THE WHITE PERCH. 



BY FRED MATHER. 



I^O-NIGHT my banjo is attuned in a minor key to sing of a 

 minor fish, which, in some lands, would take higher rank 

 - than it does on our Atlantic coast where it is native. All 

 fishes which take the fly deserve to be classed above those 

 that can be lured only with bait. 



A man in the audience here suggests that the banjo is not 

 properly strung, and intimates that the White Perch, which 

 he calls Roccus Americanus, would, under this ruling, be 

 classed as superior game to its big brother, the Striped Bass, 

 or Rockfish, which it pleaseth him to speak of as Roccus 

 lineatus. This interruption cannot be noticed now, for one 

 cannot improvise without having some hours wherein to do 

 it, and, had he been a friend, he would have warne 1 me 

 some days in advance that he had a plan to bring down the 

 house with my answering verse. As it is, the head usher 

 gets the sign that I do not know the person, and he is ejected 

 for disorderly conduct. The dignity of the profession must 

 be maintained at all hazards, and my course is based on 

 what Iago says of Roderigo: 



"For I mine own gained knowledge should profane, 

 If I would time expend with such a snipe." 



This is a favorite gag that I always get off on a snipe- 

 shooting companion when I miss a bird, but have not sprung 



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