492 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



thoughts that now possess me of angling, not only of the high antiquity 

 of it, but that it deserves commendation, and that it is an art, and an art 

 worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man." 



That we have conversed with this humble, zealous, loving heart, not for 

 hours, but through long years, and that we are " possessed with those high 

 and happy thoughts" concerning the " gentle art," let our present ineet- 

 ing, our Brotherly Association, and our future study and practice, bear 

 witness. 



Two centuries have well tested the beautiful spirit manifested in his 

 work, and it seems to me most happily appropriate that at this time we, a 

 few humble followers in his footsteps, recognising the power of association, 

 do unite to lend each other a helping hand in the attainment of that, which 

 he was assured "was worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man." 

 That we are wise men, I shall not stop to maintain, but that we do love 

 angling we are assured of, and therein we know we are in unison with 

 very many greatly wise and wisely good men. 



So, filled with this love, the desire to ennoble our art in this western 

 world, and a sense of the kind confidence you have reposed in me, I have 

 thought it was right to lay before you " some of the thoughts which have 

 possessed my soul since we few have met together." 



A handful of sand, thrown with what force soever into a placid pool, 

 could scarcely do more than, for an instant, ruffle the glassy surface ; yet 

 these same particles associated and compacted into a stone, and but dropped 

 in, will produce not only a wave but a succession of wavelets which will 

 reach the utmost confines of the pool ; indeed, learned men tell us 

 that, be the ocean ever so large, these little waves will continue until the 

 whole vast surface feels the influence of the associative force of these same 

 particles. Even so with us. Either in the little pool of local mind by 

 which we are surrounded, or in the illimitable ocean of the earth's mind, 

 we, as individuals, fall as the grain of sand unfelt ; yet bound together by 

 a common sentiment, we may by association possess new powers and pro- 

 perties, even as the stone possesses other powers and properties than the 

 shifting sand, and by these powers we may produce effects reaching far 

 beyond the circumscribed limits of our home or city. Whether that effect 

 be for good or evil, is for us in a considerable degree to determine. That 

 the effect be for good is my most earnest desire, and that it may be, our 

 aim should be elevated, even as I before said, to the ennobling of the art 

 of angling, thereby commending it to those " who, being born to it," need 

 only "the discourse and practice" to win them to that which, "having 



