in MAY-DAY ON THE EXE 31 



face to a fishing-tackle shop. If you are in 

 a gloomy mood you may moralise at sight 

 of him on the vanity of human wishes, and 

 picture to yourself the horrid gnawing at the 

 soul of the man, the regret for the holidays 

 in past years never to be enjoyed again ; but 

 if, on the other hand, you are cheerful and 

 pleased with the world, you may look on 

 him as a pretty picture of pleasant indecision, 

 merely perplexed as to whether he will want 

 two dozen large March browns or three 

 dozen, and wondering whether the bushes 

 are going to be as deadly to flies this year as 

 they were last. I believe that this cheerful 

 view is the right one to take, for if he 

 cannot get his holiday your angler becomes 

 morose and avoids tackle-shops and all that 

 may remind him of what he is losing. 



Yes, a man who gazes at the wares in a 

 tackle -shop on a sunny day in April has 

 certainly a fishing -expedition in prospect. 

 It would be too terrible to imagine a poor 

 wretch with the spring and the streams call- 

 ing to him unable to obey the call. There 

 is nothing more sacred, more inviolable, than 

 this spring fishing ; it is one of the laws of 

 Nature, and not the least important. Before 



