THE FASCINATION OF IT 23 
instance of tact and of fisherman’s kindness was 
his way of making that timely gift. In the 
angling world he was “Quartus a brother.” 
May he have many rises every time he goes 
a-fishing, and may none of them be short. 
It was good, on one fishing trip, to hear a 
member’of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange 
eulogise anglers as a race. About most kinds of 
men he had shrewd comments to make, but of 
anglers as a whole he had nothing but good to 
say, and he was a fisherman of wide experience. 
Is one tempted to claim too much excellence 
for brothers of the angle ? Yet they have special 
reasons for being excellent. ‘That open-air life 
which is so good for the body is surely no less 
good for the soul. Fresh air and sunshine— 
about the best medicine in the world—where 
can you get a better tonic? The gay meadows, 
the rippling river, the rising trout, now and 
again “‘a shining reward of patience,” all these 
help to gladden the heart and fill it with loving 
kindness. 
“ Halcyon daies by murm’ring streams.” 
y' 'y g 
Richard Jeffries went so far as to say: “The 
hours that the mind is absorbed by beauty are 
the only hours that we really live, so the longer 
we stay among these things the more is snatched 
from inevitable time.’ Happy fishing, an antidote 
to depression, helps one to realize that one’s 
future does not lie behind one. ‘ When the air 
and water taste sweet to you, how much else 
