[Note: The printing of this book separated contractions such as
"wouldn't" into two parts, "would" and "n't", in dialogue and
quotations. This convention has been preserved. Accent marks in
French and other foreign words have been dropped.]



FISHERMAN'S LUCK AND SOME OTHER UNCERTAIN THINGS

by Henry van Dyke


"Now I conclude that not only in Physicke, but likewise in sundry
more certaine arts, fortune hath great share in them."
M. DE MONTAIGNE: Divers Events.



DEDICATION TO MY LADY GRAYGOWN


Here is the basket; I bring it home to you. There are no great fish
in it. But perhaps there may be one or two little ones which will
be to your taste. And there are a few shining pebbles from the bed
of the brook, and ferns from the cool, green woods, and wild flowers
from the places that you remember. I would fain console you, if I
could, for the hardship of having married an angler: a man who
relapses into his mania with the return of every spring, and never
sees a little river without wishing to fish in it. But after all,
we have had good times together as we have followed the stream of