THE COXFESS/OA'S OF A DUFFER 9 



Next time ! ' To-morrow, and to-morrow, and 

 to-morrow.' Grey hairs come, and stifT limbs, and 

 shortened sight ; but the spring is green and 

 hope is fresh for all the changes in the world and 

 in ourselves. We can tell a hawk from a hand- 

 saw, a March Bro^^•^ from a Blue Dun ; and if our 

 success be as poor as ever, our fancy can dream 

 as well as ever of better things and more for- 

 tunate chances. For fishing is like life ; and in 

 the art of living, too, there are duffers, though the}' 

 seldom gi\"e us their confessions. Yet e\"en they 

 are kept ali\"e, like the incompetent angler, bj' this 

 undying hope : the)- will be more careful, more 

 skilful, more luck\' next time. The gleaming 

 untravelled future, the bright untried waters, allure 

 us from da)' to da)-, from pool to pool, till, like the 

 veteran on Coquet side, we ' tr)- a farewell throw,' 

 or, like Stoddart, look our last on T«'eed. 



