154 Fishing in North Carolina. 



much an independent thing as the man who has 

 15 ov 20 children working in a cotton factory 

 to gratify his lust for jjolitics, whiskey and to- 

 hacco. 



The terrapin Avill tumble off a log or rock 

 into the water the instant a drop of rain touches 

 him, but a turtle, which is never seen siuining 

 himself on logs, will bob his head out of the 

 water in a summer shower, looking as happy a^ 

 if he enjoyed the fresh wetting. 



He is most readily caught alongside ponds 

 soon after he has awakened from the winter 

 sle<']i, when lean and hungry from having prac- 

 tically exhausted the supply of surplus fat taken 

 on the previous fall for winter consumption. 

 But as the weather gets warm toad frogs go on 

 1li(' iDOud, turtle bait becomes plentiful and 

 easily appropriated. He fattens and gets frolic- 

 some and quarrelsome. These quarrels origi- 

 nate during pairing season, and the selection 

 of a homestead. Both bucks lose their common 

 sense, forget the world, flesh and devil and go 

 in for gore. The cumbat is a terribly earnest 

 afl^air. They do not regard the presence of man 



