The sun., 1919-04-01
Heredity and the Hook.

anu thu AhVVAs
This is the week in which the man
Of the Northern States makes his most
elaborate and costly sacrifice upon the
altar Of that which might In a loose
sense be called atavism. With the
sacrificlal implements Of forty cen
turtles ago he goes back to a function
perhaps forty times older than that.
The barometer falls and the cat,
rousing from the Preside, walks over
to the nearest woodwork and scratches
1t; probably 1t Is the $70O plano, but
that Is nothing to her, for the cry Of
instinct tells her that a storm Is COM
ing and she must prepare her claws
to kill food before the tempest arrives.
Then she returns to snooze. The dog,
at the end Of his day of work, lies
down on the 5000 rug, but first twists
his body to flatten the reeds that
used to stick into his ancestors when
they neglected to twist their bodies.
Man, less rich in instinct than cat,
dog or Insect, Is informed in spring,
by the whispering blood cells that
come to him from the humans Of the
Stone Age, that he must either eat or
die. Reason tells him that he has
plenty Of money and that the grocer
and the butcher will exchange their
holdings for 1t, but the germ of cave
days triumphs over silly reason. He
knows that he cannot run down and
kill n wild pig, but he feels that he
can catch, cook and eat a fish. Hence
the observation Of the opening Of the
trout season, to-day In New Jersey
and Connecticut and On Saturday next
in New York.
That this display Of heredity is
purely biological phenomenon will
not be denied by most men who have
flshed for trout in this part Of the
world on the opening day. As a rule
1t Is cold. perhaps windy or rainy. In
most years there Is So much snow
or felt. Always 1t is the experience
that the trout will not rise to a fly
! so early, yet the very men who 60 out
into the Jersey hills or the Long
Island meadows on Opening Day are
the fly fishermen. Secretly, after cast
! ing with flies bit. they use worms.
final proof OF their cavemanlike de-
| termination to tch fish.
| What with waders. spiked shoes.
| nets, split bamboo rods. creels and fly
books, the expense of this religious
errand in search of food costs the pill
grims many golden eagles. Yet the
hook with which they would catch the
trout. II the trout would come up and
get caught, is exactly the same kind
of hook with which the men of the
Bronze Age snubhed the fish Of that
remote period.
The fisher returns from the Open
ing Day trip with an empty basket.
He has not caught n trout. He never
hoped to catch one. If he had caught
1t his cook probably would have
thrown It away and ordered a filet of
founder from the store. Then what
has the man accomplished? He will
tell you that he has had pleasant
day In the open. The prehistoric cell
within him would tell you. if you could
understand it, that he has kept It alive
and throbbing. and that the mans son
will have the same instinct for self
preservation through grub. And so,
when the Bolsheviki rule the earth
and the markets run short Of food
mankind will be ready to 20 back to
the primitive method of getting some
thing to eat. Don't forget to take
along White Miller to lay upon the
damp altar of the undying past.