26l 



FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING: 



OR 



*FINE AND FAR OFF: 



INTRODUCTORV. 



It is a shallow as well as a dismal scheme of life which 

 ignores or undervalues the importance of recreation. Never, 

 I believe, was there an age in which it was more in- 

 dispensable * For weary body and for heavy soul.' We 

 are living at high-pressure ; business has become more en- 

 grossing and the pursuit of what is called pleasure more 

 laborious. It is more than ever desirable to find occasional 

 change of scene and occupation which shall be really refreshing ; 

 which shall at once recruit our bodily energies and give free 

 play to faculties and feelings which are shelved during the 

 daily routine of working life. Mere locomotion is not enough ; 

 our thoughts must be turned into new and pleasant channels, 

 and we must seek places suited to new phases of agreeable ac- 

 tivity. It is told of one of the most eminent of English con- 

 veyancers that when induced for his health's sake to visit the 

 seaside, he carried with him, by way of light reading, ' Fearne 

 on Contingent Remainders.' Sea air may have done something 

 for him ; but where was his recreation ? His mind was kept 

 running in the old groove. 



It is of course true that what is recreation to one man 

 might be mere weariness to another of different tastes and 

 habits, who feels the strain of over-work in different functions 



