LOOSE STRANDS 203 



comparatively valueless. The young angler knows 

 what he desires to do, and the difficulty of learning 

 how to do it he should not, even without tuition, find 

 insuperable. His native intelligence will soon enable 

 him to correct the errors certain to accompany his 

 initial efforts to cast a skilful line, and earnest applica- 

 tion will in time make him an adept. 



Only on the water will he find the conditions 

 necessary to the perfection of his art, but he may 

 usefully begin his education on the lawn. But the 

 field — and the moment — of his operations must be 

 chosen with the greatest circumspection. Of the 

 spectacle of a grown man gravely brandishing his 

 wand above a waterless expanse of turf there is, to 

 the uninformed, but one interpretation, and, unless he 

 would risk his reputation for the possession of a sound 

 mind, he should shun the observation of his neighbours. 

 Should he, after practising, detect a subtle change in 

 the demeanour of his friends ; if, instead of greeting 

 him with their accustomed frankness, they hold them- 

 selves aloof, and regarding him askance, whisper mys- 

 teriously together, he may feel sure that his seclusion 

 was incomplete and that his sanity has become the theme 

 of general discussion. The writer is not facetious ; it 

 has happened to one earnest, if incautious, follower of 



