I CHAPTER Vn I 



j . . ^^. ^ 



\ In which the Beginner Visits a { 

 \ Real Pool from which a Few ( 

 \ Trout Are Taken j 



THE first casts of our beginner, 

 accompanied by the author, 

 have been made on an im- 

 aginary pool; and from its description 

 it might be properly considered a 

 purely mathematical or .hypothetical 

 pool, almost rectangular in shape. 

 There is a little real pool, on a stream 

 in Sullivan County, which frequently 

 occupies a place in the author's 

 thoughts, because he first cast a fly 

 on its placid surface when he was rap- 

 idly reaching the end of the transi- 

 tion period marking the parting of the 

 ways between the wet fly angler and 

 [721 



