by me led me to devote myself to the study
of taxidermy. Perhaps the dilatoriness of the "artist" who mounted my
first specimens had a stimulating effect. Later, as a professional
taxidermist, I for many years mounted fish by means of the various
methods, but the results obtained were not satisfactory to me.

In 1903 Mrs. Baumgartel and I made a trip to Pine River, Michigan, for
trout. It was in June. The weather turned cold, and we took few fish. On
the twelfth I made what was to be my last cast, had taken down my rod
and was walking along the bank of the river on my way to camp, when at
the edge of a pool I noticed a fish jumping. I could not resist the
temptation to try one more cast, and making preparations I dropped a
Parmachene Belle a few inches from the spot where the fish had just
broken the water. There was a rise, a strike, and I was fast to a fish
destined to be mine. After an exciting struggle, I landed a
thirteen-inch grayling weighing one pound and two ounces. Of course,
this fish I had to preserve and wanted it to look as it did when taken
from the net. We boarded the train for home that evening, and supplying
my wife with reading matter, I was soon lost in meditation. The madam
told me many times during the journey home that I was not at all
companionable. Be that as it may, the result of the earnest study given
the matter, and the previous experience gained in experimenting with
other processes, was that a practical method of mounting fish was
devised, a method by means of which the angler can successfully mount
his own specimens. "Necessity is the mother of invention," you know.

A picture of this grayling is given below. It still occupies a position
in our dining room, together with others to remind us of pleasant days
on lake and stream. It is mounted with the very fly and leader on which
it was taken.

[Illustration: GRAYLING--RESULT OF MY FIRST EXPERIENCE AT FISH
MOUNTING.]

For the past four years I have successfully taught my method by
correspondence. A few years ago activities in other directions compelled
me to give up taxidermy work, and other interests now demanding more of
my personal attention, the publisher of this book, always on the alert
for something of practical value to interest his readers, will present
to you in these pages the identical instructions I have so successfully
used. I take the liberty of quoting verbatim from a letter just received
by me from a friend of a promine