For dinner.
Fishing
Just here would seem to be the place to talk of fishing, but I am not going to try to tell you how to fish; that would take a volume, there are so many kinds of fish and so many ways of fishing. One way is to cut a slender pole, tie a fish-line on the small end, tie a fish-hook to the end of the line, bait it with an angleworm, stand on the bank, drop the hook and bait into the water, and await results. Another way is to put together a delicate, quivering fishing-rod, carefully select a "fly," adjust it, stand on the bank, or in a boat, and "cast" the fly far out on the water with a dexterous turn of the wrist. You may catch fish in either way, but in some cases the pole and angleworm is the surest.
The veteran.
A visitor stood on the bank of our Pike County lake and skilfully sent his fly skimming over the water while the boy of the family, catching perch with his home-cut pole and angleworms, was told to watch and learn. He did watch politely for a while, then turned again to his own affairs. Once more some one said: "Look at Mr. J., boy, and learn to cast a fly." But the boy, placidly fishing, returned: "I'd rather know how to catch fish." It was true the boy had caught the fish and the skilful angler had not. All of which goes to prove that if it is fish you want, just any kind of fish and not the excitement of the sport, a pole like the boy's will probably be equal to all requirements. But there are black bass in the lake, and had one of them been in that particular part of it, no doubt the fly would have tempted him, and the experience and skill of Mr. J. supplemented by his long, flexible rod, his reel and landing net, would have done the rest, while the boy had little chance of such a bite and almost none of landing a game fish like the bass.
If you want to fish, and every girl on the trail should know how, take it up in a common-sense way and learn from an experienced person. Own a good, serviceable rod and fishing tackle and let it be your business to know why they are good. Make up your mind to long, patient, trying waits, to early and late excursions, and to some disappointments. Take a fisherman's luck cheerfully and carry the thing through like a true sportsman. There is one thing to remember which sportsmen sometimes forget in the excitement of the game and that is not to catch more fish than you have use for. One need not be cruel even to cold-blooded fish, nor need one selfishly grab all one can get merely for the sake of the getting and without a thought for those who are to come after. We have all heard of good fishing places which have been "fished out," and that could not be if the fishermen had taken only as many as they could use. This rule holds good all through the wild: Take what you need, it is yours, but all the rest belongs to others.