Lines in Pleasant Places

Lines in Pleasant Places, by
William Senior

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Title: Lines in Pleasant Places Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler
Author: William Senior

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Language: English
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LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES
Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler
by
WILLIAM SENIOR
("Red Spinner")

[Frontispiece: "Red Spinner"]

Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., 4 Stationers' Hall Court
London, E.C. 4
Copyright First published 1920

INTRODUCTION
The half a dozen or so of Angling books which stand to my name were
headed by Waterside Sketches, and this is really and truly a
continuation, if not the end, of the series. They were inspired by my old
friend Richard Gowing, at the Whitefriars Club, of which he was for
many years the well-remembered honorary secretary, and of which I
still have the grateful pride of being entitled to the name of father.
Gowing had become editor of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1874, and
in his sturdy efforts to give it new life he looked round amongst the
youngsters who seemed likely to serve him. The result was that he

invited me to try my hand at something. He had read my Notable
Shipwrecks, which the house of Cassells was at that time bringing out,
and said that its author, known to the public as "Uncle Hardy" only,
ought to be able to offer a suggestion.
The Stoke Newington reservoirs had about that time given me some
good sport with pike, large perch, chub, and tench, and I had long been
an angling enthusiast. Out of the fullness of my heart I spoke. I told
him that fishing was my best subject; that if he would accept a series of
contributions the direct object of which was to make Angling articles as
interesting to non-anglers as to anglers themselves, I would be his man.
Verily I would not wonder if, in showing how botany, agriculture,
out-of-door life generally might be woven into the warp and woof of
the fabric, I became eloquent; for, as I have said, out of the heart the
mouth spoke. So it was agreed, and for a while "Red Spinner's" articles
graced the pages of the magazine, and they were by and by republished
in Waterside Sketches. They afterwards gave me entrance to Bell's Life
and to the Field, and a name at any rate amongst the brethren of the
Angle, as to which I must not gush, but which is very dear to the
musings of an old man's eventide. How much I owe to "Red Spinner" I
shall never know. The name has followed me, and my brothers of the
Highbury Anglers have adopted it, but last year, in honour of their
always loyal, but I feel sure no longer useful President. I was much
amused to find how it had also followed me to Queensland. During one
of the Parliamentary recesses I went up country, the guest of a squatter
who was afterwards in the Ministry, and he introduced me to a fellow
squatter member in my surname as an officer of Parliament. Neither the
name nor office meant anything to him. But when we were smoking in
the veranda, and my friend mentioned, as an aside, that I was "Red
Spinner," the visitor leaped to his feet, came at me with a double grip,
and shouted a Scotch salmon-fisher's welcome, turning to my host and
furiously demanding, "Why the dickens didn't you tell me so at first?"
On another Bush visit an officer in the Mounted Police showed me
amongst his curiosities a copy of Waterside Sketches half devoured by
dingoes, and found with the scraps scattered around the skeleton of a

poor wayfarer left at the foot of a gum-tree. To fly-fishers the name had
an intelligible story of course, and it puzzled those non-anglers for
whom I tried always to write. The scores of times I was asked "What
does 'Red Spinner' mean?" by ladies as well as gentlemen, told me how
well I had kept the promise to the good Richard Gowing when those
articles were arranged.
Journalism proper, now and henceforth for the rest of my life claimed
me. It became my profession in fact;