i8o Fish Stories 



fire so long. Then the eastern story-teller will begin and 

 tell the story of his squid, whose mouth, two inches across, 

 held a swordfish seven feet long. And then these prodigious 

 sons of Ananias of the Porch Club, to the last man, will rise 

 and steal away. In the picturesque language of Barney 

 Rafferty, they will have met the author of the " Haunters of 

 the Silences," and " have went." 



If such descriptions belong to the category of wild fish 

 stories, *' just so stories," fairy tales worth reading for the 

 inventor's skill, then well and good. Let them all be as 

 funny as they can, and welcome to their side the raccoon 

 and the road runner of Wolfville, the mice and lions of 

 ^sop, and the whimsies and dragons of the children's books 

 extraordinary. But the solemn asseverations of veracity, 

 the design to secure place in the libraries of the high school, 

 and the Sunday-school, put these books in a bad light. It 

 is hard enough to teach children to see the truth and to 

 believe it when they see it. The aim of these books is to 

 undo all the good that has been claimed or achieved for 

 genuine nature study. As an antidote to the " Haunters 

 of the Silences " we may place the older tale, equally well 

 vouched for, under the inspiration of which the other essay 

 may have been written: 



The Shag-eyed Shark.* 



The mackerel bit as they crowded an' fit to grab at our gange-in' 

 weight ; 



We were flappin' em in till the 'midship bin held clus' on a 

 thousand-weight ; 



When all of a sudden they shet right down an' never a one would 

 bite, 



An' the Old Man swore an' he roared an' tore, till the mains'l nigh 

 turned white. 



He'd pass as the heftiest swearin' man that ever I heard at sea, 



An' that is allowin' a powerful lot, as sartainly you will agree. 



Whenever he cursed his arm shot up an' his fingers they wiggled 

 about, 



Till they seemed to us like a windmill's fans a-pumpin' the cuss- 

 words out. 



* Reprinted with the permission of the author, Mr. Holman Day, 

 and of the editor of the " Saturday Evening Post." 



