July 4, 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM^ 
9 
It is not melancholy, nor a waste. The ocean is what 
Ki'skin calls it, a majestic "emblem of unwearied, un- 
conquerahie power — wild, various, fantastic, tameless . 
unilv, full of glorv, beauty, and eternal changefulness of 
feeling." 
And then Bryant asserts that the brooks "complain," 
£ind "make the meadows green." They do not complain, 
bill sing. They no more make the meadows green than 
they do the trees along their bluffs. He calls the woods 
and rivers "solemn decorations all." They are glad 
decorations. He says that earth is "the great tomb of 
man." Earth is a magnificent heritage and special home 
for man. 
Finally, observe the same poison of "realism," or 
rather untruth, spoiling the celebrated couplet in Gray's 
Elegy : 
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
The air which blesses any flower is not desert air; the 
fiower does not waste its sweetness, although it may 
blush unseen, for Nature is perfect in herself, needing no 
human companionships. 
Besides, Gray purloined this idea, and most of his 
words, from the following couplet by Young, which is 
also poisoned by false "realism:" 
"Pure, gurgling rills the -lonely desert trace. 
And waste their music on the savage race." 
In Nature are boundless truths — truths of tone, power, 
life, space, sound, motion, shadow, hue, relation, fitness 
for and faithful discharge of function, divinity, brilliance, 
and puritv; endless thoughts, and most gracious purpose. 
Vievved only from the standpoint of "realism," men_ do 
not secure real grasp of mind and sight— "all ^ the voices 
of Nature one song of rejoicing, all her creatures a glad 
company." "Realism" makes the very stones cry out in 
woe at 'our earthly lot. It is the refuge and diet of the 
pcssiuiist, and the excuse of the blind. Loving sight dis- 
covers the royal seal upon all. "The keenness of our 
vision is to be tested by the purity and expansiveness of 
our love." Even the cynical, crabbed Carlyle said: "See 
deep enough and you see musically; the heart of Nature 
being everywhere music, if you can only reach it." 
Yet in proportion as men really behold Nature, they 
hesitate at attempts to describe her. Ridicule will leave 
no sting for such men, and sophistry and weakness of 
deniil will but deepen gratitude. But Nature's own beauty 
will surely humble to the dust, bringing fear and hesita- 
tion when such a devotee tries to tell of her on canvas or 
in words. Look at this picture of one scene at the Water 
Gap. Would you call any fisherman there a true sports- 
man who was' blind to all that beauty, and thought only 
of his fishing? 
The island shown in the upper right-hand corner of the 
picture is reached by a foot-bridge (not shown in the 
picture) from the Pennsylvania side, From the island a 
ferry by dory is used to reach the Jersey shore on the 
right : for remember, this picture shows the river extend- 
ing into its hills, looking north, and up the stream. A 
v.'alk of a thousand feet up and along the Jersey bank 
brings the sportsman to the O'Brien house, standing in 
woods, and where boats may be rented at low rates. 
There is a splendid eddy formed by the swirl of the river, 
just below the second pier of the railroad bridge shown 
in the distance; and there are many large bass there, as it 
is deep water. It can be reached from the O'Brien land- 
ing by crossing the river, and wading, hauling the boat up 
stream about four hundred feet close to shore, until the 
rripids are passed. In the deep water just below the 
bridge, I have often seen, from a large rock, from four to 
eight Isass that would average three pounds each, swim- 
ming about lazily. Alas ! they have been fished for so 
much that they have become very shy. The eddy shoals 
r.'ipidly to the edge of the rapids; and just before they 
break'into foam, there is a stretch of comparatively shal- 
low water that should also yield good results to the 
angler, Below the bridge the Analonting stream empties 
through the right bank of the Delaware, its own banks 
being very low for several hundred feet near its mouth — 
this wide, stony waste being a favorite place for securing 
the helgramites that lurk under the stones, and which are 
such good bait for bass. 
Six or eight hundred feet above the bridge, that part of 
the river known as the Benekill joins the main stream; 
and at the lower point of the island thus formed, is an 
old, sunken, upturned tree, around whose stem and roots 
very large bass make their home, as it affords safety from 
the sweep and grind of ice when the gorges break in 
winter. 
The Benekill is a delightful little side display of the 
river, and passes between wooded banks where many over- 
hanging trees glass themselves in deep, black pools, the 
homes of more large bass. About a thousand feet above 
the bridge, on the Pennsylvania shore of the Benekill, is 
a fine spring, not over ten feet distant from the stream, and 
about three feet above its surface at normal height. That 
is a delightful place for a noon luncheon. Back of it are 
wide patches of wild strawberry plants. _ The writer has 
picked a six-quart pail of wild strawberries in those fields 
in two hours, and obtained that rare dish, even among 
epicures, a short-cake made with the wild berries. 
There is a long bank of noble, lichen-covered rock run- 
nitig along the Jersey shore aboA^e the bridge. The deep 
water into which it disappears at an angle of sixty de- 
grees is another favorite place for large bass. They are 
very shy; and it is exasperating to see a half dozen of 
them moving about in a little school, mocking you with 
near presence, and your own inability to catch them. 
"J heir favorite bait is small catfish, which can be easily 
purchased. 
About fifteen hundred feet above those rocks (Jersey 
side) is the mouth of a little burn or rivulet that is full of 
fresh-water shrimp, a favorite food of the bass which 
Irrk there for the shrimp that venture out into the river. 
The water is not over four feet deep along there; but the 
cin-rent quickly extends the line to a hundred feet below 
the anchored boat ; and patience and persistence should be 
rewarded with the landing of a fish or two. Further up 
a half mile, say sixty rods below the upper part of the 
island, there is a central channel of water about eight or 
niue feet deep, extending up and down the river about 
eight hundred feet. It is not easily found, but is there. 
In that channel I lost the largest bass that I ever had on 
the outer end of a line. It furnishes the best bass fishing 
near the Gap. 
})Ut to the real angler — one who loves river and bass 
fishing, and \vho is not to be allured by the good trout 
fishing not far away, the best thing to do is to have a boat 
taken by wagon to Shoemaker's Eddy, several miles 
above, and come down in the boat, fishing slowly, anchor- 
ing frequently, and consuming a whole day in running 
about four or five miles. Such a trip should yield several 
fine bass for two rods. Catches of a dozen or more are 
frequent. 
Sometimes the deep water right in the Gap gives up 
good bass to the angler ; it is almost constantly fished in 
summer, for the Gap is a favorite and very beautiful 
summer resort, with about twenty hotels and boarding 
houses. 
It is no advertisement to say here that the Gap is best 
reached by the Lackawanna road, and that to the 
stranger the O'Brien boys will perhaps be found the best 
boat renters and guides. The Benekill should be entered 
from the lower end of the island — there is a shoal stretch 
of water at the upper end where boats strand on the 
myriad of small rocks, and anglers who enter the Benekill 
there would probably have to wade, or even drag the boat. 
These are scenic and angling joys that can be easily 
reached. The sportsman can leave New York as late as 
four in the afternoon, and enjoy a moonlight row on the 
river at the Gap. He will find fifty places where he can 
be comfortably housed, some of them being first-class 
modern hotels. Of course to one who insists upon camp- 
ing, their presence at the Gap is an objection; but the 
place is singularly wild and picturesque; and in spite of* 
the almost perpetual angling, a few fish can nearly always 
be taken anywhere between the upper bridge and the 
rift just below the actual emergence of the river from 
between Mts. Minsi and Tammany, into the broad, fine, 
agricultural country below. Such a chance for sport must 
be honorably mentioned, for most anglers make fishing an 
incident as they visit their families which have fled from 
the heat of towns. There are enormous bass, very many 
of them, right at the Gap, in that stretch of the river 
which is visible in the picture. To actually hook and 
land them is another matter, for they are pursued for 
many months yearly. This angling water cannot furnish 
more than a shadow of such fishing as can be found in 
Ontario, Quebec, Maine, Wisconsin or Minnesota lakes. 
But it is so cheaply accessible, the accommodations are 
so sure to be good, and the scenery is so magnificent, that 
it is specially worthy of mention to the readers of Forest 
AND Stream. L. F. Brown. 
Fish and Fishing. 
Salmon Fishing Has Been Very Poor, 
The salmon fishing season on Canadian rivers has 
been very, poor up to the middle of last week. Those who 
were on the south shore streams fairly early found a 
few fish in the pools, and had fair sport for two or three 
days, but as the fish which were in the pools on their 
arrival moved higher up the rivers, no others seemed to 
arrive to take their place. In the higher pools, too, very 
few fish were to be found. The season was so backward 
that some of the guardians think the fish may have en- 
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1 
LOOKING UP TEE DELAWARE FROM MX. MINSL 
