i;2 



RECREATION 



taw line before the next shot is fired. Daniel 

 Boone and Davy Crockett should be the 

 policemen on this occasion and demand and 

 insist that these regulations shall be carried 

 out to the letter. 



We not only want no accident ever to 

 happen through carelessness to any of the 

 Sons of Daniel Boone or their friends, but 

 we wish them to set an example which will 

 be followed by other boys, and thus lessen 

 (the danger and the number of accidents 

 which are constantly happening because of 

 the handling of fire arms by untrained and 

 nndrilled bovs and men. 



FLY FISHING IN ANCIENT TIMES 



In February we begin to pull over our 

 rods and look over our flies, examine our 

 reels and by various other little acts show 

 that our mind is beginning to wander from 

 our occupation, 'business or professional, to 

 the brooks. By April, there is something in- 

 side of us which snaps and, after that has 

 happened a dollar is no longer the size of 

 a cart wheel, business obligations no longer 

 have the serious aspect they formerly had. 

 In fact, there is nothing so serious to us as 

 the question of whether we can take a few 

 days off in which to cast the fly and the 

 question as to what the possible results of 

 our cast will be. 



Some cynic has said, in speaking of fish- 

 ermen's stories, and to the question as to 

 why they are doubted by the angler's audi- 

 ence : 



"An answer to this problem 



Is what I greatly wish, 

 Does fishing make men liars? 



Or do only liars fish?" 



The inference one must draw from this 

 little verse is plainly a libel on the sons of 

 Izaak Walton, for everybody who has met 

 these genial gentlemen, knows that their 

 wiord would carry more weight in <court 

 than that of any bunch of business men who 

 never fish who could be brought before the 

 jury. 



Speaking of casting the fly; it is inter- 

 esting to note that the ancients were ad- 

 dicted to this method of fishing and, ac- 

 cording to the Cincinnati Enquirer a minute 

 description of the artificial fly as used by 

 Macedonian anglers is given by ^Elian, a 

 Greek writer of the third century, as fol- 

 lows : 



"Between Berea and Thessalonica there 

 flows a river, Astraeus 'by name, and there 

 are in it fishes of a spotted color, but by 

 what name people of those parts call them 

 it is better to ask Macedonians. 



"At any rate these fish live upon the na- 

 tive flies which fall into the river and are 

 like no flies of any other part, one would 

 neither call them wasplike in appearance, 



nor would one reply to a question that this 

 creature is formed like what we call the 

 bumble bees, nor yet like the honey bees 

 themselves. 



"In audacity it is like a fly, in size it might 

 be called a bumble bee, in color it rivals 

 the wasp and it buzzes like the honey bee. 

 All common creatures of this sort are called 

 horse tails. 



"These pitch upon the stream to seek the 

 food they affect, but cannot help being seen 

 by the fish, which swim underneath. 



"So whenever one of them sees the fly 

 floating he comes sofitly, swimming under 

 the water, afraid of disturbing the surface 

 and so scaring away his game. Then he 

 comes near the shady side of the fly, gapes 

 and sucks him in just like a wolf snatching 

 a sheep from the fold or an eagle a goose 

 from the yard. This done he disappears 

 beneath the ripple. 



"The fishermen understand these maneu- 

 vers, but they do not make any use of these 

 flies for a bait for the fish, for if the hu- 

 man hand lays hold of them they lose their 

 natural color, their wings fray and they 

 become uneatable ito the fish. 



"So with angling craft they outwit the 

 fish, devising a sort of lure against them. 

 They lap a lot of reddish wool round the 

 hook and to the wool two cock's feathers 

 which grow under the wattels and are 

 brought to the proper color with wax. The 

 rod is from six to ten feet long and the 

 horsehair line has the same length. 



"They lower the lure. The fish is attracted 

 by the color, excited, draws close, and, judg- 

 ing from its beautiful appearance that it will 

 obtain a marvelous banquet, forthwith opens 

 its mouth, but is caught by the hook and 

 bitter, indeed, is the feast it has, inasmuch 

 as it is captured." 



I am afraid that my editorials are not al- 

 ways carefully read. In the July number, 

 under the head of "The Disgraceful Side 

 Hunit," I make a plea for certain hawks, and, 

 probably because I ended that plea by saying 

 that if the people did not learn better "they 

 will learn to their sorrow that they can not 

 interfere with Nature's buzzsaw without se- 

 rious consequences to themselves ; and then, 

 indeed, they will all sit down to a feast at 

 which the agriculturists and the merchants 

 depending upon the district will be com- 

 pelled to eat crow." 



Because I said this, many of my readers 

 have jumped at the conclusion that I wanted 

 them to protect the crow. I am afraid that 

 I can not say much for the crow as a wild 

 bird; but as probably no other bird in Amer- 

 ica is better known than this shiny, black 

 imp, it is unnecessary for me to say anything 

 further against him. However, I want to 

 here correct the readers so that they will 

 not continue to flood Recreation and me 

 personally with letters denouncing the crow 

 and asking why I spoke in his favor. The 



