313 Book oe the Black; Bass. 



good and wise men of all ages, from the days of the Fishers 

 of Galilee down to the present "time, upholding and com- 

 mending the moral tendencies and the healthful influences 

 of the art of angling, and its virtue of making men better 

 physically, intellectually, and spiritually. 



" 0, sir, doubt not but that angling is an art," says 

 Piscator to Venator ; " is it not an art to deceive a trout 

 with an artificial fly? A trout that is more sharp-sighted 

 than any hawk you have named, and more watchful and 

 timorous than your high-mettled merlin is bold ? " 



Is it not an art to glide stealthily and softly along the 

 bank of a stream to just where the wary bass or timid trout 

 is watching and waiting, ever on the alert for the slightest 

 movement, and keenly alive to each passing shadow; to 

 approach him unawares; to cast the feathery imitation of 

 an insect lightly and naturally upon the surface of the 

 water, without a suspicious flash, and without disclosing 

 to his observant eyes the shadow of the rod or line; to 

 strike the hook into his jaws the instant he unsuspectingly 

 takes the clever ruse into his mouth ; to play him, and sub- 

 due him, and land him successfully and artistically with a 

 willowy rod and sillcen line that would not sustain half his 

 weight out of the water? Is not this an art? Let the 

 doubter try it. 



" Doubt not, therefore, sir, but that angling is an art," 

 says Walton, " and an art worth your learning. The ques- 

 tion is, rather, whether you be capable of learning it ? " 



Exactly so. Father Izaak; the question is, not merelv 

 " to be or not to be," but whether one is " capable " of 

 learning it; for though any one may become a bait-fisher, 

 it is not every one that can learn the fly-fisher's art; for, 

 continues Walton, " he that hopes to be a good angler, must 

 not only bring an inquiring, searching, observing wit, but 



