Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1873-03-29
influence of Fishing on Character.

influence of Fishing on Character.
Fishing teaches perseverance, The
man in Punch who on Friday did not
know whether he had had good sport,
because he only began ON Wednesday
morning, is a caricature but, like all
caricatures, has an element of truth in
it. To succeed as fisher, whether of
the kingly salmon or the diminutive
gudgeon, an ardor is necessary which is
not damped by repeated want of success; (;
and he who is hopeless because he has
no sport at first will never fully appreci-
ate fishing. so, too, the tyro, who
catches the line in a rock, or twists it in
an apparently inexplicable manner in
tree, soon finds that steady patience
will set him free far sooner than impetu-
GUS vigor or ruthless strength The
skilled angler does notabuse the weather
or the water in important despair, but
makes the most Of the resources which
he has, and patiently hopes an improve
ment therein. Dellcacy and gentleness
are also taught by fishing Look at the
thin link of gut and slight rod with
which the huge trout or "never-ending
monster of a salmon" is to be caught.
No brute force will do there every
struggle of the prey must be met by
iudicious yielding on the part of the
captor, who watches carefully every
motion, and treats its weight by giving
line, knowing at the same time-none
better-when the full force of the butt
is to be unhinchingly applied. Does
not this sort of training have an effect
on character? Will not a man educated
in Ay.fshing find developed in him the
tendency to be patient, to be persever-.
ing, and to know how to adapt himself
to circumstances Whatever be the
fish he is playing, whatever be his line,
will he not know when to yield and
when to hold fast? But fishing, like
hunting, is solitary. The zealot among
fisherman will generally prefer his own
company to the society of lookers-on,
whose advice may worry him, and whose
presence may spoil his sport. The sal
mon-fsher does not make much of a
companion of the gillie who goes with
him, and the trouter does best when
absolutely alone ; and nothing is 50 apt
to prove tyrant, and an evil one, as the
love of solitude. On the other hand,
the fisher is always under the influence,
and able toadmiret the beauties ofnature.
Whether he be upon the Greyhound
loch or by the sides of the laughing
burn of highland countries, or prefer
the green banks of southern rivers, he
can enjoy to the full the many pleasures
which existence alone presents to those
who admire nature. All this exercises
q softening influence on his character.
Read the works of those who wrote on
fishing-Scrope, Walton, Davy, as in
stance. Is there not a very gentle spirit
breathingthrough them2 What is there
rude, or coarse, or harsh in the true
fsher9 Is he not light and delicate,
and do not his words and actions fall as
softly as his flies 2-LondOn Society.
THERE is dissention and rupture in q
division Of the Baptist church, known
as the Mennonites, in eastern Ohio.
The party of the one hand maintain
that the true and only righteous
method Of fastening garments upon the
person is by means Of buttons, while
those Of the other hand look upon this
doctrine as arrant heresy, asserting
that they only can be saved who secure
their robes with hooks and eyes. And
so they have il, ''hot and tight, " and
meanwhile there is side fight Of re-
spectacle dimensions concerning the
proper length and shape d COat-tailA. !.
An Englishman, il is said, having
heard about the Yankee propensity Of
''bragging, " thought he would make an
experiment in the art himself He
walked up to a market-WOman's stand,
and pointing TO some large Watermel-
ons, said ~whati don't you raiss ny
bigger apples than those in Amerioa -
Apples 2 sid the woman diSdainly,