PHILOSOPHIES OF A FISHERMAN 19 



decrepitude of " present day." That triumph 

 occurred in this same stream, during a short 

 holiday snatched from those strenuous war- 

 days that seem so long ago. What different 

 days those were, in these parts ! The sky in 

 this valley was filled with the " cavalry of the 

 clouds," training for oversea service. The 

 country lanes were dotted with the hospital- 

 blue of the wounded, who had learned new 

 life-values in the great conflict and stood first 

 in the public estimation. Money was of little 

 moment. The folk who look at the swirlings 

 on the surface of our national life, and do not 

 think of the deep waters below, would have us 

 think that we have lost our war-time good- 

 fellowship, that we cannot face the future with- 

 out an unseemly scramble between different 

 classes to best each other, when only physical 

 strength and ruthlessness will tell and the 

 weakest will go to the wall. Fishermen are not 

 so foolish. It takes all sorts to make a world 

 and a good many pike to spoil a good trout- 

 stream. 



