308 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[August, 
It will be easy enough to fill in the other words:— 
“ My first is in hark but not in bite. 
My next is in dark but not in light.” 
Then you cau finish with 
“My fifth is in sea but not in f am ; 
And my whole is the name that they call me at home.” 
Now do you know “ how to work those cross-words ” ? 
L. T.—I am afraid if I gave you their names and 
address you might write to them, and set them a bad ex¬ 
ample in spelling, grammar, and politeness. If I should 
publish your letter j ust as you wrote it, I think you would 
be rather “ a shamed of it ” yourself. 
L. A. Dks B.—I will publish your “ enigma ” in the 
Agriculturist; it is “against the rules” to allow the 
same puzzle to appear in this paper and in Hearth and 
Home. The rebus is too simple and palpable. But thanks 
for your trouble in sending them. The “ conundrum ” is 
very old but very good. 
Thanks for puzzles, letters, etc., to Katie, M. Van E., 
Phiz, Laura V. M., James T. E., and Robt. W. M. 
Cwoimsi A-FIsliing. 
We suppose that it is as natural for boys to go a-fishing 
as it is for them to cat; and if there is anything that 
comes easier to boys than eating, we should like to know 
what it is. If a boy lives anywhere near a stream or pool 
ol water, be it fresh or salt, and if there be any finny in¬ 
habitant of that water, be it minnow or pickerel, the boy 
will have a try at it. He will go a-fishing whether he 
■catches anything or not. Our youngster in the picture 
looks altogether too much dressed to make a successful 
fisherman. He is probably the son of some city parents 
who have gone to the country for the summer, and he is 
trying his luck in a half don’t-care way, that makes us 
think that, whatever present success has attended his 
efforts, he will never make a fisherman. If one would 
catch fish he must give his mind to it, and exercise alibis 
ingenuity. This is what makes us approve of allowing 
boys to go a-fishing; they learn that to accomplish a cer¬ 
tain end—the catching of fish—they have got to think. 
They must, in the first place, know the habits of the fish 
they arc after, whether they are to be caught at the bot¬ 
tom with dead bait, or near the surface with what appears 
to be a live bait. They must learn enough of the habits 
of the fish to know upon what they feed, and what 
part of the stream they frequent, the time of day they 
feed, and many other things that teach them a great deal 
of the history of fishes. Some fishes can only be caught 
in deep water, others hide in holes along the banks and 
at certain times come out to feed, and others can only be 
caught by presenting to them what appears to be a living 
insect. It is not rare to see two boys, or men, fishing 
together, and one will take a plenty of fish, while the 
other catches none at all. They will tell you that it is a 
difference in luck, but the real fact is, that the successful 
one knows or has accidentally hit upon the habits of the 
fish. A few inches more of line below the float, or a little 
different arrangement of the sinker, will make all the dif¬ 
ference between “luck ” and “no luck.” The success¬ 
ful fisherman or fisher hoy must learn the ways of the fish. 
One outfit of the fisherboy is more important than silk 
lines, improved floats, gut snoods, or even “ silver-spin¬ 
ners.” Do you wish to know what it is ? It is a very 
home-made article, but it is better than all the fancy arti¬ 
ficial flies, better than lancewood rods and multiplying 
reels—it is the good old-fashioned virtue, patience. There 
is an old saying, “ If you swear, you will catch no fish.” 
Now we don’t believe that any of our youngsters would 
swear on any account, fish or no fish, but there is a kind 
of impatience which in persons who know no better finds 
vent in swearing, and in others in rude acts, which, if 
not so wicked, are almost ns improper as swearing. Pa¬ 
tience should be the ever-present motto of the fisherman, 
and it is really the great lesson taught by fishing. If yon 
have no luck—patience. If your hook gets caught by a 
sunken tree—patience. Are you fishing with a friend and 
your lines get apparently hopelessly tangled, only that 
. good old-fashioned patience will help you out of the scrape. 
So, then, we like to have our boys go a-fishing, if they 
will take to it the right tvay, and accept all the lessons 
that it will teach them. It will give them abundant oppor¬ 
tunities to control themselves—the worst thing they will 
' ever have to control—and to learn the value of patience. 
Some parents do not like to have their children catch 
fish, because it seems cruel. Naturalists tell us that the 
fish, when he comes from the water into the air, expe¬ 
riences the same sensations that a land animal does when 
put into the water. Those who have been restored after 
being apparently drowned, ’say that the sensation of 
drowning is a pleasant one, and we may infer that the 
fish, when taken from the water, experiences no pain. 
Fish were evidently made to be eaten, and if we exercise 
no unnecessary cruelty in capturing them, we need not 
fear that we are doing wrong. 
