246 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



vents him from visiting the North Woods ; but he 

 still "goes a-fishing." There are few points on 

 the Potomac, within easy reach of Washington, 

 where he has not angled. This, with his daily 

 botanising, is his only recreation. He is an enthu- 

 siastic lover of nature, and, in his moments of lei- 

 sure, takes great delight in discoursing of fish and 

 fishing. When he goes to his long home, the peo- 

 ple will lose an honest and diligent servant, and 

 the fraternity of anglers an appreciative and genial 

 companion. 



It was during this first visit to these rapids that 

 the pretty conceit was dissipated that the angler 

 who had the greatest variety of flies stood the best 

 chance of success. It had been my pride to ex- 

 hibit my fly-book to wondering admirers, and to 

 pass glowing eulogies upon the artistic skill of 

 McBride, of Caledonia, whose deft manipulation of 

 silk and feather made him in those days famous 

 wherever delicate angling was a recognized accom- 

 plishment. There was no fly which his observa- 

 tion had ever suggested or his imagination ever 

 conceived, of which I had not samples. Many of 

 them were the most perfect imitations possible of 

 the prolific productions of nature, but others, in 

 their gorgeous beauty, might have been worshipped 

 without trenching upon the limits of idolatry. 

 Yet they were all labeled taking flies in their sea- 



