The House of Quiet

Hutt News, Volume XII, Issue 23, 24 November 1948, Page 12

The House of Quiet

SEA FISHING-

(Contributed by the Hurt Valley Ministers 1 Fraternal.) Pishing is one of the oidesr nf rno arcs, and if is certainly one of the most democratic sport:;. One day you open your newspaper and see photographs of Lord Blank fishing in our New Zealand waters and the next day you may see small hoys in tattered clothing: fishing from the end of flip wharf. Fishing may take vast preparation and expensive equipment, .and it. is possihle to have a good (lay's sport, with a worm on a string. If you wish to go fishing

you may do so irrespective of your income. It is not the privilege of the idle rich; ycu do not have to be well educated nor belong to an exclusive club. Wayfaring men, though fools, may participate in the sport and get as keen an enjoyment as those who do it with the most elaborate equipment. To enjoy, fishing and to get the most out of it. you do not, need expensive gear, but you do need the right attitude of mind. And if we are'going to get the best out of life we need the right attitude of mind too. I think that the same qualities of mind are needed to get fish out of the sea and the best out of life.

A Sense of Beauty

If *we are really going 1o enjoy

fishing we must have -a sense of beauty. When the fisherman looks back over (he years there are many sights and sounds that, come to his mind. Night fishing: the slap of the water against the side of the boat!.: The long phosphorus streak of the line stretching into the water. The lonely cry of a night bird. ! In the distance the sound of a barking dog, The moon rises. Ii

is red at first over the black headland, and then white as it climb; higher into the sky. From the boat to the moon there is a long silvei pathway. There is the long pul! home. The creak of the rowlocks The sound of the waves on the beach The. mystery and the darkness, the friendship of men.

If fishing is going to mean much to a man he must have an eye foi sights and an ear for sodhds. And if a man is going to get anything out of the ocean of life he must have a sense of beauty. He must cultivate the gift of seeing the beauty oi the. world. "Look for the beautiful The blackest night holds somewhere a shining star. The coldest spring cannot spoil every flower. Somewhere there is a sheltered garden where a few lilies* blow. The stprmy waters are not stormy everywhere; somewhere there is a harbour where the voice of 'their trumpet is dumb. However sad or lonely or difficult your life may be you are given one beautiful thing which time and change can ne% r er sriatch away from you."

A So3i.se of Humour

The fisherman needs a sense oi humour. Probably there is no activity which has given rise to so many jokes as fishing. I do not intend to illustrate this, but v/e will just talce it that a fisherman needs a sense of humour.

I have come to the conclusion that many of the frictions in life are caused by failure to see the joke. A person says something which he intends as a joke; it may be a. very poor joke but he intended the thing to be humorous. The other person takes it seriously and goes home and thinks about it and broods over it and a rift occurs in the friendship. Before you become worried about some remark always try to see if it was meant humorously, and if you cannot see the humour laugh at it anyway.

A sense of humour may be largely a gift, but it can be cultivated, for humour springs from kindliness. It is the kind, tolerant man who has a sense of humour. Humour does not say sharp brilliant things. It shines in the eyes and twists the corners of the mouth. One writei describes a character in a- book ar having "kind gentle eyes full ot the humour of life." If we.would gel the best out of our friendships we should cultivate gentleness and kindness and see .the humour in life. If we really saw the humour in life we would not lose our tempers so frequently. We .would know that we looked ridiculous raving round the house because there was a button off a shirt.

Patience And a fisherman must have patience. Many a man fishes all day and gets nothing, or he is like the Maori who fished all day and on his way homo was asked how many fish ho had got. He replied:

"Oh, a lot. Nearly three." In a novel I once read a girl wrote to her uncle: "Uncle, what does one do when all the. best is taken from one; when life is grown trivial anil stunted and narrow?" and her uncle wrote back to her: "After a time, my dear, one lights a candle called patience and guides one's footsteps by that." The candle called patience is most necessary in life. I often think of the words of Robert Louis; Stevenson. He had a had haemorrhage. Recovery was slow and attended by numerous complications. He had sciatica, and the dust of street refuse gave him Egyptian ophthalmia. He was not allowed to talk. In silence and in the dark in acute suffering he was still 'cheery and undaunted. He asserted to his

friend, Mr. Archer, "I was never bored in my life." On the Rock Tn modern times there has come a new method of fishing. With fish that move in shoals the important thing is to find the shoal, and this is being done today by aeroplane. The higher you get the easier it is to see what is in the ocean. If we an; always among men, always talking to them, always accepting their standards, wo will not see the best things in life. We need to get up higher. If we stand on the Rock of our Salvation we will see Avhat is best in life, and we will follow after those things that are'good and pure and noble,