290 
FOREST^ AND STREAM. 
[[Oct. 9, 1897. 
MEN I HAVE FISHEU WITH. 
from two to three miles, an liour that day, the ebb being 
gest. The average depth of the water was 30ft, We 
9ft. bass rods, with multiplying reels and adipsyof 2oz 
)sy," in the Philadelphia language, means a piece of 
to keep two hooks on short snells apart, and a sinker 
s at proper depth below. It is said to be a corruption 
ieep sea," but I never heard it east of New York, and 
y then, although the thing is sometimes used about New 
: Harbor, and called a "spreader." "We used shedder 
and angleworms, the former being plenty and the latter 
:e, owing to the lightness and dryness of the soil. Some 
e anglers used clams and shrimp. 
ir largest perch that day weighed 18oz., the average was 
aps less than half that weight. Capt Jim did not fish, 
we two filled three peach baskets with such good mcas- 
that they ran over. Perhaps we counted them, but 1 
t remember. From conversation with the men in other 
3 we estimated the catch of the entire party that day at 
) white perch, besides a few other fishes, and Jim said it 
not a very good day for perch. 
lied to overflowing with humor, Uncle Thad was as 
ming a man as one could wish for on a month's trip, 
specialty was the songs of the plantation darky and 
es of him in a most perfect dialect. He was past middle 
THADDEUS NORMS. 
and not strong nor active, but bright as a button. His 
aerican Angler's B^ok" was the first good American 
L on angling. It treated of native fishes and methods of 
ng, while all other fishing bonks up to that time were re- 
les of Eaglish publications. It was first published by E. 
Butler & Co., Philadelphia, in 1864, wfio printed two 
on?. Of the last. Porter & Coates bought 699 copies in 
i, with all the plates: and issued an edition with their im- 
t. This was a volume of 692 pages, and the only edition 
ve. The latter firm printed editions in 1881, 1886 and 
, each being of 250 copies. In the last three editions 
e is an excellent obituary notice, written by bis friend 
Joseph B Townsend. My volume is well thumbed, for 
11 delight in the quaint stories in which he embodies in- 
lation, especially in those charming pages which he calls 
es Piscatorise " If any man is entitled to be called ' The 
jrican "Walton" it is Thaddeus JSTorris. His book may 
be read by scholars who regard Walton as an English 
iic to be studied by non-anglers as a choice bit of litera- 
, but it can be read with pleasure by anyone who appre- 
!S clean humor, even if he cares nothing about fishing, 
e years ago it was proposed that I should edit "The 
!rican Angler's Book," but business forbid, I am in- 
ed for many of the above facts and dates to Mr. J. B, 
nsend, Jr., of Philadelphia. 
le winter of 1875-76 I spent at Lexington, Va., quar- 
l in the Military Institute, together with my assistant, 
Wm. P. Page, now a well known fishculturist; and I 
iown to Richmond and met Uncle Thad by appointment, 
tried to get him to go to Lynchburg to fish for pike with 
ad Capt Jack Yeatman, of that city, who was an 
it angler, and had a rod that I wanted Norris to see. 
a natural bamboo, carefully smoothed inside where 
titions had been, and the line was run through the 
inside of the cane. "This," said Capt. jack, "puts the strain 
on all points, instead of a few, where the rings are." This 
idea has been put on the market since, but I have a notion 
that it is very hard on lines. Time did not permit Mr. Nor- 
ris to go there. He arranged with me to go to Philadelphia 
in the sprin^, and try to build an aquarium for the Centen- 
nial Exposition, 1 went, tried, and failed for want of finan- 
cial support. 
That summer it was my custom to visit Unci i Thad in his 
home on Logan square every Tuesday evening, and we 
would go up into his workshop where the justly celebrated 
"Norris split-bamboo rods" were made, and often talk until 
"the wee sma' hours ayont the twal." ]f we talked of fish- 
ing, it was not of perch catching at Betteiton, but of grander 
sport. We had both fished, but not in unison, with Dan 
Filzhugh, of grayling memory, and our thoughts turned to 
that royal and generous angler. We would repeat some of 
Dan's stories; Uncle Thad would slap his knee and laugh 
until the tears came, and say: "Dan was a glo-o o-rious 
fell-low !'' and then we gave a few moments of meditation to 
Dan, 
In his "American Fishes," 1888, Piof. G, Brown Goode 
says, writing of the white perch: "In a single paragraph 
Mr. Norris, who, making no professions of scientific skill, 
has been one of our best observers of 
fishes, has given almost the only reliable 
information which has ever been col- 
lected regarding this species." 
It so happened that the Philadelphia 
Academy of Sciences met at the corner 
of Logan square and Race street every 
Tuesday night, and we would often get 
a tip from Prof. Cope if the talk was 
to be about a lot of prehistoric fishes, 
mammals and birds, in a densely scientific 
manner in which we had no interest 
whatever, or whether the discourse was 
to be upon the fishes of to-day. In the 
latter case we often spent a profitable 
hour on many evenings. 
I recall one of these meetings when a 
freshly killed fish was on the table and 
was to be the subject of the lecture. It 
was a salt water fish, which is not caught 
by anglers and is never in the markets. 
It is about 1ft. long, heavy-bodied and 
triangular, the back being the apex; it 
has a greenish color, a body like jelly, 
and is covered with a thick skin on 
"which are many tuberculous or spiny 
plates. 
"What kind of a fish is that, Fred?" 
"Well, Uncle Thad, that is a lump- 
sucker or lumpfish. JSotice its build. 
It is so weak behind that it can't swim 
much, but see its ventral fins how they 
are modified into a sucking disk on its 
breast, whereby it can hold fast on a rock 
and let the tide bring food to its mouth." 
"Don't you wish that you were that 
kind of a sucker? What did you say its 
name was?" 
"Lump-sucker or lumpfish on our 
coast, in England it is called sea- owl, 
cock-padle, and it doesn't seem to mind 
what they call it, at least it never re- 
sents these names. That's all I know 
about the fish." 
"Then you don't know what these 
musty old scientifs call this queer-look- 
ing beast?" 
"Oh, yes; they call it Oycl&pi&i'us 
lumpus. I didn't knowyou were after 
that," 
"Lumpus, lumpus; and they call the 
tomcod Microgadtis tomcodus, and one 
species of catfish Ameiurus catus. Now, 
honestly, my boy, don't you think we 
can make as good Latin as that? Well, 
well, it is lumpy, sure enough; but 
lumpus! L^t's go back to the work- 
shop and digest the scientific informa- 
tion we have obtained here to-night. If 
we get more at one sitting we may not 
be able to assimilate it, and may not be 
able 10 retain what we have learned." 
There were banjos in those days. 
They are rare now. They have put frets 
on them and made them merely guitars 
with a calf-skin head, on which can 
be played operatic music, but not real 
banjo music, which ^in these degenerate 
days is called "rag time." • Just as negro 
minstrelsy has decayed, because of the abandonment of the 
"plantation" darky, so has our national instrument been 
evoluted into a nondescript thing which has lost its individ- 
uality. Possibly this is because the abolition of slavery 
has divested the negi-o of a certain interest as a character to 
be sketched. 
Uncle Thad's banjo had a serious fracture in the cranium. 
Mine was in a trunk in storage, but he had to have it got out 
in order to properly recite the mishaps of "Johnny Booker," 
"Uncle G-abriel," and other epics. Our national instrument 
had no frets upon it, nor additional strings to play diflicult 
marches and operas; in fact, it was a banjo, and not a 
hybrid guitar and mandolin; and was just suited to the sim- 
ple plantation melodies. Bless you, they can't play "rag- 
time" on what is called a banjo to-day. As I write 1 glance 
at my old timer on the wall — which is always kept strung — 
and it brings back the night when Uncle Thad took it and 
sung: 
"In eigtiteen hundred an' twenty-nine 
I hung my banjo on a Tine, 
De banjo dropped upon de groun', 
An' banjos grciv up all aroun'." 
Or: 
"Ole Massa an' Missus promise me 
Dat w'en dey'd die dey'd set me free, 
But now dey bofe am dead an' gone 
An' lef ole Sambo hoein' de oawn," 
One night after the old man had finished ' Dandy Jim," I 
said: "Uncle Thad, once I attended a dance down in Texas 
and was greatly interested in the orchestra, which consisted 
of only two pieces — a fiddle and a boot; both were good in 
their way, and if the dancers missed the fiddle when conver- 
sation was loudest, the boot heel gave them the correct time. 
I have noticed that in your enthusiasm you have emphasized 
" slron 
LVI I.— Thaddeus Norrls. used 
When I bought a farm near Honeoye Falls, Monroe "Dij 
county, N. Y,, in 1868, to begin raising trout, I also bought wire 
a book entitled : "Amtrican Fish Culture," which was pub- hang 
lished in that year by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, and the of "c 
author was Thaddeus Norris, Just who he might be, or rarel. 
what he might know of the subject, I did not know, but it Yorl^ 
was the firsl publication of its kind that I had heard of, and crab 
I bought it. It has little value to the fishculturist to-day, scare 
but it gave all that was then known about breeding trout, of th 
salmon, oysters and other things, and yet I had much to Oi 
learn, I do not think he said so in the book, but at that perhi 
time he had gone into trout breeding at Bloomsbury, IST. J,, and ■ 
had tried it a year or two and sold out to Dr. J. H. Slack, ure ' 
who ran the place until he died, some five or six years later. don'l 
In September, 1873 I was called to Washington to consult boats 
with Prof. Baird, the United States Fish Commissioner, and 6,00( 
there I met Mr.-Nonis, and we struck up a friendship which was 
lasted until he died. 1 was then forty and he was sixty-two. Fi 
He was a lovable old man whom many people called Uncle char 
Thad, and I soon dropped into the habit of so addressing His 
him. Business over, he said: "Freddy, I'm going down to stori 
Betterton to fish for perch, and I'd like 
to have you go with me. Will you do 
it?" 
"Where's Betterton?" 
"I think there is a previous question 
before the House. Let us finish one at 
a time. The question is: Will you go?" 
"Yes." 
"Well, now that we have settled that, 
the next thing is to take up your ques- 
tion. Betterton is in Kent county, Md., 
and is a paradise for the ang'er who is 
contented to fish for white perch. It is 
not on the map, has no post-oibce, and 
therefore we can rest assured that we 
can't be called home by the demands of 
either family or business. There is no 
village of Betterton, only a few scattered 
farmhouses, and unless I am greatly 
mistaken it is a place that would just 
suit such a quiet, easy-going fellow as I 
take you to be," 
"No railroad whistles, umbrella mend- 
ers, steamboat nor church bells to de- 
stroy a morning nap?" 
"Nothing of the kind, my boy, the 
place is on the eastern shore. At the 
upper end of Chesapeake Bay is the 
confluence of the Susquehanna, North- 
east, Elk and Sassafras rivers, all within 
sight, and a grand sight it is over the 
upper end of the bay, and Betterton is 
Etbout a mile below the mouth of the 
Sassafras. So much for geography. 
Anything else?" 
"Not a thing. You've asked me to go 
to Betterton with you and I am your 
guest. 1 haven't the slightest curiosity 
how we are to get there, whether we 
walk, TOW, sail or swim, I did not 
bring any fishing tackle, but can easily 
get what will be needed for white perch. 
I suppose none of them weigh over 
lOOlbs." 
"No, there is a law which limits their 
size, but you'll find 'em up to the limit. 
Come up and stop with me in Phila- 
delphia to-night and give no thought to 
fishing tackle or other thing, we will 
talk fish until bed-time and possibly . 
dream of them b afore morning." 
That night one of the most lovable 
of men spread his heart wide open and 
captivated me. When I was a young 
man I was fond of the society of some 
older ones, and I say "some" advisedly, 
now that I have had my hair bleached 
and am posing as a blonde, a condition 
which I insist is not due to "peroxide," 
or any other preparation, but has been 
brought about solely by Anno Domini, 
which you can't buy ina drug store, I 
find that i Uke boys, that is, if they are 
the kind of boys which I like. There's 
■just as much difference in boys as there 
is in dogs: some wouldn't have you like 
'em under any circumstances, and as 
for old men, they are boys who have been 
boiled down and all their traits intensi- 
fied, A disagreeable boy will grow into . Pardon me, age ; 
we were going fishing. "At 
We took an Ericsson steamer somewhere above Chestnut bool 
street, Philadelphia, about 4 P, M., and went through the fishi 
canal from Delaware City to Chesapeake City, down the hasl 
E k River and into the bay, reaching Betterton at the un- H. ] 
comfortable hour of 4 A, M, Neither cf us grumbled, we editi 
made light of having to turn out at that time; and now, 1865 
while writing this sketch, nearly a quarter of a century prin 
later, and with an experience as much riper, it seems to me 1 ha 
that "Uncle Thad" and I had the one common trait of ac- 1891 
cepting whatever came to us without grumbling. ther 
As old Nessmuk said, "Bismillah, it is well!" Others say, Mr, 
"Kismet, it is fate!" And in these sayings lie all the phil- I sti 
osophy contained in that scriptural warning which says that forn 
it is "no use to kick against the pricks." Resignation to the "Dh 
inevitable has preserved my life where others have died. Amt 
Norrls had the same turn of thought, and as we walked up not 
from the landing to the house where we were to stop, he said ; class 
"The only thing I prefer to getting out of bed at 4 o'clock in ture, 
the morning is sitting up all night." ciate 
I remarked that I would prefer sitting up two nights; but ^'^'^ 
we had not far to walk. Our host, Mr. Thomas Crew, was 
astir, as is the custom of farmers and dwellers in the coun- ^'^^ 
try, and we entered his hospitable home, lay down and had 
our sleep out, because Crew said the tide would be about Tl 
right four hours later. About 8 o'clock we had finished terec 
breakfast and were sailing away to the perch grounds, some Mr, 
two miles distant, with young Jim Crew as captain as well ran ( 
as crew. There were some other boats there, and more came^ and 
later, making eleven in all, and about fifty anglers. As we' my 1 
anchored, Jim pulled out a half-bushel basket of peaches, exce 
and such peaches! I realized that we were right where It w 
peaches grow in both quantity and excellence. The tide ran the] 
