h; and there were the
canals, which, on the whole, served better for boys' fishing. Many
happy half-days, and, during the midsummer holidays, many whole days,
were spent on their banks. Along with such exercise of skill as
fishing itself implies, there came the exercise of skill in making
fishing-tackle; for I was not so amply furnished with pocket-money
that I could buy all the appliances I required. I was, I suspect, led
by my father in that case, as in other cases, to use my own powers of
manipulation for satisfying my needs. I made my own floats, and also
"hair-tackles," as they were locally called--each some six feet of the
line next the hook, made of single horse-hair instead of silk-worm
gut. I remember I was cautious and systematic enough to use a test
before trusting any one of them....

When I was something like nine or ten years old, the love of this
sport led very nearly to loss of life. I fell into deep water in the
Derwent and was close upon drowning. It is a curious fact that whereas
dreams are, while in progress, regarded as real, the reality was in
this case taken for a dream. During the first part of my immersion I
thought to myself--"Oh, it is all a dream!"; and only after coming to
the surface once or twice discovered that I was actually in the water.
A youth of some sixteen or seventeen plunged in and rescued me. His
name was George Holme. He was at that time a mill-manager. As may be
inferred from the fact that he was the one out of a considerable
number of spectators who risked himself to save me, he was of superior
nature morally; and he turned out in after life to be also a man of
much faculty. Gradually rising, he became a wealthy manufacturer; and
was led, by the development of his business, to establish trade
connections in various parts of the world--one being pushed even into
Central Asia. When sixty he became mayor of Derby and magistrate. He
had in a high degree that which another friend of mine describes as
the business instinct--an instinct which experience tells him is quite
special, and may or may not accompany other superiorities....

I may here name the fact that I was in boyhood extremely prone to
castle-building--a habit which continued throughout youth and into
mature life: finally passing, I suppose, into the dwelling on schemes
more or less practicable. In early days the habit was such that on
going to bed it was a source of satisfaction to me to think I should
be able to lie