142 Fisninc iv AMERICAN WATERS. 
quately describe the pleasures that surround the angler? 
The most compendious, truthful, and summary is contained 
in the poetical exclamation of O. W. Holmes in the following 
couplet : 
‘*Oh! what are the treasures we perish to win, 
To the first little minnow we caught with a pin!” 
But who can eatalogue the pleasures which cluster around 
the angler’s pursuit? He pursues his avocations amid scenes 
of beauty. “It is he who follows the windings of the silver 
river, and becomes acquainted with its course. He knows 
the joyous leaps it takes down the bold cascade, and how it 
bubbles rejoicingly in its career over the rapids. He knows 
the solitude of its silent depths, and the brilliancy of its shal- 
lows. He is confined to no season. He can salute Nature 
when she laughs with the budding flowers, and when her 
breath is the glorious breath of spring. The rustling sedges 
make music in his ear when the mist has rolled off the sur- 
face of the water, or the dew been kissed from the grass by 
the sun’s rays.” The lark sings for him, and robin red-breast, 
with the brown thrush and jolly bobolink, pipe and chirp 
their mellifluous notes along his path. The gorgeous king- 
fisher heeds him not, and the meadow-hen seldom moves from 
her nest as he passes. The storm and the tempest scarcely 
hinder his sport. He throws the line when ruddy Autumn 
gilds the western heavens, and the fruit of the year hangs 
heavy on the bough, or waves in golden abundance on the 
uplands. Even stern Winter does not forbid him his enjoy- 
ment. Ifhe cares to pursue his favorite pastime, he may do 
so equally when the tall bulrushes, wavy reeds, and chestnuts 
rattle with December’s winds, as when the marsh marigold 
opens its big yellow eyes on an April day, or the birds of all 
song, size, and feather congregate along the streams, and teter 
on the sprays that kiss the ripples, while they chirp and ca- 
vort with their mates on yonder side the stream. The au- 
tumn trolling season over, the angler begins to think of the 
springing into life of all nature, when again the frogs begin 
