INTRODUCTORY 19 



hearts are not so admirably disciplined. The knowledge 

 that the present will soon be taken from us and its 

 contents become "portions and parcels" of the past, 

 fills us with perturbing thoughts, and it is not in 

 resignation, but dismay, that we contemplate the part- 

 ing with an object of our love. The angler whose 

 opportunities are few, sometimes looks forward to his 

 unaccustomed holiday with strangely mixed emotions. 

 He counts, impatiently, the days that separate him from 

 it, yet sees their passing with regret. While longingly 

 awaiting its approach he would fain keep it in prospect. 

 He looks beyond it, and sees in its beginning the 

 beginning of the end. With its advent he becomes 

 still more uncomfortably conscious of the flight of time, 

 and since he is unable to prolong his pleasure seeks to 

 heighten its intensity. But he is unfortunate in his 

 methods. Patience abandons him. He pursues his 

 sport with a feverish energy which robs him entirely of 

 the tranquillity of mind essential to its enjoyment. In 

 his restless eagerness to improve the fleeting hour, he 

 is intolerant of interruption and his temper snaps at 

 a touch. He chafes and frets at every slight mischance, 

 while grave disaster excites him to a very hurricane of 

 wrath. He strives to wrest by force what is conferred 

 only by favour, and the more fiercely he struggles for 



