58 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



night, as the fish will not be on the feed again before an 

 hour or two of sundown." 



George Dawson, while a trenchant political writer, 

 was also fond of depicting life in the woods and on the 

 streams. With pleasure I renewed my acquaintance with 

 him in later years, when peace reigned in the land, and by 

 invitation accompanied him to the Adirondacks when 

 both were familiar with the use of the fly in luring the 

 trout. He was born in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1813, and 

 came with his parents to America five years later. He 

 had no early schooling, but learned the printers' trade be- 

 fore he was thirteen, and educated himself. Then he 

 went to Rochester and worked for Thurlow Weed, editor 

 of an anti-Masonic paper, and in 1836 Dawson became 

 editor of the Rochester Democrat. Weed was afterward 

 editor of the Albany Evening Journal, and in 1846 Dawson 

 joined him as assistant editor. Weed retired in the stir- 

 ring days of 1862, and Mr. Dawson took his place as edi- 

 tor and proprietor of the Journal, then as now one of the 

 leading papers of the State of New York; and it soon be- 

 came known that the pen of the new man was a most 

 vigorous one. His love of nature was a most prominent 

 trait, and fishing was his favorite means of enjoying this 

 love. Once, while on the way to the Adirondacks with 

 him, I remarked: "The woods to me is a place to loaf." 

 If I had read Whitman then I would have added, "and 

 invite my soul," but only added, "A couple of hours' fish- 

 ing morning and evening is all I want; if the fish bite good 

 it is well; if not, the trying for them suffices." 



"My boy," he replied, "that is just exactly my own 

 notion, and I have a dislike for the companionship of the 



