THE PETRIFIED ANGLER. 



While attending the World's Fair last summer, I observed with 

 much interest the lifelike figure of the Ideal Still Fisher, as represented in 

 the Government Building, said Mr. H. B. Humphrey, of Boston. It 

 eminded me very forcibly of the petrified fisherman, a negro, who has 

 l^en sitting from time immemorial on a rock beside the Emory River. 

 TFie pose, a half sleepy, half expectant attitude, is perfect, and one might 

 imagine this solid Muldoon to be a living angler in a somewhat rocky 

 dition. The story in brief was published some time ago in the Satur- 

 day Blade^ I believe, and I understand from the reporter of that enterpris- 

 ing paper that he would have vouched for the accuracy of the tale in 

 every particular, but for the fact that the petrified fisherman refused to be 

 interviewed, and would not give an afiidavit as to his identity. Such care 

 is vei'y commendable, but rare in modern journalism. 



ERSISTENT BITER. 



The homing instinct of catfish seems to be equal to that of domestic 

 cats, remarked Mr. J. R. Griflfitts, advertising manager of the C. B. & Q. 

 R. R. To illustrate this, I will relate a little anecdote. I was fishing in 

 a bend of the Mississippi River for pickerel, knowing that several large 

 ones inhabited that particular pool. By some peculiar fatality every time 

 I cast my line a large catfish took the hook, and as I did not care for this 

 species of fish I liberated it each time and placed it farther down the 

 stream, trusting that it would not trouble me again. Finally I became 

 angry at the persistency of the catfish, and cut off his head, throwing both 

 the head and body back into the river. 



You know the mouth of the catfish is immense in the fullest sense of 

 the word, but I was surprised when I made my next cast to find that this 

 fish had swallowed his own body, which passed through the decapitated 

 head and by a sort of natural attachment was fastened to it again, and the 

 fish took my bait as eagerly as before. Seeing that the fish was deter- 

 mined to eat himself out of house and home, and become an outcast, I cast 

 him out on the bank and let him graze on the shrubbery until I completed 

 my fishing. 



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