Though this should be enough to support conclusively the contention that
incidents of Mr. Webster's great achievements prove the close
relationship between fishing and the loftiest attainments of mankind,
this branch of our subject ought not to be dismissed without reference
to a conversation I once had with old John Attaquin, then a patriarch
among the few survivors of the Mashpee Indians. He had often been Mr.
Webster's guide and companion on his fishing trips and remembered
clearly many of their happenings. It was with a glow of love and
admiration amounting almost to worship that he related how this great
fisherman, after landing a large trout on the bank of the stream,
"talked mighty strong and fine to that fish and told him what a mistake
he had made, and what a fool he was to take that fly, and that he would
have been all right if he had let it alone." Who can doubt that patient
search would disclose, somewhere in Mr. Webster's speeches and
writings, the elaboration, with high intent, of that "mighty strong and
fine" talk addressed to the fish at Mashpee?
The impressive story of this simple, truthful old Indian was
delightfully continued when, with the enthusiasm of an untutored mind
remembering pleasant sensations, the narrator told how the great
fisherman and orator having concluded his "strong, fine talk," would
frequently suit the action to the word, when he turned to his guide and
proposed a fitting libation in recognition of his catch. This part of
the story is not here repeated on account of its superior value as an
addition to the evidence we have already gathered, but I am thus given
an opportunity to speak of the emotion which fascinated me as the story
proceeded, and as I recalled how precisely a certain souvenir called
"the Webster Flask," carefully hoarded among my valued possessions, was
fitted to the situation described.
Let it be distinctly understood that the claim is not here made that all
who fish can become as great as Henry Ward Beecher or Daniel Webster. It
is insisted, however, that fishing is a constructive force, capable of
adding to and developing the best there is in any man who fishes in a
proper spirit and among favorable surroundings. In other words, it is
claimed that upon the evidence adduced it is impossible to avoid the
conclusion that the fishing habit, by promoting close association with
Nature, by teaching patience, and by generating or stimulating useful
contemplation, tends directly to the increase of the intellectual power
of its votaries, and, through them, to the improvement of our national
character.
In pursuance of the plan adopted for the presentation of our subject,
mention must now be made of the qualities of heart and disposition
absolutely essential to the maintenance of honorable membership in the
fishing fraternity. This mode of procedure is not only made necessary by
the exigencies of our scheme, but the brotherhood of fishermen would not
be satisfied if the exploitation of their service to humanity and their
value to the country should terminate with a recital of the usefulness
of their honorable pursuit. The record would be woefully incomplete if
reference were omitted to the relation of fishing to the moral
characteristics and qualities of heart, with which it is as vitally
connected as with the intellectual traits already mentioned.
No man can be a completely good fisherman unless within his piscatorial
sphere he is generous, sympathetic and honest. If he expects to enjoy
that hearty and unrestrained confidence of his brethren in the
fraternity which alone can make his membership a comfort and a delight,
he must be generous to the point of willingness to share his last
leaders and flies, or any other items of his outfit, with any worthy
fellow-fisherman who may be in need. The manifestation of littleness
and crowding selfishness often condoned in other quarters, and the
over-reaching conduct so generally permitted in business circles, are
unpardonable crimes in the true fisherman's code.
Of course, there is nothing to prevent those from fishing who wholly
disregard all rules of generosity, fairness and decency. Nor can we of
the brotherhood of true fishermen always shield ourselves from the
reproach to which we are subjected by those who steal our livery and
disgrace it by casting aside all manly liberality in their intercourse
with other fishermen and all considerate self-restraint in their
intercourse with fish. We constantly deprecate the existence of those
called by our name, in whose low conception of the subject, fishing is
but a greedy game, where selfishness and meanness are the winning cards,
and where the stakes are the indiscriminate and ruthless slaughter of
fish; and let it be here said, once for all, that with these we have
nothing to do except to condemn them as we pass. Our concern is with
true fishermen--a very different type of mankind--and with those who
_prima facie_ have some claim to the title.