Still-Fishing. 417 



" Yaas, Percy Lee, it's jist wasteful 'stravagance fer yo' 

 paw to buy sieh lavish, shiny fish-poles an' silvah reel eon- 

 trapshuns dat run riot wid his money. All de fish in de 

 Elkhorn wouldn't 'gin to pay intrust on ^em. He's de beat- 

 enes' man for 'stravagance I ebber see. 



" De bestes' fish-pole is de strettes' an' slimmes' ellum 

 saplin' you kin fine; cut in de fall in de lite ob de moon, 

 an' peeled in de shade, an' put up in de lof nex' to de cabin 

 chimbly all wintah. An' de bass an' ehan'1-cat won't know 

 wedder it cos' two cents or de price ob a yearlin' mule, case 

 you yank 'em out so quick dey ain't got time to tink 'bout 

 it." 



" Yes, but Uncle Enoch, papa don't like to yank 'em out 

 .so quickly." 



" No, honey, an' dat's wat beats me. He jis' goes 

 a-wadin' in de water — an' he'll done ketch his deff o' rheu- 

 matiz one ob dese days — a-whippin' his lil' shiny switch, 

 an' a-flippin' his fiddle-string line wid lil' teenty fedder- 

 flies, an' de bass ketch holt, an' ben' an twis' de lil' pole, 

 ■ an' run off wid de line — an' Mars' Dick wind 'em up agin, 

 an' de bass pull out de line agin, an' jump out to see wat 

 gwine to happen nex', an' dey hav' mo' fun dan a bag full 

 o' monkeys at de circus." 



" But papa says he used to fish with cane poles and min- 

 nows. Uncle Enoch." 



" Yaas, Percy Lee, wen Mars' Dick was a lil' lam', jis' 

 like yo-self, he use' to sot in dis same place wid me, an' 

 laws-o'marey wat gorms o' bass, an' new-lites, an' chan'l 

 eats we use' to snek out ! But aft-a-wile he growed up an' 

 den he marri'd Mis' Alice, an' dat quiled his fishin'. 



"An' den de wah cum on, an' yo' paw went away to fite 

 wid de sogers, when yo' was a teenty lil' baby; an' Mis' 

 2t 



