developed. To have this demonstrated it is only 

 necessary to visit the camp-fire after the sports of 

 the day are over. John Wilson's "Nodes Am- 

 brosiana " and " Dies Borealis" are no mere fie- 



