XIV 



OF MAC ARTHUR, WITH A CONSIDERATION OF 

 THE VAUNTED SUPERIORITY OF DRY-FLY 

 FISHERMEN OVER WET-FLY FISHERMEN 



I THINK I told you that I am not a Purist. 

 Perhaps it is unnecessary to repeat it. But 

 I want you to make no mistake. I fish by the 

 dry-fly method because it suits my sluggish habits 

 better than any other form of fly-fishing. But 

 I claim no superiority for it over other methods. 

 If I were not afraid of gentles I should no doubt 

 be a roach-master, or something quite stationary 

 like that. Now, sluggish though I am, my blood 

 can mount at times. And, apropos of the dry-fly 

 school, I feel it mounting now. 



It is popularly supposed that dry-fly fishing 

 is excessively difficult difficult, I mean, beyond 

 every other form of the art. I do not know who 

 is responsible for this imposture. I imagine it 

 must be the genius or genii who first applied the 

 words " chuck and chance it " and " fine and far 

 off" to the wet and dry methods respectively. 

 1 cannot think that any two epithets have ever 



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