OLD JOHN, TIM, & OTHERS 191 



success not to the consideration that the 

 fly has floated, but to the consideration 

 that he is crouching and out of the fish's 

 sight. Thus far, and no farther, the Dry 

 Fly is an unimpeachable counsel of 

 perfection. Less than thus far, like 

 "Efficiency," on which 1 have touched 

 because it illustrates the same entertain- 

 ing phenomenon of natural history in 

 another domain of thought, it is merely 

 one of those phrases which are so 

 strangely attractive to the masses of men, 

 and so contagious : a symbol which, while 

 enchantingly revealing the ideal half of a 

 truth, conceals the other half, in which 

 the realities, the hard facts, lie. There 

 are not only microbes that afflict the 

 body : there are also microbes that afflict 

 the mind : and, just as pollen, the fecun- 

 dating dust of weeds, is distributed over 

 the hospitable earth from the wings of the 

 flighty bees, the microbes of the mind, 

 the half-truths, inspiring symbols, are 

 planted in the hospitable emotions of men 

 from the wings of words, words, words. 



