698 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



tain amount of disgrace attaches to any one 

 who has been recreant to the trust laid on him 

 by his fellow-men. The old father replied to 

 the elder son, "Son, thou art ever with me, 

 and all that I have is thine." When a man 

 prides himself on his upright life — when he 

 boasts of his clean and faultless record in the 

 past — he is guilty of another sin — self-right- 

 eousness. Of course, a good record is not to 

 be despised ; but we should give God the 

 praise. It is our duty as followers of the dear 

 Savior of mankind to rejoice at the sight of a 

 clean pure life, and there is no inconsistency 

 at the same time in rejoicing over every sin- 

 ner who repents and comes back with the 

 thought in his heart, even though he does not 

 put it in words, " Father, I have sinned against 

 heaven and before thee. I am no more wor- 

 thy to be called thy son. Make me as one of 

 thy hired servants." 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



y BY A. I. ROOT. 



5=i f •i::;^^'^:^ 'S^-^^-^ 



CATCHING BIvACK BASS. 



I have not done any fishing with hook and 

 line, or any other way, for that matter, scarce- 

 ly, since I was a boy. I believe that in boy- 

 hood, however, I used to be regarded as quite 

 an expert. Well, one day we three made a 

 visit to the lower rapids, where we had never 

 been before, and we scattered about a little, 

 each one selecting a place for himself. I re- 

 membered that, years ago, I used to have the 

 best success— that is, in the little streams 

 around my home — by going out alone by my- 

 self, slipping up very quietly to some deep 

 pool and then dropping my hook near some 

 overhanging rock, or where there was a sort 

 of cavern in the water where the fish could 

 get out of sight, and where they would be 

 shaded from the heat of the summer sun. 

 Well, I found such a place in the rapids, or at 

 least there was a big rock where I had reason 

 to believe there was a cavity under it. I drop- 

 ped down my well-baited hook just over the 

 edge of the rock. Almost instantly I pulled 

 out a good-sized bass. He made such a deter- 

 mined effort, however, to get back into the 

 water, that I had quite a time in securing him 

 and fixing a place for him so he could not flop 

 back into the stream. Another trouble, my 

 standing-place was on the rocks, partly sub- 

 merged, so if a fish dropped from the hook he 

 was sure to get away ; and, in fact, I lost two 

 or three nice fellows before my companions 

 came around. I did not really know what 

 they were doing. In fact, I was too busy pull- 

 ing out bass that weighed two pounds apiece 

 to notice or think of any thing. 



I had read somewhere that a humane way 

 of taking fish was to kill them by striking 

 them a smart blow between the eyes, which 

 would cause them to die instantly. Well, I 

 adopted this plan to keep my fish from flop- 

 ping back into the water. After about half 



an hour the rest came around to see what I 

 was at that kept me so still. Just as Ed look- 

 ed around the corner I pulled out a bass more 

 than twice as large as the best I had caught. 

 He made my new pole spring so I was afraid 

 it would break ; and I was so fearful he would 

 get away from me by some hook or crook that 

 I fairly trembled as I lifted him out of the 

 water on perhaps a yard or more of line. I 

 had got him up safely away from the shore, 

 but he finally made one great bound up in 

 the air, and came down the length of the 

 line with a sharp snap. The line did nut 

 break, for it was made of Canadian seagrass ; 

 but the hook tore out of his mouth. I drop- 

 ped my pole, and did my best to hold on to 

 his slippery sides ; but after a big tussle he 

 came out ahead, and I almost felt like shed- 

 ding tears. Finally one ,of my companions 

 called out, "Why, look here, young man! 

 Aren't you getting pretty near the limit of the 

 law ? No one is permitted anywhere in these 

 waters to catch in any one day more than a 

 certain number of pounds of black bass." 



I was pretty nearly up to the limit, without 

 any question ; besides, we had about as many 

 fish as we could use before they would spoil. 

 Five or six miles below these rapids there is 

 still another one where a great company was 

 preparing to utilize the power to be carried to 

 the town of Orillia, about 20 miles distant. 

 For days past we had been listening to the 

 workmen blasting rocks ; but it was toward 

 the close of the day, and Saturday night, and 

 on the morrow I was to start back home, so I 

 reluctantly gave up the trip. Sunday morn- 

 ing I put in a plea for going to church ; but 

 the nearest church was about ten miles away. 

 It was, however, close to the postoflice, and 

 all hands decided we would have to go for our 

 mail on Monday if we did not on Sunday. 

 We were told that services commenced at ten 

 o'clock, and I was very vehement that we get 

 to church on time. Well, we did get thtre 

 on time, and more too, because they have Sun- 

 day-school before preaching ; but it took some 

 pretty faithful paddling, as the wind was 

 against us. When we reached the church I 

 was quite fatigued. I had not had my morn- 

 ing nap either. Now, this little church out 

 in the wilderness had only small windows 

 away up almost over our heads, and not very 

 many of them either. The transition from 

 God's free sky, where I had been living for a 

 week, to this little church full of people, was 

 too much for me. The sermon was one of ex- 

 ceeding interest, right in line with one of my 

 talks in a recent Home Paper. But in spite 

 of all I could do I was soon nodding. My 

 good friend G. at my side very quietly nudged 

 me with his elbow, and I very quietly thank- 

 ed him, making huge resolves I would not be 

 so discourteous to the minister again ; but it 

 was not a bit of use, and finally Ed thought 

 he would let me have my sleep out, thinking 

 I would probably wake up and enjoy the ser- 

 mon. But the close air was too much for me. 

 I slept during almost all the discourse. Ed 

 informed me later that the minister spoke 

 about the disciples going to sleep when they 

 should have been watching with the Master. 



