The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-09-14


Mother was so discouraged at this tina
the teacher. who was a kind hearte,
man. undertook TO comfort her.
TO tell the truth" he said, you cal
never tell what kind of man boy 4
going TO make For my part believ,
In following ones bent. What we d.
well we usually do easily. Has Tomm,
ever shown especial adaptability fol
any particular work.
NO"
well. would advise you to let hin
do what he likes to do. Perhaps ht
will some day find out what he Is lifted
for"
IF let him do that he win go fish
ing all the while"
1t seemed to me that the teacher gave
up trying to be optimistic for me, for
he left my mother to console herself as
best she could. | consoled myself for
my worthlessness by taking my rod
and going to the brook. 1t was full of
trout, and l thought that / might as
well get some for supper. could at
least do that even If ! were no &C
count boy. l brought home fine
string OF fish.
Mother took me out of school and
called on me to help her about the house.
l was very poor helper and hated the
work. AS soon as / could get my
chores done | made Off with my rod.
and mother saw no more Of me till
came home, always with a string Of
fish. That was the only way that I
was really useful
/ could catch fish where all others
failed. The reason for this was that
noted the habits Of the fish and knew
just when and where to look for them.
] noticed that there was a certain kind
Of fly that trout would always take I
had no fly In my case that they would
take with the same avidity. | caught
one Of these live flies and, taking 1t
home made one as near like 1t as l
could. had box of paints, which
served me very well. My artificial fly
would not have pleased an entomolo-
gist. but 1t fooled the fish.
Some boy friends of mine spread the
story Of my making my own dy, and It
got to the ears of the manager of fish
ing tackle mandatory In the neigh
borhood. He came to see me one day
and asked me about it. | showed him
my artificial fly and how successful
had been with it. he told me that IL l
would catch one of the live flies of
that species for him he would give me
S. for 1t. | did so and got the money.
1t seemed to me large sum, and /
felt very proud of it.
Several times on the way home l
took it out Of my pocket to have an
other good look at it.
When took the bill to my mother
and explained how / had got 1t she |
said that 1t was probably the only S. |
would ever make.
| used to talk about fish to other |
fishermen. They never tired of listen
Ing to me. One day when | was about
nineteen years old one of them asked |
me to write out for him some points /
that | had told him. l did so. and he
seemed very much pleased with what
gave him. He was an author and
told me that if l would write an In
,truction book on angling he would put
t in proper shape for me and submit
t to his publisher. l put down lot
If things in a tumble; he arranged
hem all in good grammatical English,
ind the book was published with my
lame ON the title page
A couple of years after this took a
OF Of notes / had made ON the habits,
he breeding and other information ]
bout fish, and with little revision by !
ny literary friend 1t was issued by the
rm which had published my first book
1t was not long after this that a
tate fishery was established, and the i
overnment was looking for a superin-
endent The governor had used my
ooks on angling, and one day l was 7
stonished to receive letter from him q
skiing if would accept the position n
( superintendent of the state fishery n
nth a fine salary. t
took the letter to my mother, and n
hen she read IL she threw her arms {
round me and Rugged me. a
Who'd have thought" she said, ''that u
boy who wouldn't work and was =
ound to waste his time all day tied to
fish pole would ever come to any
,odT
My position as superintendent Of the
ate fishery at once gave me a wide
putation, and was constantly called
BON for information In matters per
lining to fish culture. A neighboring
ate offered me better salary than -
as being paid and rather than lose n
e my own state offered me a large adj =
nee. which | accepted and remained q
here / was.
By this time 1 was married. but
d not forget my old mother who had
Id my teacher that II her boy were
rmitted TO do as he pleased he would
nothing but go fishing. She is now
enthusiastic advocate of letting a
v follow his own bent. even II that
Mt seems idleness.
Indeed. my success has made me a S
nvert to this theory. To be espe-
lily successful in a work one must ii
re II. I question II any one ever
hieved any no-able success in follow =
: a calling that was drudgery TO =,
n. Hard work there is in almost any II
Eat attainment-work that IS drudg-
F-but when the worker Is buoyed up
q Love PR fha main ahfort h. q