The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-04-18
LUCK WAS AGAINST HIM.
The Experiences of 9 Lonely Fisherman
on Dull Day.


Tho Experiences of Lonely Fisherman
on q Dull Day.
Friday was the luckless day OF my
own failure and broken heart, says
Andrew Lang in Good Words. The
weler was still very heavy and turbid,
frantic wind was flashing the woods,
heaps of dead leaves floated down, and
several sheaves of corn We're drifted on
the current. The long boat pool at
Yair, however, is sheltered by wooded
! banks, and it was possible enough to
cast, in spite Of the winds fury. We
had driven from place about five
| miles distant, and we had not driven
three hundred yards before | renaem-
bered that we had forgotten the land
ing net.
But as l expected nothing, it did not
seem worth while to go back for this
Indispensable implement. We reached
the waterside, and found that the trout
were feeding below the pendant
branches of the trees and in the quiet,
deep eddies Of the long boat pool: One
cannot see rising trout without casting
over them in preference to laboring
! after salmon so put up small rod and
! diverted myself from the bank. 1t was
| to little purpose. Tweed trout are now
| grown very shy and capricions; even d
dry fly failed to do any execution worth
| mentioning. Conscience compelled me,
as I had been sent out by kind hosts
| to fish for salmon, not to neglect my
! orders.
The armor-the ponderous gear Of
! the fisher--was put on with the enor-
| nous boots, and the gigantic rod was
equipped. Then came the beginning Of
sorrows. We had left the books OF sal
mon flies comfortably reposing at home.
| We had also forgotten the whisky flask.
| Everything, in fact, except cigarettes,
had been left behind. Unlucl1ily, not
quite everything; l had trout fly
! book, and therein lay just one large
salmon fly, not a Tweed fly, but a lure
! that is used OH the beautiful but hopeless
| waters OF the distant Ken, in Galloway.
| It had brown wings, a dark body, and q
PIECE of jungle-cock feather, and it W as
! fastened to a sea-trout casting Ane.
Now, if J. had possessed no salmon dies
! at all I must either have sent back TOT
J some or gone On innocently dally1ug
with trout.
But this one wretched fly lured me to
| NV ruin. saw that the casting line
had a. link which seemed rather twisted.
! I tried it; but, in the spirit OF Don
! Quixote with his helmet, l. did not try
! it hard I waded into the easiest lock-.
| ing part of the pool, just above a huge
tree that dropped its ooughs to the
| water, aud began casting, merely from
| a. sense Of duty. had not east 81 dozen
times before there was a heavy, slow
! plunge in the stream, and a glimpse Of
purple and azure.
Gle will not come again." l said,
when there was 81 long, heavy drag at
| the line, followed by a slaTielsing OF the
reel, as in William Blacks novels. But
| he SOON came back, while one took ia
! line, and discussed his probable size
| with the trout-fisher opposite. His size,
indeed! Nobody knows what it was,
| for when he had come UP 10 the point
! whence lie had started he began policy
| of short tugs--not ''jigger11ng,' ass it is
called, but plr1nging with all his weight
on the line. had clean forgotten the
| slimness Of the tackle, and as he was
| clearly we'll hooked, held him perhaps
! too hard. Only Il very raw beginner
| likes to take hours over landing a fish.
! Perhaps | held him too tight; at all
events, after a, famous plunge, back
! came the line; the casting line had
snapped at the top link.
| Presently had another chance. but it
all ended just lis disa&trously. ! had
| borrowed an old fly from farmhouse
! this time. There was slight pull, such
as a trout gives in midstream under
water. I raised The point, and again
the reel sang aloud and gleefu1ly as the
| salmon rushed down the stream farther
! and faster than the first. 1t is s; very
pleasant thing to hook a salmon when
you are all alone, as I was tl1en---alone
with yourself and the Goddess OF Fish"
ing The salmon, just like the other,
now came back and Instantly began
the old tactics Of heavy pl'1nging tugs.
But I knew the gut was sound this time,
and as | fanciea he had risen to the
sniggler had nc anxiety about the
tackle holding. One more plunge, and
back came the line as before. He was
off,: One could have sat down and
gnawed the reel What had gone wrong?
! Why, the brute had taken the old fly
and had snapped the loop that attaches
! the gut.
AT a. Chinese Theater.
| One thing you notice at a Chinese
/ drama is the extraordinary absence of
gestures. If facial play will not ex-
] press the simulated emotion then tue
c4o,. Ia VOC n tn tl a inn r7 ov, <,f tba