254 



RECREA TION. 



symphonic tone-poem a vulgar pot- 

 pourri / But it is bed-time, your royal 

 highness, and ' Where am I to sleep to- 

 night, said Abra'm Brown, the sailor?' 



De badger an' the b'ar, an' the fox an' de h'ar, 

 An' the birds in the greenwood tree ; 



An' the dainty little rabbits, wid dere cunning 

 little habits, 

 Dey all hab a nest, 'cept me !" 



Singing thus, she vanished into the 

 tent, where her nurse had already gone. 



I took a look at the horses, built up 

 the fire, spread my oil-cloth on a pile of 

 grass, and, after removing my shoes 

 and wrapping my blanket about me, 

 threw myself on this fragrant couch and 

 was soon in the land of dreams, I was 

 awakened the following morning by my 

 niece's realistic imitation of kk Judge 

 Long's crow." 



" Up ! up ! you sluggard. It's past 

 four o'clock, and a beautiful morning. 

 Big-mouth and rock bass are fairly 

 'honing' to be caught. I have had 

 my coffee, and am off to the river." 



I arose and, after plunging my head 

 into a bucket of cold water, sat down to 

 breakfast. I had hardly finished my 

 coffee when I heard Kate calling me. 

 She ran up and, as soon as she could 

 get breath enough for utterance, gasped 

 out : 



" Oh ! uncle, uncle ! What shall we 

 do ? The door of the box is open and 

 there is not a single minnow in it." 



" What ! you don't say so ? I am cer- 

 tain I fastened the door securely last 

 night." 



I accompanied her to the box and 

 made an examination. Alas ! her tale 

 was only too true ; the door was open 

 and every minnow gone. I examined 

 the shore and discovered signs of the 

 thief. In the moist sand were numerous 

 small footprints. 



" Mr. Coon is to blame for this. Look 

 here, and here, and here. His foot- 

 prints are everywhere." 



"The old bare - faced rascal!" 

 stormed Kate. " Oh ! how I wish I had 

 seen him philandering around here last 

 night. It would have been ' Good-bye, 

 coon.' " 



" I really don't know what to do," 

 mused I. Miller's is five miles away, 

 and it is impossible for me to go into 

 the water. That would mean six months 

 of rheumatism. We might take the dip- 



net and catch some ' top-water ' min- 

 nows. Blue cats will bite at them 

 finely." 



" I won't have any your weevily wheat, 

 I won't have any your barley ; 

 I won't have any your top-waters 

 To catch a fish for Charley ! " 



sang Kate. 



" I will take the minnow seine and 

 try to get some minnows." 



I took up a position behind a big 

 tree, as ordered. 



In a few minutes I heard Kate shout : 

 " Hurrah ! I've got 'em," and returning 

 to the river bank I found her seated 

 on a rock. By her side was a minnow 

 bucket, full of beautiful " shiners." 



" How did you manage to catch them, 

 Kate?" 



"You see that little gulley down 

 there, don't you? Well, last evening I 

 saw hundreds of minnows playing about 

 its mouth, and there is where I got those 

 beauties in the bucket. After driving 

 them into the gulley by splashing 

 around in the water I took the seine 

 and holding the sticks in front of me, 

 pushed it through the water. I then 

 penned up the minnows in a narrow 

 pocket. I kept shortening the seine by 

 rolling it around the brails and at length 

 swept it to land. I caught in that one 

 haul over two hundred minnows." She 

 jumped up and shook out her baggy 

 trousers, then seizing the minnow bucket, 

 she cried out joyously : "And now for 

 a big-mouth ! " 



I went back to camp for my rod, and 

 when I had procured it, joined her at 

 the Falls. She had already hooked a fish 

 and was striving hard to land it before I 

 returned. She wished to boast of the 

 fact that she had put a fish into the box 

 before I had even wet my line. The 

 fish was evidently a large one, and was 

 as game as a fighting cock. She had 

 him well in hand when I arrived, but a 

 moment after he made a wild drive for 

 the foot of the Falls, and I shouted : 



" Give him the butt, Kate, give him 

 the butt ! If he ever gets among the 

 rocks he'll get away from you." 



''Who's doing this, nunky, you or — 

 I," she gasped, as she brought the butt 

 of her rod to her belt and pressed home 

 on the brake of the reel. " Come out of 

 that, you beauty," she continued, as the 

 fished turned and made a dive for the 



