OUTDOORS 



kles a web of ripples and a dead leaf from 

 the hills lies brown on the bright water. The 

 sun comes down with sheen of gold, and the 

 bulrushes stand in olive-green masses that 

 droop to the lake's edge. 



Many of the western rivers are first-class 

 streams for crappie, and one of the popular 

 diversions along these rivers is the " fish- fry," 

 at which the harmless, necessary crappie has 

 a useful and an honored position. He is the 

 handiest fish to catch, for he can be depended 

 upon to bite when some of the other fish refuse 

 to touch a hook, and in numbers sufficient to 

 furnish forth the feast. Fried in cornmeal 

 the crappie is delicious, but he should be put 

 in the pan soon after leaving the water. In 

 some streams there seems to be an inexhaust- 

 ible supply of these fish. As fast as you pull 

 one out another comes to take the place of 

 the .departed. And if you haul out twenty 

 or thirty there in the morning, there will be 

 an equal number ready to take the hook in 

 the afternoon. They are apparently always 

 willing to come out and occupy the post of 

 honor at a " fry." It is a dreamy, lazy way 

 of fishing to sit in the shade and watch the 

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