The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-05-26
somethlng About Fishing

what advanced ; but what cares your geh-
uine disciple of Izaak Walton for that
A glorious nible, once in two hours, is sur
ficient to crafty his utmost ambition. tie
goes not in for the meat, like the fisherman
| by profession He labors not IN the not
sun 10 fill his boat with the spois OF the
river running torrents of half boiling water.
His soul is bent upon what he considers
| snort. and to him it is sport to sit beneath
the broad branches of the overshadowing
elm. alive with the songs of thousand
birds, and to watch his cork, in that
| dreamy. hstess mood, which but admits
within its range enough of the things
around him, to form a dazzling contrast
with the creations of his fancy. The gen.
uine angler is always a peculiar man. He
delights in that which delights not his fell
lows-his love of the gentle craft is founded
upon principles which they cannot under
stand. To the majority of the world,
fishing is fishing, estimated by the number
and size of the v;ctims-coarSe, vulgar,
every day emyloym value OF which
is to be reckoned in dollars and cents, like
the other commodities of this money-loving
world. These care of the earth earthly"
| They cannot enter into the feelings OF the
true angler They know not the keen relish
with which he feels the balmy breath of
Nature, fresh from the stream, breathing
upon his forehead. They are unable to ap-
precate the deep pleasure which he derives
from a converse with her in her chosen re-
treats They have no conception of the
delight with which the mind revelS in those
airy creations, so different from the hard
and cold realities of actual life. so soothing
to the spirit of the yotary, so nigh akin,
in their influence, to that Nepenthe which no
mortal ever yet possessed, and for which all,
the most fortunate, have sighed in vain,
even from the beginning of the world.
1t is recorded of Patrick Henry that he
was in bis youth most inveterate fisher
man, lie was often to be found, sitting be-
Meath the shade of certain gigantic trees,
the floral aborigines of the district in which
thew fourished, with his line dangling in
the stream, his baitless hook lying on the
bottom of the pond, his eyes fixed upon his |
motionless cork, like the eyes of a man in a
dream, and his spirit evidently far away
from the sport in which he was seemingly
engaged. What was there then, in this |
pastime that so powerfully enlisted the af- |
fections of the boy Henry? 1t was the calm
solitude, the deep solemnity, that perva-
ded the spot, where be could converse with |
nature, face to face, as favored lover may |
converse with bis mistress-w he could |
revolve, in silence, the thousand thick COM |
ing fancies that crowded upon his young
and vivid imagination-where the thoughts |
that were burning within him, might not
be disturbed, by the Earring common
places of conventions conversation. 1t were
a curious speculation TO imagine what were
the visions of such a mind, surrounded by
such Influences at such period of life.
Did he already, with the prophetic eye OF
genius, foresee the renown which awaited
him in the busy turmoil of life, at period
not very far removed in the future? Did
the crowded forum, the wonder-struck judg-
es, the enraptured jury, and the laundering
applause of the multitude, rise before him
in bright prospective? Or did he dream OF
shattered tridents, discovered empires. hosts
rushing to battle. thousands striking for
liberty and fatherland, under the influence
of his own terrific eloquence? 1t is vain to
enquire. 1t is sufficient for us to know that
his genius grew and was fostered, under
the influence ola Egeria more beloved than
she who won the heart of Rome's most ven
Grated monarch, ana that that Egera was
Nature, in the depth of her delicious soli-
tudes.
A genuine angler is always more or less
of an old fogie, and we like him none the
less for that He clings with inveterate
pertinacity to old ideas and old things. He
laments the destruction of tree, as the loss
of an old friend. He deplores the removal
of dam as a real calamity. To him, the
change Of the landmarks to which he has
been accustomed. is source of bitter an
noyance. In his solitary occupation he be-
comes so accustomed to link memory with
memory, that he literally lives in the past.
Any Improvement in the face of the coun-
| try, is to him always source of regret. He
| misses the deep woods, and the voices of
| the birds and the delicious fragrance of the
| grape vines, and the squirrels leaping from
| bough to Dough, and all the incidents that
| recall his younger days to his memory.
We witnessed a striking proof of this, in an
| old brother of the craft, not long since, in
an adjoining county. There was a case of a
disputed road before the county court. The
| counsel for the defendant argued that the
ground through which it was proposed to
run the road was not fit for the purpose
A number of witnesses were examined,
| among them the veteran disciple of Izaak
Walton alluded to. His evidence was of a
peculiar character. He had been, he said,
! IN the conclusion, a fisherman for fifty
years. He had always passed through the
| land designed for the road on his way to
his sport. If road should be run through
it, he should fish no more. Many persons
were unable to understand the feelings of
| our old friend. They could not conceive
why the road should interfere with the
pleasure he derived from his amusement.
We thought we could understand it readily
enough. 1t arose from the rude shock his
association of ideas would receive from a
road through his old walk. He had fol-
lowed it when boy, through the primeval
forest that then hung over it, shutting ont
the light of the sun. He had seen, with
deep regret, the monarchs of the woods fall
one after another, before the unsparing
rage for planting corn and tobacco. They
had, at last, all disappeared, and he
mourned for them in his heart as we mourn
for brother. The axe and the hoe had
done their worst, yet he still chung to the
land that was associated with the earliest
and dearest memories of his life. But he
could not endure the last act of degrade
ton, to which his favorite haunt was to be
subjected. II was like rudely tearing from
ms heart the last link of chain which
bound it 10 the past. 'The memory of
other days is, like the music of Carrill,
sweet and mournful to the SOUL" Such we
Jake 10 be the true Interpretation of the old
hsherman's antipathy.
AHorHER Rux.-We are informed that apotbsr
. .aa mas been made upon the Exchange Bank Ut
sn . place through Its agency at Richmond, by .
Guy oloxer OH 500. A fsw more rune viii very
"stes.siiy cripple The Bank and prevent further
loans oy u TO the people. THIS makes, since the
~. .. April, when the law requiring two places Of