•±42 Book of the Black Bass. 



If I have succeeded, in the slightest degree, my work has 

 proved, as Walton said of angling, " like virtue, a reward 

 to itself." 



And now, in taking leave of the angler, or of him who 

 has mentally resolved to become an angler, and who has 

 followed me through the pages of this book, I do so with 

 regret; for it has been to me a labor of love to describe, 

 in my way, the methods and the delights of angling. It 

 has revived the memory of many happy days, spread over 

 many years of checkered sunshine and shadow. The bright 

 pages in the book of memory stand out Hke the flashing 

 stream in the bright sunlight, while the sorrows are hid in 

 the deep shadows of its thicklj-wooded glens. 



" With thee conversing I forget all time." I live, again, 

 in scenes forever past, but never to be forgotten; with rod 

 and reel, again I wander along the upland streams, among 

 the cedars and chinkapins, and on the tide-waters and salt- 

 marshes of " My Maryland ;" on Long Island's sea-girt 

 shore; on the broad bosom of the St. Lawrence, with its 

 thousand emerald isles, and on the charming lakes of the 

 Empire State ; among the low green hills of " the valley," 

 the broom-sedge of the " Piedmont " section, and on the 

 broad bays of the " Old Dominion ;" in the coves and 

 bights of the stormy Huron, the treacherous ^Michigan, 

 and the great inland sea, Superior, with its crystal waters, 

 and great hills crowned by the scarlet banners of the 

 mountain ash ; by the pine-clad rivers of the " Old Xorth 

 State;" along the rocky streams of Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, flecked with the roseate tassels and snowy disks of 

 the redbud and dogwood; among the moss-covered rocks 

 of the highland rapids, and under the fragrant magnolia 

 and feathery cypress of the silent estuaries of the " Pal- 

 metto State " and (Jeorgia ; on the clear, sparkling lakelets 



