354 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



practiced and commended by some of the best and truest 

 and wisest men that ever lived; for, as Father Izaak says: 

 " It is an art, and an art worthy the knowledge and prac- 

 tice of a wise man." Did the art of angling require an 

 apologist, I could here produce evidence, in precept and 

 example, of good and wise men of all ages, from the days 

 of the Fishers of Galilee down to the present time, up- 

 holding and commending the moral tendencies and the 

 healthful influences of the art of angling, and its virtue 

 of making men better physically, intellectually, and spirit- 

 ually. 



"O, sir, doubt not but that angling is an art," says 

 Piscator to Venator, " is it not an art to deceive a Trout 

 with an artificial fly ? A Trout that is more sharp-sighted 

 than any hawk you have named, and more watchful and 

 timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold?" 



Is it not an art to glide stealthily and softly along the 

 bank of a stream to just where the wary Bass or timid 

 Trout is watching and waiting, ever on the alert for the 

 slightest movement, and keenly alive to each passing 

 shadow ; to approach him unawares ; to cast the feathery 

 imitation of an insect lightly and naturally upon the sur- 

 face of the water, without a suspicious splash, and without 

 disclosing to his observant eyes the shadow of the rod or 

 line; to strike the hook into his jaws the instant he un- 

 suspectingly takes the clever ruse into his mouth ; to play 

 him, and subdue him, and land him successfully and artis- 

 tically with a willowy rod and silken line that would not 

 sustain half his weight out of the water? Is not this an 

 art ? Let the doubter try it. 



" Doubt not, therefore, sir, but that angling is an art," 

 says Walton, " and an art worth your learning. The 



