LOOSE STRANDS 209 



of a long day I sometimes wish it an ounce or two less 

 in weight, but now that it has grown familiar I would 

 not willingly discard it for another ; even for a former 

 favourite, in the use of which my hands, once deft 

 enough, have completely lost their cunning. 



I write of my rod as "it," but the employment of 

 the singular number is, perhaps, not wholly justified. 

 It involves an interesting problem for the casuist. 

 Since the rod has been evilly entreated and repeatedly 

 renewed in all its parts — with the exception of the reel- 

 fittings — it becomes a nice question whether it is still 

 that originally constructed by the maker. Have I been 

 in continuous possession of the same rod, or have I 

 within these years owned more than one ? As, through 

 all its various mutations, its character has undergone 

 no change, I am disposed to think of it as having had 

 a life of unbroken continuity. 



The act of casting demands no great expenditure 

 of energy, but when repeated many times a day it 

 becomes fatiguing. The angler, therefore, should 

 avoid a rod he cannot wield with ease, and in the use 

 of which his endurance may be overtaxed. He may 

 not, in any circumstances, hope to escape entirely the 

 suffering which inevitably follows prolonged or unusual 

 exertion, but he will ache much less acutely if he 



