318 Book of the Black Bass. 



pleasures of anticipation have ever exceeded those of frui- 

 tion, and ever will while "hope springs eternal in the hu- 

 man breast." 



The angler spends the evening before his " day's fishing " 

 in overhauling his tackle; polishing the ferrules of his 

 trusty rod; oiling his reel; looking for weak places in his 

 line; arranging, lovingly, his leader, hooks and flies; and 

 finds enthusiastic enjoyment in the examination of his 

 treasures, and in pleasant retrospective and prospective 

 reveries in connection therewith. 



He retires with contented mind, and an innate conscious- 

 ness of unbounded success on the morrow, and dreams of 

 arching rod and leaping fish, of mossy banks and murmur- 

 ing streams, of cool shadows and spicy breezes ; and when 

 morn hath " with rosy hand unbarr'd the gates of light," 

 he sallies forth with buoyant footsteps, his breast swelling 

 with fond anticipation, and in that happy and expectant 

 state of mind known only to lovers of the angle. 



Perhaps he returns at close of day, weary and footsore, 

 and with an almost empty creel; what matter? All 

 through the lovely day his spirits have never flagged; his 

 last cast was made with even more hope and confidence 

 than the first. And though his creel be empty, his heart 

 is filled with the music of the birds, the purling of the 

 stream, the fragrance of the fiowers, and, above all, with 

 love for his Creator; and it has set him thinking of that 

 eternal stream of time clothed with everlasting groves of 

 never-changing green. 



And, then, the day has simply been an " unlucky " one 

 for fishing ; yesterday was no doubt a " good day," and 

 to-morrow will be better. He finds consolation in aC' 

 counting for his " ill-luck," and can easily see a reason f ot 



