Gloom by the Riverside 



ridicule, may easily see an opening for 

 poking fun at the disappointed purist, 

 as he returns at evening without once 

 having cast a fly during the day. In 

 fact, he does not escape ridicule in 

 England; he has been the victim of 

 much sarcasm, even from some mem- 

 bers of the British angling fraternity. 

 Mr. G. E. M. Skues, a bright and at 

 times sarcastic English writer, says, 

 in his "Minor Tactics o'f the Chalk 

 Stream": "I know of no sight more 

 gloomy than that of a golfer pain- 

 fully tramping from shot to shot. But 

 perhaps the next gloomiest sight is the 

 angler, who, with perhaps but a single 

 day at his disposal, lounges hour by 

 hour by the side of the main river, 

 waiting with such patience as he can 

 muster for the rise which comes not." 

 The strict purist, in turn, has retorted 

 to those who are incUned to make of 

 [21] 



