~~The Talk.~~

"At the beginning of our talk today, I am going to place on the
drawing paper the picture of a fish. [Draw Fig. 80, complete.] It
looks like a very large fish, but, as a matter of fact, it is a very
greatly enlarged picture of a very little fish. In reality, it is a
minnow only about three inches long, the kind which the bigger fish
like for dessert, and which, therefore, are usually pretty careful
where they go.

[Illustration: Fig. 80]

"Now, I want to see, by having you hold up your hands, just how many
of you boys like to go fishing? One, two, three--why, nearly all of
you. Some, I suppose are fond of still-fishing--that is to fish from
the bank or from an anchored boat, and not move around very much. And
some like to troll, I suppose--that is to use an artificial bait and
let the line drag in the water quite a distance back of the row boat
as you propel it through the water. And others, perhaps, like to
cast--that is, to throw the bait away out into the water and then
bring it in again by winding up the line on the reel. And some, I
suppose, like to use other methods of catching fish. But I am going to
speak only of the artificial bait which is used by those who troll and
cast.

"Nearly always, the fisherman buys his artificial bait from a store
which sells all sorts of artificial minnows and other false bait which
have been made by experts. And who are these experts? They are men who
have spent years trying to find out the best way to fool the fish into
believing they see their prospective dinner, when in reality they are
going to their death. One kind of bait is the artificial minnow. The
manufacturer makes a wooden minnow, shaped like the real minnow, whose
picture I have drawn; then he paints it in the colors of the live
minnow, and sometimes he puts on some bright metal which whirls in the
water and attracts the attention of the fish. If the deception were to
stop there, very little harm would be done, but to all this the
manufacturer adds a lot of ugly hooks, sometimes as many as
fifteen. [It is well to draw the lines suggested as the talk proceeds,
and finish by drawing the hooks at this point, completing Fig. 81.]
When this attractive artificial minnow is made to glide through the
water, the fish, seeing nothing of the hooks or else knowing nothing
of their harmfulness, opens his mouth wide and tries to swallow the
bait. Immediately, the ugly hooks catch him, and unless he can tear