The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-08-20
The Gentle Angler.

heard of the famous Isaac Walton.
"Oh, yesv' she answered. 81 know all
about him. He was the man VINO invented
fishing"
Although this statement was far from being
correct, we cannot wonder very much at the
mistake of the little girl.
For more than two hundred years, good old
Isaac has been so much talked of and written
about in connection with fishing, that it is
not very strange that he should sometimes
get the credit of being the first one to find out
how to catch fish with hook and line.
He has been called .'The Common Father
OF all Anglers" and this is a very good title
for him. He was a sort of Washington
among anglers; first by the stream, first 20
get bite, and first in the hearts of ali good
fishermen.
Isaac Walton was born in England in 1893,
in the month of August, when there is gener-
ally pretty good fishing. We are not told
much about his early days, but suppose he
todded down to the brook with his little hook
and line at a very early age, just as Mozart
played on the piano when he could scarcely
reach the keys. He grew up TO be great
fisherman and very good man. He loved to
wander through the green fields and by the
streams, in the beautiful country where he
lived, and there he used to sit and fish and
think how lovely the blue skies and the green
trees were, and what a delightful thing it was
to sit in the shade by the rivers side and read,
or fish, or muse thankfully on the bounties OF
Nature.
Although he fished so much, he was always
very gentle and kind, even to his bait. lie
never caused needless suffering to worm or
fly. He wrote book about angling, and
when he tells how to use little frog for bait,
be says to the fisherman, ''Use him as though
you loved him." by which he meant that the
little frog was not to be hurt, if it was posi-
BILE to prevent it. There is a good deal that
might be said on this bait subject, but we
will not say it now, because we don't want to
think about anything else but old Isaac's SIM
ple-hearted tenderness and gentle ways. Ev-
erybody seemed TO love him and to like to
read the books he wrote, because there was
so much quaint and wholesome philosophy in
them.
The very fish, if they knew enough in those
days, could not have helped loving him; for,
although he caught them, he did it as tender
| ly as he could, and that is all that can be eX-
pected of fisherman.
We can imagine how the little fishes would
| talk about him (if they talked in those days.,
| when they saw him come down to the river
| bank early in the morning, with his rod and
| line and box of bait.
'sHo! hop one of them would say. "Here
| comes the good Isaak," lit was spelt with k
l in those days., "and he wants to catch some
| of us. And so, very naturally, they would all
move away from the bank, so as to give the
| good Isaac plenty of room to throw out his
l lne And when the cork had been fioatiL
l idly for some time, and the bait had danged
on the hook until there was danger that il
would be spoiled by the water, one of them
i would nudge another, and say:
sits too bad to treat the poor man So
| See he has gone to reading. One of US ought
to give him nibble, at any rate. Don't you
want to go, Specklesides, and give his bait a
little pull? We oughtn't to neglect him in
this way, and he so kind and goodp'
''DOn't let me hinder you," Speckelsldes
would say. eff you want to take the first
bite, Supplefin, don't mind waiting" And
then they would contend in this friendly
manner until at last Supplefin would say:
'sWell, it's too bad! 1t none of you will 60
! I'll take the first bite myself Pm sure tina
if we were as good as he is, we wouldn't llk'
l to be treated So"
! And lie would swim up and take the least
little bite, and at that Instant all the Other
fishes would sing out, ''There goes Supple
!fnp' as the good Isaac jerked him out of the
water. And as the gentle angler would hole
the little fish in his hand and tenderly taxi
the look from between his teeth, we can al
most il. .ragine that the good-naturel Supple
fin smi,,d with pleasure to find himself 81
kindly tre.,ted. II one were a fish, and hat
10 be caught, who would not be caught by 81
good man?
Isaac lived to- be ninety, and he must hay'
caupht a great nnany fish in his time. HI
knew all about +, IDS and hooks and bats ant
lines and sinkers, .u,d where to go and wher
he ought to go there, and how to aecommo me,
date himself to the hunser OF the tsh, an'
how to wait long tune and 10 be Thankful
when at last he got fish enough for supper
And whether it rained or oshone, or wa
cold or warm, or whether the fish bit galy o
never even nibbled, the good Isaac fished, ant
reflected on moral subjects, and the beaptie
of Nature; and if he sang as he walked owe
the field, it was often such song as this:
| When the timorous trout wait
l To take, and he devours my bait,
| How poor thing sometimes find,
Will captivate greedy mind
1 And when none bite, praise the wise,
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.
If he had not been very moral fisherman
he never would have thought of singing
song like that.-Paul Fort IN st. Nicholo
for September.