217 
Sept, g, 1905.] 
But the raining of frogs, a cheerful theory that pre- 
vails in some parts of the United States to-day, excites 
his gentle sarcasm, he says ; “And Cardanus undertakes 
to give a reason for the raining of frogs, but if it were 
in my power, it should rain none but water frogs, _ for 
those, I think, are not venomous, especially the right 
water frog which, about February or March, breeds in 
the ditches by slime and blackish eggs in that slime.” (He 
knew these frogs hatched from eggs and were not rained 
down. ) 
Very free indeed is our “Compleat Angler” from the 
narrowness of many men of science who believes in the 
existence of only those things that their own eyes have 
seen. He says : “Nay, the Royal Society have found and 
published lately, that there be thirty and three kinds of 
spiders, and yet all, for aught I know, go under that one 
general name of spider.” It would excite no wonder in 
a mind like that of Izaak Walton if he could have fore- 
seen the thousand species of spiders that we know to-day 
“all under that one general name of spider.” 
It is to be expected that we should find the most care- 
ful natural history of the “Compleat Angler” devoted 
to the finny tribes. But the same quaint humor and de- 
licious phrasing are to be found here as elsewhere. He 
says: “The pike is also observed to be a solitary, melan- 
choly and bold fish ; melancholy because he always swims 
or rests himself alone, and never swims in shoals or with 
company, as roach and dace and most fish do, and bold 
because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of 
anybody, as the trout and chub and all other fish do. The 
pike is called by some writers the tyrant of the rivers or 
the fresh water wolf by reason of his bold, greedy, de- 
vouring disposition. A pike will devour a fish of his own 
kind that shall be bigger than his throat shall receive, 
and swallow a part of him and let the other part remain 
in his mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and then 
swallow that other part that was in his mouth, and so 
put it over by degrees.” . ; 
Speaking of the edibility of old fish he puts it delicately 
when he says : “It is observed that the old or very great 
pikes have in them more of state than goodness.” Very 
graphic is this picturesque description of the bleak : 
“There is also a bleak or freshwater sprat, a fish that is 
ever in motion, and therefore called by some the river 
swallow, for j ust as you shall observe the swallow to be, 
most evenings in summer, ever in motion, making short 
and quick turns when he flies to catch flies in the air, by 
which he lives, so does the bleak at the top of the water. 
Ausonius would have called him bleak, from his whitish 
color ; his back is of a pleasant sad or sea water green, his 
belly white and shining as the mountain snow. And, 
doubtless, though he have the fortune which virtue has in 
poor people to be neglected, yet the bleak ought to be 
much valued, though we lack Allamont salt, and the skill 
the Italians have to turn them into anchovies.” 
On the Habits of Fishes. 
In speaking of the habits of fishes he says : “And in 
[ the winter the minnow and the loach and bullhead dwell 
' in the mud, as the eel doth, or we know not where; no 
more than we know where the cuckoo and swallow and 
other half-year birds, which first appear to- us in April, 
spend their six cold, winter, melancholy months. The 
bullhead does usually dwell and hide himself in holes, or 
amongst stones in clear water ; and in very hot days will 
lie a long time very still and sun himself, and will be easy 
to be seen on any flat stone or gravel ; at which time he 
will suffer an angler to put a hook baited with a small 
worm very near unto his mouth ; and he never refuses 
to bite, nor indeed to be caught with the worst of 
anglers.” 
The “Compleat Angler” evidently has not a high regard 
for women as devotees to the gentle art of fishing; thus 
he describes the stickleback as “a fish without scales, but 
hath his body fenced with several prickles. I know not 
where he dwells in winter, nor what he is good for. in 
summer, but only to make sport for boys and women 
anglers, and to feed other fish that be fish of prey.” 
But though he liked not women anglers yet he lacked 
not appreciation of woman in her more successful 
spheres, as for instance, singing and milking cows. We 
all love his handsome milkmaid that had not yet attained 
so much age and wisdom as to load her mind with any 
fears of many things that will never be, as too many men 
too often dO'. But she cast away all care and sung like a 
nightingale. 
He had a keen eye and a wise word to the medical side 
of nature. But he makes these suggestions impersonally 
and on the authority of learned men as “Rondeletius says, 
that at his being in Rome he saw a great cure done by 
applying a tench to the feet of a very sick man. But I 
will meddle no more with that ; my honest, humble art 
teaches no such boldness ; there are too many foolish 
meddlers in physic and divinity, that think themselves fit 
to meddle with hidden secrets, and so bring destruction 
to their followers. But I’ll not meddle with them any 
farther than to wish them wiser.” 
Our Interest in Walton. 
However, it is as a student of nature that we are to-day 
most interested in Izaak Walton in that he exemplifies in 
this respect an ideal. Led to a closer study of living 
creatures through the practice of his art, he oftimes for- 
gets his art in admiration for nature’s cunning workman- 
ship ; nay, he even forgets for the moment that bait is 
what he is after. Listen to his description of caddice 
worms : “You are also to know that there be divers kinds 
of cadis or case worms, that are to be found in this na- 
tion in several distinct counties, and in several little 
brooks that relate to bigger rivers; as namely, one cadis 
called a piper, whose husk or case is a piece of reed about 
an inch long, or longer, and as big about as the compass 
of a twopence. There is also a lesser cadis-worm, called 
a cockspur, being in fashion like the spur of a cock, and 
the case Or house in which he dwells is made of small 
husks and gravel ; most curiously made Qf these, even so 
as to be wondered at but not to be m.ade by man, no more 
than a kingfisher’s nest can, which is made of little fishes’ 
bones, and have sqch a geometrical interweaving and con- 
nection, as the like is not to be done by the art of man.” 
His discourse on flies and caterpillars is most alluring; 
“Now for flies you are to know that there are so many 
sorts of flies as there be of fruits; indeed too many for 
tQ pame or for you to pemember. And §opie affirm 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
that every plant has its particular fly or caterpillar, which 
it breeds and feeds. And as it is observable that there 
be flies of prey, so there be others, very little, created, I 
think, only to feed them, and breed out of I know not 
what; whose life, they say, nature intended not to exceed 
an hour; and yet that life is thus made shorter by other 
flies or accident. Nay, the very colors of caterpillars are, 
as one has observed, very elegant and beautiful. I shall 
for a taste of the rest, describe one of them, which I will 
some time the next month show you feeding on a willow 
tree, and you shall find him punctually to answer this 
very description. His lips and mouth somewhat yellow, 
his eyes black as jet, his forehead purple, his feet and 
hinder parts green, bis tail two-forked and black; the 
w’hole body stained with a kind of red spots which fun 
along the neck and shoulder blade, not unlike the form of 
St. Andrew’s cross, or letter X, made thus crosswise, and 
a white line drawn down his back tO' his tail ; all which 
add much beauty to his whole body. And it is tO' me ob- 
servable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives over to 
eat, and toward winter comes to be covered over with a 
strange shell or crust, called an- Aurelia; and so lives a 
kind of dead life, without eating, all the winter. And as 
others of several kinds turn to be several kinds of flies 
the spring following, so this caterpillar turns to a painted 
butterfl3c” 
The bee he describes as a creature of the air thus : 
“There is also a little contemptible winged crea?ture, an 
inhabitant of my aerial element, namely, the laborious 
bee, of whose prudence, policy and regular government 
of , their own commonwealth I might say much, but i will 
leave them to their sw'eet labor, without the least disturb- 
ance, believing them to be all very busy at this very time 
among the herbs and flowers that we see nature puts forth 
this May morning.” . 
His enthusiasm for birds comes largely from the 
esthetic side of his nature. Though he describes them 
well they yet seem to belong to the realm of poetry and 
music in nature’s book. “How do the blackbird and the 
thrassel, with their melodious voices, bid welcome to- the 
cheerful spring, and in their flxed mouths warble forth 
such ditties as no art or instrument can reach to. 
“But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, 
breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instru- 
mental throat, that it might make mankind ’ to think 
miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the 
very laborer sleeps securely, should hear, as I very often, 
the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and 
falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might 
well be lifted above earth and say, ‘Lord, what music hast 
thou provided for thy saints in heaven, when Thou afford- 
est bad men such music on earth ?’ ” 
But, most of all, we are interested in Izaak Walton’s 
ideals of life and manhood; we would know what these 
days out of doors pursuing an avocation which he re- 
garded and practiced as an art did for his thought and 
character. It is this phase of him that we who live in 
overworked to-day need to consider with all seriousness. 
Too many of us have forgotten how to rest; we have no 
time for thought of contemplative sort; all our thought is 
the kind that leads to immediate action ; it is the thought 
that guides the football player in the midst of the strug- 
gle; that animates the man in the turmoil of the stock 
exchange or that guides the automobile ; it is the thought 
that takes cognizance of what lies before us in the next 
moment close at hand; there is no perspective in it, no 
possibility of far seeing; there is no alchemy in such 
thought to change the experience of life into true wisdom. 
Such thought simply accelerates our speed and makes us 
each a drive wheel in the activities of our complex civili- 
zation ; it keeps us whirling ever more rapidly and we go 
on helplessly, not knowing how to stop. Even when we 
try to rest and take a much needed vacation we find we 
know naught of the sweet art of resting; we must still 
be doing things. Finally the misused nerves refuse tO' act 
and then we retire to some rest-cure and take our rest 
in. one large lump and make wry faces at the medicine 
which is the forlorn hope of the sufferer from nervous 
prostration. 
For those who must work when they rest there is prob- 
ably no diversion to-day so popular or helpful as fishing. 
It is fortunate that the number of fish caught does not 
materially affect this sport, else our streams depleted as 
they are of their finny inhabitants, would soon preclude 
its possibility. However, all true devotees of angling 
agree, from Walton down, that the fascination of the ex- 
perience is not so much in owning fish as in fishing.' Wal- 
ton says : “For rmu know there is more pleasure in hunt- 
ing the hare than in eating her” ; and he says to his pupil : 
“It is a good beginning of your art to offer your first 
fruits to the poor, who. will both thank God and you 
for.it.” 
Unfortunately, not all anglers understand the advan- 
tages of going fishing as did Walton, and here is ' where 
the '-“Compleat Angler” preaches us a much needed ser- 
mon to-day, for it shows that our greatest angler was 
given to sane, wholesome thinking and was possessed with 
a true, love of nature, and the keenest appreciation of the 
beautiful, and that he had good judgment in all things, 
especially in the . values of the things this world has to 
offer. 
Living in a country wherein the traditions of aristocracy 
prevailed everywhere, he says : “But, my worthy friend, 
I would rather prove myself a gentleman by being learned 
and humble, valiant and inoffensive, virtuous and com- 
municable than by any fond ostentation or riches, or, 
wanting those virtues myself, boast that these were in 
my ancestors.” 
[to be concluded.] 
Pennsylvanians Frog Work- 
It 
In response to some of the inquiries for further par- 
ticulars.regarding Pennsylvania’s work in frog culture or 
frog'Tarming, Lmight say that all the frogs which ' were 
hatched Ifist year and this year sat the State hatcheries 
were planted mainly in other waters than those ^ from 
which the. spawn were gathered. Last year, of the,-30,ooo 
which were planted, about 10.000 were placed in the 
marshes from which the eggs were gathered, and the re- 
mainder sent to swamps and waters in different parts of 
Pennsylvania. The 6e,ooo hatched this year at the Wayne 
hatchery were all sent to different sections of the State, 
all the eggs having been gathered on the hatchery 
grounds. ~ ’ “ ’ ” ' " ' ' " • 
The frogs were from one inch to one and a half inch 
long and some of them traveled two days before they 
reached their destination. In one case, through a blunder 
of the railroad company, five cans, or nearly 2,000 frogs, 
were taken from the Wayne hatchery in the northeastern 
part of the State to Washington county, in the south- 
western part of the State, and brought back again. The 
period being nearly five days, and on the return to their 
home quarters not a single frog was found to have died, 
though it must be confessed they were very, hungry. _ 
Thus far the Department has not taken any particular 
pains tO' separate the great western frogs from the green 
frogs, but have hatched them all together in the same 
ponds. The reason why there has been no separation 
is because of the extraordinary demand for the creatures 
from all parts of Pennsylvania, which has rendered it 
necessary for the superintendent of the hatcheries to 
gather wild spawn wherever they could to supplement 
that from the frogs in captivity. W. E. Meehan, 
Commissioner of Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 
A Reading Lesson. 
It is a well established fact that the average school 
teacher experiences a great deal of difficulty when she 
attempts to enforce the clear pronunciation of the ter- 
minal “g” of each present participle. 
“Robert,” said the teacher of one of the lower classes 
during the progress of a reading exercise, “please read 
the first sentence.” 
A diminutive lad arose to his feet, and amid a series 
of labored gasps breathed forth the following: 
“See the horse runnin’.” 
“Don’t forget the ‘g,’ Robert,” admonished the teacher. 
“Gee ! See the horse running’.” — Lippincott’s. 
Man^s Ready Wit. 
A young man entered the drawing room of the girl 
whom he was soon to marry. The girl came down to 
meet him with a severe frown on her pretty face. “John,” 
she said, “father saw you this morning going into a 
pawnbroker’s with a large bundle.” John flushed. Then 
he said in a low voice: “Yes, that is true. I was taking 
the pawnbroker some of my old clothes. You see, he and 
his wife are frightfully hard up.” “Oh, John, forgive 
me!” exclaimed the young girl. “How truly noble you 
are !” — St. James’ Gazette. 
Meenaneaty. 
There’s some that love the mountain and some that love the sea, 
But the brown bubbling river is the dearest thing to me, 
And sweeter than all waters in all the lands I know. 
Is the stream by Meenaneary in the county of Mayo. 
’Tis. there the plunging torrents spread and slacken to a curl. 
And in below the fern-clad rock the dimpled eddies swirl; 
’Tis there in blue and silver mail the fresh-run salmon lie. 
While overhead goes dancing the dainty-feathered fly. 
Oh, to hear the reel go singing, to feel the rod a-strain! 
But still the days are passing and I’ll be back again 
To brush through dewy heather in the myrtle-scented air. 
With the freshness of the morning, it is then I will be there. 
Here on the gritty pavement I’m pent in London town. 
But on the smoke-grimed elm-trees yon swollen buds are brown— 
And with the leaf’s unfurling I’ll say good-bye and go 
To airy Meenaneary in, the county of Mayo. 
— Stephen Gwynn in the Spectator. 
^he ^mml. 
Brunswick Foxhound Club. 
To THE members of the Brunswick Foxhound Club: 
Article. XIV., Section 5, of the Constitution and By- 
Laws, provides that, “A special fund for use in defraying 
the extraordinary expenses of the club shall be raised by 
subscription. The fund shall be subject to the orders of 
the Executive Committee.” 
Among the purposes of this special fund are the fol- 
lowing: I. To provide certain prizes for competition in 
the annual hound show and field trials. 2. To pay the 
expenses of judges from a distance who could not other- 
wise be present. 3. To provide for some kind of an en- 
tertainment for the men, women and children of Barre, 
who for ten years have welcomed us to their town and 
allowed us to ride and walk over their farms. 4. To pay 
for items which are considered by your Executive Com- 
mittee to be essential to the proper conduct of the trials 
and hound show. 
This special fund was started in 1903, and for two 
years has been used for the above purpose. It is now 
necessary to ask the members of the club, and any friends 
who are interested in what the club is trying To accom- 
plish, to contribute again to the special fund. Any sum, 
no matter how small, will be gladly received and duly 
acknowledged by Mr. L. W. Campbell, Woonsocket, R. I„ 
the treasurer of the club. 
The Brunswick Foxhound Club stands for the develop- 
ment, improvement and best interests of the English 
hound as hunted in America,, as well as for the American 
hound, ^ and it is hoped that the masters of English packs 
will join the club arid co-operate with the management of 
the Brunswick FoJ:;lioLmd Club to this end. Mr. F. S. 
Peer will probably judge the English hounds at Barre in 
October next. ’ 
The management ipf the club will gladly receive sugges- 
tions as to the best' way: of controlling the spectators at 
the field trials. It is not an easy matter to formulate 
rules for this purpose, but at our rrieeting in October we 
propose to attempt a more definite plan of campaign, with 
a view to obtaining the best results. These rules will be 
printed in due time, and it is' hoped that tfie members 
will abide by them during the trials as closely as possible, 
Robert F. PERttiNs, Pres, 
Boston, Aug. 11, ^ v , 
i 
