18 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



but throughout them he lived at peace with 

 himself and in harmony with Nature ; his 

 philosophy and love of angling have for cen- 

 turies sweetened the lives of many, long after 

 the hatreds and bickerings of his time have 

 worn themselves out. Charles Kingsley, again, 

 a keen fisherman of another and more strenuous 

 type, lived in times of war and of riots ; his 

 philosophy of life stood him in good stead, and 

 his precepts and example have brought peace 

 to many virile souls struggling with the problems 

 which darkened his own youthful days. But 

 fishermen do not sermonize. They would have 

 no influence at all in the world if they did. 

 As it is, they have too little. 



There is a chalk-stream hereabouts, and the 

 grayling are rising : the autumn tints are more 

 gorgeous to look upon than even the Victory 

 Medal ribbon, and far more softly blended. 

 The mere sight of the gentle flow of the clear 

 stream would make the most rabid fighter for 

 his own rights and privileges feel at peace with 

 all mankind. 



I had the good luck myself not to have been 

 one of the affluent youths. I caught my first 

 trout when I was about thirteen, my first salmon 

 when I was over forty, my first three-pound 

 trout on a dry-fly when I had reached the ripe 



