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The Other End of the Line 
By F. S. DULANEY. 
Life with the average man is but a mere 
fishing game after all, and “‘the other end of the 
line” gives him great concern and interest. He 
has an object in view and would pull in some- 
thing. You can figure on that something of his 
in view if you give some attention to the bait he 
uses and to the manner of his cast. 
‘“How does he do it?’’ we sometimes ask, 
when noticing the success of a certain angler, 
who, not remote from us, but in our immediate 
vicinity, makes well and rapidly very fine 
catches, while we seem to be doing nothing but 
fish, fish, fish. 
We wonder if we’re deep enough, or are we 
not too deep, or what’s the matter with our hook 
—is it too big, too small, or what? Or are our 
minnows of the proper sort? We lift up, reset, 
troll, drag and cast again and again, but to no 
avail. We spit on the worm for the tenth time 
within an hour, add a fractional part of a new 
worm, and try over, succeeding, perhaps, 
eventually in catching a dog-fish of immense 
size and strength, which, floundering around 
in the waters of the drift, excites us con- 
siderably. We strain and pull—we lean over, 
and then some rotten limb or chunk breaks 
and we get what modest fishermen designate as 
“the wet rear.” 
By and by we get hungry, and then we tackle 
the sardines, cheese, crackers and other good 
grub, for a rest, but before doing so set the 
hooks, of course, for the possible but not 
probable catch. It is high noon and the sun 
shines hot upon the waters. We are tired, as 
we eat, having worked hard all morning for the 
fish we didn’t catch, and whether or not we 
envy the fellow that succeeded is secondary; 
suffice to say, we are disgusted with our luck, 
and we are inwardly swearing off. It’s a poor 
business this fishing is, and yet if we could but 
catch ’em it would be bully—and there you 
are. It is what a man gets out of life that gives 
him his opinions of life. Perhaps the fisherman 
near us put more into the work of fishing than 
we did, or if not more effort, then he fished 
scientifically. Be that as it may, we do know 
jew succeed, many fatl. Whether one is fishing 

at the creek for suckers, or fishing in the lake 
for bass, this is true, there is, in the main, more in 
the pursuit than there is in the possession. 
What a man does not possess is what he’s 
seeking to get, though, to be sure, if he gets it, 
he immediately notes the possession—and con- 
tinues to fish for something additional. The 
other end of the line, all through life, concerns 
him more than the end he holds. 
Proper bait is the first requisite if one would 
catch fish. But proper bait does not always do 
the business—the fishing hole must contain 
fish, and the angler must know how to cast, 
when and where. 
That I caught no fish of consequence, 
Sunday, June 3, 1906, when at Valley City 
Slough, Pike County, Ill., amounts to nothing, 
considering others did catch fish. So, in life, 
it matters nothing if you or I fail to accomplish 
our aims and purposes, if others do accomplish 
theirs; that is to say, no great note can be 
taken of the fellow who fails here below. Only 
the successful can have place and power—a 
survival of the fittest, you know, and that’s all. 
If the lines you use break that is your fault. 
If your hooks fail that is your fault. If your 
plans miscarry that is your fault. If you have 
failed in fishing (or in business) don’t swear off, 
but swear on, and fish better! He who fishes 
long enough and often enough will surely be 
rewarded with a proper catch in the course of 
time. . . Shall we try a new worm? Sure 
thing! 

Irrigation Ditches and Fish 
The newspapers of Montana have been at 
war among themselves over the game and fish 
laws, and particularly over the question of the 
screening of irrigation ditches by ranchers, to 
prevent fish from running into the flooded 
fields, only to be left to die by thousands when 
the water is turned off. The attitude of some 
of the papers, notably the Butte City Miner, 
has been most commendable, while that of the 
Bozeman Courier, for one, has been the other 
extreme. Dr. James A. Henshall, the well- 
known angling authority, and who is in charge 
of the United States Hatching Station in Boze- 
man, in an interview in the Butte Evening 
News, concerning more particularly the causes 
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