REUBEN WOOD. 13 



looked at it and us, and paddled to the bottom in the fun- 

 niest way. Reub called it a "skillypot," but he had funny 

 names for everything. Then I caught a perch, actually 

 bigger than the sunfish, and a new world seemed to open; 

 but the spines of the fish cut my hand and the world was 

 not so bright. Five fish came to my lot in all, but Reub 

 had about twenty some perch, sunfish, two bullheads 

 and an eel. He said that I let the fish eat the worms off. 

 I saw a turtle climb on a log while Reub was up the bank 

 after more worms, and I went out on the log to get it, but 

 the turtle slid into the water, and so did I. A scream 

 brought Reub, who whistled for Bruin and ordered him 

 to "Fetch Fred," and he did. Oh, the dripping of clothes 

 and the splashing of shoes as we went home, and the fear- 

 ful tale of a turtle who wouldn't wait to be caught ! This 

 last seemed the greatest cause of grief and afforded Reub 

 and other boys a text for teasing, which they worked to 

 an annoying extent, and it was long before he would take 

 me fishing again, saying, "No, you'll go diving for tur- 

 tles." This occurred about 1840, and Reub referred to 

 it the last time I saw him, in 1883. 



At this time Greenbush was a very quaint little village 

 on the upper Hudson, whose connection with the outside 

 world was by the Albany stage to Boston and by ferry to 

 Albany. No railroad entered it, and in fact the only one 

 at that time in the whole State of New York ran from 

 Albany to Schenectady, and hauled its cars to the top of 

 the hill by a stationary engine before hooking on the 

 light locomotive. The place was favorable for the devel- 

 opment of character, unhampered by the conventionalities 

 which come from contact with outside people, and Reu- 

 ben grew to manhood there and retained a quaint sim- 

 plicity all his life, a rugged, honest nature, whom it was 

 refreshing to know, and was a lovable man to meet. If, 



