When Clinton Giddings Brown (1882-1964) retired from a long and successful career as a trial lawyer in San Antonio, Texas, fishing on the Gulf Coast was out--by doctor's orders. So he sat on the front gallery of his house in San Antonio and fished with a lead pencil in the richly stocked memories of his professional life. "Some days I didn't get a nibble, but some mornings they were biting fine."

The resultant and delightful catch is the story of a full, merry, and successful life. From the day in 1906 when "Mr. Clint" hung out his shingle in a little office over his father's bank,...