THE FISH AND FISHING 



UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER I. 



*' I love the babbling brook, the placid lake, 

 Where spotted trout and pike their pastime take ; 

 I love tho rocky shore, the rushing stream, 

 Where lordly salmon leap, in sunlight gleam ; 

 The stately river, the expansive bay, 

 Where striped basse and silver squeteague play ; 

 The ocean's distant roar, the bounding wave, 

 Where monsters daily bask and dolphins lave ; 

 These ! these ! I love, and oft away from home 

 Truant I stray, tempted by them to roam ; 

 These ! these ! I love, and never can forsake, 

 For all the gold that trade or toil can make/' 



Anglers of the western world, you, as the lamented Power 

 would have said, are " bora to good luck." Your lot is cast 

 in a land of many waters and many fishes. Loud should be 

 your paeans of praise, profound your gratitude to the giver of all 

 good, when you consider the many advantages you enjoy as 

 .anglers of the United States. Were you to traverse the circle 

 of the globe for pleasure with the rod, you would return with 

 an anxious step and a loving heart to the 



" Land of the free and the home of the brave," 



satisfied that no country you had visited possessed half the 



