Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-07
THE TROUT FISHING LIAR.
Limits to Human Relief.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.

From the San Francisco Chronicle.
''The trout liar" said Captain Herbert, Sis
the gem of all fishers. He is the saddle-rock
liar; a moose among antelopes; Hyperion to a
satyr; he is the long-tailed comet among the
quiet twinklers. All men cannot be trout liars
The trout liar must be born with q peculiar
fitness for the task, and then he must be edu-
Gated to it and devote himself to treat lies as q
life work.
''When David said in his haste 'An men are
liars, Saul and Abinadab. DOeg and Edmonite,
had probably just returned from trout fish
down along the brook in the Valley Elah and
were telling what they had seen and what they
had done, and David, as he listened to them
laundering the unarmed truth, naturally sup
posed there was no more truth left in the hearts
of men In all the wide world.
1.-THE trout liar exceeds all other liars, be-
cause the man who has done any amount of
trout fishing Is, to certain extent, travelled
man. 1t is his custom to sit on the veranda
and tell his stories, crushing all competition,
and putting his foot on the neck Of all ordinary
striped bass and land-lOcked salmon liars. But
If it happens Just az he has told his masterpiece,
an opposition trout liar comes in with right
bower, genuine royal flush OF trout lie the
first trout liar Is hurt to the heart; he Is detected
and sorrOwful, and says not another word that
night. But, he draws new inspiration from the
defeat, and the very next place he goes to he
appropriates the lie that paralyzed him, and I'M
blushingly claiming it as his own, defantly
Vi uoico uOWH ali pJilui competitors With
browning lie that only two days before crushed
him.
"There are several kinds Of trout liars. The
liar Of weight. who never catches more than
half dozen trout day, but they each weigh
anywhere from FIVE to ten pounds. Then there
is the liar Of numbers, who always catches 80
many dozen In one hour and twenty minutes.
And there is the liar of places. who knows hid
den pools, dark and STILL in the secret places Of
the rocks that are just boiling over with trout,
and he takes you, under many Oaths of secrecy
by stealthy and crcuit0us routes, to these places
and you fishin them for eight mortal hours with
out nibble.
"But you can never corner q trout liar.
Arithmetic, fact. science, probabilities, prece-
dent. general principles and the eternal fitness
OF things may combine in overwhelming array
to prove him the awfuest liar in England or
America; it doesn't disturb him. He lies on
calmly, confidently, enthusiastically, always
locating the scene Of his lies 80 far away he is
pretty certain you will never 60 there.
There are limits to human belief" the good
jester says, rising to his feet. "You may be-
lieVe what the candidate SAYS on the stump; you
may believe what man tell you In o horse trade
you may believe that the army lie; you may be-
lieve the snake a liar; but man takes the cigar
from his lips, and, with a simple prefix Of place
and date, starts in on trout story, bar, bolt,
and lock and dOuble-lock the gates of your be-
lief when he gets to the place. Don't believe a
single solitary trout, not though it weighed less
than pound. Under the shadow of the trout
truth dies, and the man that fishes four days
and only hooks one lone trout, so small that he
loses it in his empty basket, comes home the
biggest liar Of them all"