The Republican journal., 1883-05-03
Piscatorial Points.
.RTHUR AS AN ANGLER


In a delightful series of winter Talks on
Summer Pastimes," contributed to the New
I 0rk Forest aud Stream Just before his death,
the late George Dawson wrote:
"Gen. Arthur, now President of the United
States, is also weIl-known brother of the an
GLE He has all the best qualities of the most
famous disciples of the gentle art. He is pa
tient, courteous, cOmpanonabc enthusiastic
and expert He is, wthal, an ardent lover of
all that is grand and beautiful and picturesque
in nature. As ! have said of another can say
of him, in all that moves our sensbiities and
kindliest sympathies, he is as mpressibe as :,
child, and as gentle as a woman. In spite of the
rough school i'll which he has been lifelong
pupil, his heart is open as day to melting char
ity. and his poetic tastes enable him always and
everywhere to see
Sermons in stones. books in running brooks
And good in everything
His love OF the art is the outgroWth of his
aesthetic susceptibilitieS, md this love will re-
main with him long after the dazzling gIories
of office shall have lost their charm. because the
beauties of nature are as varied and eXhaustess
as the munificence and majesty of their benetl-
cent author. The pleasurable emotions they eN-
cite, like the eternal principle mysteriousy link
ed to our finite humanity, never die. Than Gen.
Arthur no man can pitch Il tent more quickly.
adorn camp more taStefully, cast fly more
deftly, night salmon more artiStlcally or bring
him to gait more gracefully. | owe to his cOur-
tesy the opportunity to kill my first salmon,
have been with him in every phase Of an ang-
ler's experience, and know him to be the peer
of the most accomplished and most appreciative
of the masters of the art. 1t has been his good
fortune to Kill the largest salmon ever taken
with fly on this continent; and it was because
| knew his intense fOndness for the paStime that
| appreciated how deeply he felt his disappoint-
ment when, after his nomination as Nice-Presi-
dent, | rendered him my congratulations, he
said: Il thank you, of course. but am afraid
thnt fn pnt
away from our grand old river A pastime
that could be remembered and spoken of under
such circumstances must have Il strong hold
upon ones affections. | am sure he looks for
ward to the day when, relieved of the cares of
his high office, he will be once more permitted
to pitch his tent upon the Restigouche or Casca-
pedia and angle for salmon"
FISHING AS A FINE ART.
Horace Greeley was always going a-fishng,
but he never went, and busy life abruptly ter
minated. The tension cords which received no
relaxation, suddenly snapped aSunder. There
is no other diversion, perhaps, which affords so
much relaxation for men of all nations, classes,
and ages of people as fishing in all its various
ways and methods. Some idea may be derived
of the large attention which fishing has recev-
ed from the fact that the ''Bibliothca Piscato-
ria" just published, gives the names of 2,496
different volumes on fishing. Perhaps the most
interesting of all these, next to Izaak Walton,
is the volume soon to be brought out in this
country, written by the late David Foster, of
Burton-on-Trent, England. who gives vivid de
scrptions of salmon, trout and pike fishing.
The superiority of tly-ishing over all other sys-
TENS of angling is, he claims, universally ac-
knowledged.
The ever-eXciting nature of surface fishing
adds a zest to the sport, unknown to the other
branches of the art piscatorial. The high pitch
of expectation experienced as the rising fish
daintily 'plop'' off the insects around, extends a
highly eXharating influence over both mind
and body. The whole of the faculties are thus
concentrated in one focus, ever stimulating to
still greater earnestness and efficiency. 1t is
owing to these characteristics, this scope for
science and skill, that this sport is and has
been the chosen recreation of men of the great
est celebrity and the highest attainments of