The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-30
some More Aheu, Fi.hlnx.

0Omc UOrG AU0ut heuIW8s
Yesterday was Good Friday but we are
afraid many of our friends spent It on the
banks OF the river, instead Of In Church.
The day was infinitely attractive. It nibbied
at the heart of the genuine fisherman, ~ 3
big club nibbles at his hook when he hap
pen. to be in good luck. That 10 10 say, II did
not nibble At all--it took hold, and swallowed
at a guip. II carried him off TO the stream in
continentiy, and there was no resisting the
rush.
We saw theory of some naturalist some
time ago, with regard to angling, which we
hope may be true. 1t is that the fish does
not suffer pain from the hook when it hangs
him. We hope, we say, this may be SO, for
we should like to silence the clamor of senti-
mentalists on this subject, who are willing
enough to eat the fish when caught, but OBJ
ject to fishing because it iniiicts pain on the
fish. This is very much like the indigna ton
of the Lowell cotton spinners, at the
holding of slaves who make the cotton. 1t is
like the East India Company, who shuddered
at the robbery of the Begums, yet kept on
writing to HAsrINes to send them more mo-
ney. 1t resembles the professional Fence, !"
who d-ns the pickpocket, for a thief and
rascal. 1t is like Master JOSEPH SURFACE,
connected with sin but the pleasure it afford
ed. Now, we are like bluff old Sir PETER
TgAzLE, who id sentiment of every kind
We saw. if YOU pity the fish, don't eat them.
If YOU think the sport cruel, don't buy the
6sh you cannot expect sinners to repent,
when the righteous pay them the wages OF
shiny which we do not mean that last IN
staIment mentioned By the Scriptures, which
is death, but simply the reward of daily sin In
hard cash The former cannot be PAID untii
the books are balanced, and a final settlement
takes place.
The theory I'm q ues ton, as far as we recol-
lect il, maintains, that inasmuch as man
soon becomes insensible whom drowning, so
by analogy we may infer that q tsh-on when
the air may be supposed to act as the water
does on man, air being our breathing ele
msnt and water theirs-bscomes insenslole
when drowning in our atmosphere. All this
may be SO, for aught we lnoW-bnt what De-
comes of the worms, and the reaches Do
they suffer- or do they not Nay, what De-
comes of old IzAAK WALTos's frogs, with
which he used to fish for pike, as he tells us
in this delectable passage
And thus use your frog, that he may continue
long alive. Put your hook into his mouth, which
you may easily do from the middle OF April tlii
August and then the frogs mouth grows np'
and he continues for at least six months with
out eating, but is sustained, none but He whose
name is Wonderful knows how. say, put your
and out at his gills and with a fine needle and
silk sew the upper part Of his leg, with only one
the frogs leg above the upper joint to the armed
wire and IN doing HIM though you fored
him. that is, harm him as little as possible, haf ne
may tiuc the longer"
In justice to our fishermen we must say tina t
to crnalty "a G
this, although we doubt whether any of them
could discourse so finely on the duty of being
thankful for worldly blessings. 1t was this
passage, doubtless, that induced BYRON to de-
nounce angling, and WALTON, as the father of
it, in the we'll known lines
" And angling too, that solitary vice,
Whatever 1zaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet
Should have hook. and small trout TO pull it. d"
And yet old IzAAK will always be the delight
of the genuine angler, let him be as humane
as he may. His fresh, vivid descriptions
breathe the very air of the country, and will
always be attractive, as pictures OF nature al
ways are. The following passage, although
an English picture, will be appreciated by
every genuine lover of the sport even here
He is supposed to be sitting under an elm by
a bright stream with his hooks III the water
"A
to cheer herself and those that hear her she th
quits the earth. and sings AS she ascends higher
into the air and having ended her heavenly EN-
ployinent, grows then mute and sad, to think she
must descend to the dull earth, which she would
not touch but for necessity.
GLOW do the blackbird and thrOssel, tsong
thru y with their melodous voices, bid wei :
| come to the cheerful spring, and in their hXed
mouths MARBLE forth such dlttl9s as no art or IN
strument can reach 49,
NAY, the smaller birds also do the like in
their particular seasons, as, namely, the lave,
(skv rR it'll rk a
the honest robin, that loves mankind both alive
and dead.
g But the nightingale, another of my airy crea-
lures breathes such sweet, loud music out OF her
little instrumental throat, that it mig hit ma mar
kind to think miracles not ceased. He that AT
midnight, when the very aborer sleeps securely,
should hear, have very often, the clear airs,
the sweet descans, the natural rising and iailhg,
the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might
well be lifted above the earth, and say Lord,
what music hast thou provided for the Saints IN
Heaven, when thou aifoI dest bad men such music
on earth ?'''