FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



to the banks of a certain well-known brook near the head of 

 Long Pond. A part of these carried dip nets, and the most of 

 the others bundles of pitch-wood or jacks, although two or three, 

 one of whom was the writer, carried no equipments of any kind, 

 but went ' merely to see the fun.' 



"The evening was warm and very still, and a moon nearly at 

 first quarter helped to prolong the lingering twilight. A fire 

 had been kindled at some little distance from the stream, and 

 as it had been agreed upon to keep away from the water until 

 it was fully dark, all hands w^ere grouped around the fire and 

 were indulging in the usual gossip and jokes of such occasions. 

 All at once some one asked, ' Where's Amasa?' A glance 

 througii the intervening alder thicket brought the answer, for 

 in that direction a figure could be dimly seen standing in the 

 brook and busily plying a long-handled dip net. This was suf- 

 ficient to send everybody to the water, and jacks were soon 

 flaring at intervals along the banks and showing fish by 

 tliousands. And now began the excitement. Those who had 

 nets worked them, and those who came "just to see the fun" 

 forgot that this was their object, and waded into the ice cold 

 water, catching the fish in their hands and throwing them 

 ashore. Boys screamed and men shouted. The air as well as 

 water was full of fish, and the sedate man, regardless of shoes 

 and stockings, was knee-deep iu the current, liis hands grasping 

 here and there, while the pockets of his overcoat and the crown 

 of his hat were full of wriggling fishes. Tvv^o dozen fish averag- 

 ing nearly eleven inches in length, were captured with a single 

 sweep of a dip net. The piles upon the bank were fast increas- 

 ing to proportions far beyond a market stall, when a rational 

 thought seemed to strike some of the cooler heads. ' Let's stop 

 this, boys; it's nothing short of murder, for we liave all we can 

 make any use of.' For once men were reasonable, and boys, as 

 usual, followed in their lead. The fish upon the bank were 

 gathered up, and Rodger's Brook with its swarming waters was 

 left to itself. ' But in a very short time over three hundred 

 weight of a species of fish that can hardly be surpassed in table 

 qualities were on their way to the village. The express the 

 next morning showed plainly that distant friends had not been 

 forgotten, while a large box placed in front of a store with a 

 'help yourself ' attached was speedily relieved of its contents.' 



" But this was only the work of one evening, and the next 

 night the fish would be even more abundant. The word had 

 spread, and long before dark everything for miles around that 

 could be called a dip net was on its way. In place i)i a net one 

 fellow carried a large corn popper with an extension lashed to 



