AN INCIDENT OF ANGLING. 



J. T. HOPKINS. 



"What manner of man he was his friends 

 well knew ; and even now, after years that 

 he has been in hiding, their verdict, I am 

 confident, would be in his favor." 



"Then why should he remain under 

 cover?" inquired Hobbs. 



"Of that you shall presently know if you 

 will be patient," continued the narrator. 

 "In a comprehensive sense Jacob Zim came 



LETS LEARN MORE OF HIM. 



as near being a true man as nature and 

 habit can produce. Besides, he was a 

 gentleman. It is well to keep that in 

 mind." 



"Married, was he?" asked Dobbs. 



"Yes, married, and, as he would often 

 say himself, 'more's the pity.' ' : 



"Since you're speakin' of Zim, let's learn 

 more of him," urged Hobbs. 



"That is easy and will not take long in 

 the telling," said the speaker, as inter- 

 mingling clouds of smoke from the pipes 

 of the trio went floating toward the ceiling 

 of the farmhouse porch whose balustered 

 rail afforded restful support for the 3 sets 

 of legs. "In the mind's eye I can see 

 Jacob now as plainly as though he were 

 of our company. That distressed, brow- 



beaten look is still there, which the poor 

 fellow always bore from the time when he 

 took unto himself a wife ; his rainy day 

 setting in only too soon after that event, 

 and proving a prolonged wet spell, with 

 contrary winds, rough weather and cutting 

 hail." 



"Then it was hail Columbia he acquired 

 with the woman, wasn't it?" interposed 

 Dobbs. 



"That may be admitted," returned the 

 speaker; "and while I appreciate the feeble 

 wit of your observation, I should prefer to 

 be interrupted less frequently. It was 

 doubtless pardonable in Zim to regard 

 matrimony, as he had come to know it, 

 as the bane of his existence ; the great un- 

 healing sore place in a life that should 

 otherwise have been a healthy one. The 

 harness was a misfit, and the pull was 

 heavy on an upgrade whose summit was 

 never reached. That kind of sorrowful 

 case where incompatibility of temperament 

 between man and wife makes trouble. 

 They were a mismated couple. Eyes that 

 were on them soon discovered evidences of 

 discontent. Shortly after their honeymoon, 

 when the ring had not long encircled the 

 alabaster finger, a tiny fissure in their 

 matrimonial experience became a gulf, 

 which divided them. She, a giddy thing, 

 spoiled and pampered, unduly concerned in 

 herself and in those inconsiderate frivol- 

 ities which most delight women, had no 

 toleration for his well conceived ideas of 

 what real pleasures are. It is to be regret- 

 ted that the pair were too often at cross- 

 points. The many profitless vanities of 

 life were to her most alluring ; whereas he, 

 of a different mould and tougher fibre, 

 sought true and more rational enjoyment 

 in the pursuit of a profession which with 

 him did not fall much short of worship." 



"Lawyer, was he?" queried Dobbs, be- 

 coming interested. 



"I have an idea he was a doctor," specu- 

 lated Hobbs. 



"No, you are both wrong. Jacob Zim 

 was an angler, and no better or more faith- 

 ful ever tried a case at the bar of a 40- 

 yard line. But, as I was saying, bad feel- 

 ing was engendered between man and wife 

 to remain and rankle. Unkind words were 

 <ipt to slip the tongue, in which fault the 

 woman was too often the aggressor. Do 

 I tire you ?" 



"Not so much as our tramp of to-day 

 did," answered the listeners. 



"Jacob Zim was not brilliant, but he was 



259 



