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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: animals in this respect. I certainly never heard of any one
falling in love with a salmon in such a way as to regard it as a
fond companion. And this may be one reason why no sensible person
who has tried fishing has ever been able to see any cruelty in it.
Suppose the fish is not caught by an angler, what is his
alternative fate? He will either perish miserably in the struggles
of the crowded net, or die of old age and starvation like the long,
lean stragglers which are sometimes found in the shallow pools, or
be devoured by a larger fish, or torn to pieces by a seal or an
otter. Compared with any of these miserable deaths, the fate of a
salmon who is hooked in a clear stream and after a glorious fight
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