M. Patissot returned home and carefully studied the map.  He wished to try on his shoes, which were more like skates than shoes, owing to the spikes.  He slipped and fell, promising himself to be more careful in the future.  Then he spread out all his purchases on a chair and looked at them for a long time.  He went to sleep with this thought:  “Isn’t it strange that I didn’t think before of taking an excursion to the country?”

During the whole week Patissot worked without ambition.  He was dreaming of the outing which he had planned for the following Sunday, and he was seized by a sudden longing for the country, a desire of growing tender over nature, this thirst for rustic scenes which overwhelms the Parisians in spring time.

Only one person gave him any attention; it was a silent old copying clerk named Boivin, nicknamed Boileau.  He himself lived in the country and had a little garden which he cultivated carefully; his needs were small, and he was perfectly happy, so they said.  Patissot was now able to understand his tastes and the similarity of their ideals made them immediately fast friends.  Old man Boivin said to him: 

“Do I like fishing, monsieur?  Why, it’s the delight of my life!”

Then Patissot questioned him with deep interest.  Boivin named all the fish who frolicked under this dirty water—­and Patissot thought he could see them.  Boivin told about the different hooks, baits, spots and times suitable for each kind.  And Patissot felt himself more like a fisherman than Boivin himself.  They decided that the following Sunday they would meet for the opening of the season for the edification of Patissot, who was delighted to have found such an experienced instructor.

Fishing excursion

The day before the one when he was, for the first time in his life, to throw a hook into a river, Monsieur Patissot bought, for eighty centimes, “How to Become a Perfect Fisherman.”  In this work he learned many useful things, but he was especially impressed by the style, and he retained the following passage: 

“In a word, if you wish, without books, without rules, to fish successfully, to the left or to the right, up or down stream, in the masterly manner that halts at no difficulty, then fish before, during and after a storm, when the clouds break and the sky is streaked with lightning, when the earth shakes with the grumbling thunder; it is then that, either through hunger or terror, all the fish forget their habits in a turbulent flight.

“In this confusion follow or neglect all favorable signs, and just go on fishing; you will march to victory!”