hour landed several nice bass, which he placed upon 

 his stringer. These he caught with minnows for bait. 

 Just as he turned around he spied two city sportsmen 

 in full regalia, standing within a few feet of where 

 he was. The gentlemen had new rods and tackle 

 and in fact every modern device for luring the bass, 

 but they lacked experience as will be shown. One of 

 them addressed Tom, wishing him a 'Good morning, 

 what luck?' Tom replied, 'Oh, not much, got these 

 're,' at the same time showing his string of bass. The 

 city lads were charmed and ventured to ask, "What 

 bait did you use?/ 'Kittens/ replied Tom, at the 

 same minute thinking of the kittens his wife had 

 charged him to drown, and pulling one from his 

 pocket. Said he, see, these is what I use/ The novices 

 eyed each other and then looked at Tom, perfectly 

 dumbfounded. 'You don't mean to tell us you use 

 kittens, said the principal spokesman, 'Yes/ said Tom, 

 'got 'em all on kittens/ With this the city lads, with 

 less enthusiasm than they had started out with, moved 

 on in quiet to first try the worms they had provided. 

 They had no success, and after an hour's absence 

 returned and said, 'Mister, where did you get the 

 kittens?' 'In Harpers Ferry/ said Tom, emphasizing 

 his words by pulling up his line and apparently placing 

 a kitten on the hook, which he threw out into the 

 stream. 'Well I'll be dog on/ said one of the unini- 

 tiated, and with lowered spirits the two proceeded to 

 Harpers Ferry, a mile away, and enlisted some of the 

 small boys to hunt up kittens, for which they rewarded 

 them. What success followed may be well imagined. 

 Suffice it to say that Tom went home with a big 

 string of bass, he had disposed of the kittens, and 

 Mrs. Dawson joined him in enjoying the practical 



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