THE SALMON FISHER. 85 



tricacies of a thronging thoroughfare ; and worse 

 than an idiot would be the bumptious dolt who 

 would spurn his timely counsel. 



And this inclines me here to say, by way of pero- 

 ration, which may as well come now as later, that a 

 wise man, no matter how well informed and capable 

 he may be, will lend an attentive ear to the views of 

 others, however humble they may be, if peradven- 

 ture he may add some iota to his attainments to 

 make them perfect; but it is a bad sign when a busi- 

 ness man or angler feels that he has nothing more 

 to learn. The smart man, whose surname is " Aleck," 

 despises the traditions of the elders. He discards 

 all precedents, and sets up innovations and devices 

 which may command the evanescent approval and 

 endorsement of untutored neophytes who confide in 

 him; nevertheless, he smashes more rods than they, 

 and catches less fish. The like of him are not teach- 

 ers, but iconoclasts, and poor ones at that, for they 

 are unable to distinguish between the golden idols 

 and those which are of clay. The mischief which 

 they do among the craft is great. They are like 

 sturgeons in a purse-net, with much threshing about 



