Concluding Eemaeks. 443 



of Wisconsin, glinting and dancing amid fields of golden 

 grain and broad green pastures, or hiding in sheltered 

 nooks among the tamaracks and black birches; on the 

 broad Susquehanna, the blue Juniata, and among the hem- 

 locks and maples of the Pennsylvania hills; under the 

 moss-draped live-oak and stately palm, amid the orange- 

 groves and myrtles, the mangrove and sea-grape, on the 

 sluggish streams, the broad lagoons, and along the coral- 

 reefs and sunny keys of Florida; under the cool beeches 

 and broad sycamore, the graceful elms and lofty cotton- 

 wood of the quiet streams of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and 

 Missouri; in the cold, crystal streams, gliding among the 

 everlasting hiljs, clothed with tangled forests of balsam 

 and pine, in Michigan. It has taken me back even to the 

 days of lang syne, when, with a bit of cock's hackle, tied on 

 a pin-hook, and a willow wand for a rod, I first essayed the 

 angler's art, and made sad havoc among the minnows, 

 chubs and "gudgeons." 



I can only hope that the reader may experience a tithe 

 of the pleasure in perusing the foregoing pages, that I 

 have done in penning them; and he will please remember, 

 that, though he may differ with me on each and every page, 

 I will not quarrel with him; but, should we ever meet, as 

 brothers of the angle, in some sequestered spot on lake 

 or stream, we will, while smoking the pipe of peace, talk 

 the matter over coolly, calmly and dispassionately. But 

 he may rest assured, that, though all roads lead to Eome, 

 and though there are many ways of catching a bass — I 

 have traveled some of the roads, and tried most of the 

 ways — if he faithfully follows in my footsteps, I trust he 

 will never regret it, and never have cause to wish he had 

 tried the other way. 



