8 TROUT FISHING 



of the vague sense that there is a slight 

 wickedness in gambling time and cash 

 away, the card-rooms at the clubs, which 

 are crowded every afternoon and even- 

 ing, would always be as much deserted 

 as Mayfair is between the Twelfth of 

 August and the opening of Parliament. 

 One may question whether even golf 

 would be played so joyously by so many 

 thousands if it were part of a compulsory 

 system of physical training for the nation. 

 Is not the analogy clear ? If one could 

 always be sure of a heavy basket of trout, 

 one would go, as a boy goes " unwillingly 

 to school," unexpectant of any happiness, 

 facing the hours as a day of tedious duty 

 to be done. For all the entertainment 

 to be hoped for, one might as well be 

 setting out to sea to take in the cod and 

 haddocks hanging on the lines which had 

 been set the night before. 



Angling cajoles the faculty of observa- 

 tion into a state of pleasurable activity 

 which can be understood only through 

 experience. Indolent as he seems as he 



