442 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 9, I900. 
In Old Virginia.-VIL 
The morning was warm and bright — almost like a day 
in May. I felt no keen desire to go afield with gun, and 
was casting about in my mind for a pleasant way of put- 
ting in the time, when my attention was attracted to 
Governor, who was running along- on the inside of the 
high picket fence at the front of the large yard, occasion- 
ally stopping to peer through and shout at a little darky 
passiiig along through the grove of trees in front. 
"Hullo, Jim!" I heard him shout, but Jim did not 
seem sociably inclined and made no reply to the saluta • 
tion» Hunning- along the fence a little further he tried 
it again with slight variations: "Oh, Jim, I say! Hullo!" 
Very curtly and condescendingly, it seemed, Jim re- 
plied to this cordial salutation: "Howdy, boy." 
In nowise embarrassed, Governor raced down the fence 
a few panels, and taking a new position proceeded to try 
his unsociable acquaintance again: "Jim, wha' you 
goin' to?" 
"Feeshin'; dat's wha' I goin'. Don' you see my feesh- 
pol'?" was the reply of the superior one, who was evi- 
demly feeling his importance. 
"You is goin' feeshin', you say. Wha' at, Jim?" 
"To de rivah, of co'se. Think I goin' feeshin' in de 
pig trough?" 
Then, evidently thawed by the warmth of his own 
humor, he proceeded to enter into particulars: "I got 
pappjf's pol' an' lin' an' dis hea' can plum' full of worms, 
an' I bet you I goin' ketch mo' feesh den evah you see 
in yo' whole lifetime, boy." 
It was evident to the most casual observer that the iron 
had entered the soul of the boy who was not "goin' 
feeshin," and that he was well nigh consumed with envy; 
but I felt sure my little sportsman would make a brave 
show and fight against the heavy odds he was "up 
against," and was not disappointed. 
"Shucks!" he shouted back; "dis ain' no time to go 
feeshin', an' you can't ketch no feesh, nohow. I goin' 
hunting I is, wid a gun what shoots two times, an' I totes 
it some myself, dat's what." 
This took a little of the pompousness out of the fisher- 
man, but he still showed fight and sent back a final shot 
to the effect: "Gun ain' no good when you don' shoot 
it, an' I done fish wid my pole, don' des tote it foh som'- 
boddy else to feesh wid." 
This retort ended the match at repartee, and the little 
fisherman soon disappeared down through the grove in 
the direction of the river, watched till the last by the 
envious little sportsman, 
I now remembered a small stream near by that I had 
crossed and recrossed in my wanderings that was called 
The River. Calling Governor up and interrogating him 
at length, I learned that there was supposed to be fish 
and other aquatics in the river, which he thus enumer- 
ated: "Dey is catfeesh, sunfeesh, pic'rels, turkles en' all 
kin's of feesh, suh." 
Concluding that the morning at least should be devoted 
to angling, I ordered Governor to get his breakfast as 
soon as possible and present himself at the horseblock 
provided with fishing outfit and plenty of bait, where I 
would shortly join him. Half beside himself with delight 
he jerked out a "Yaas, suh!" and was off at full speed 
before the average boy could have turned around. The 
projected fishing trip met the approval of my hostess 
and she agreed to join the party. As soon as we had 
breakfasted she hunted up some small hooks and coarse 
thread, while I cut some slender switches that were tough 
and springy for rods, and split shot for sinkers. With 
this prirnitive outfit we sallied forth and found the small 
boy waiting for us at the front gate. 
If our outfit was primitive his might be, in all fairness, 
classified as unique. In one hand he carred a generous 
fragment of a broken milk crock, in which squirmed a 
ball of fish worms, the size of which indicated that he 
expected the fish to bite fast and furiously. In the other 
hand he held a very crooked dead twig or switch not 
over 3 feet in length, studded liberally with short 
branches, which he proudly exhibited as his "pol'." About 
8 or 10 inches from tlie end of this remarkable fishing 
Tod was tied about 3 feet of coarse white wrapping cord, 
which he explained to be his "lin'." The line was fitted 
with a bit of cork, tied securely on about midway, which 
was supposed to be the float; a stone, about the same 
size as the cork, was tied on just below to do duty as a 
sinker, while the dealy implement that all the foregoing 
•was the accessory of — the hook — consisted of a pin bent 
in the shape of the letter V, His delight and satisfaction 
over this remarkable fishing outfit as we exam.ined it 
was a real pleasure to see, for he evidently had full faith 
in its efficacy. There was no reason to doubt the truth 
■of his statement that his "mammy had made it" for him, 
for it was evidently the work of unskillful but willing 
hands, and only the latter fact was known to the appre- 
ciative little sportsman. 
The first place selected for a try at the fish after reach- 
ing the river was a large pool just below the wagon ford, 
the upper end of which was spanned by a footlog that 
reached from bank to bank. Seating ourselves com- 
fortably on the hewn flat top of the footlog, well out over 
the water, I proceeded to prepare the implements of 
sport. I had only been thus engaged a few m^^oments 
wlien my companion called my attention to Governor. 
That enthusiastic young disciple of Walton had impaled 
a big, long fish worm through the middle with his bent 
pin and was now lying full length on the log, reaching 
down as far as possible in a futile effort to get it in the 
water, which he lacked about 2 feet of doing. After try- 
ing from both sides of the log and nearly falling in, he 
straightened up with a look of hopeless dejection and 
sat looking down at the water, "So near and yet so far." 
"Why don't you fish, Governor?" I asked. 
"Can't reach de watah, suh, Dis hea' ole log too high,'* 
was the reply. 
Bidding him take some bait in his hand and go out on 
the bank and make his way down to the water's edge, I 
resumed my work on our tackle. 
A few moments later I discovered the boy trying to 
get do>yn to water where the bank was ?ome 12 or 15 
feet high, and so steep as to almost overhang the water. 
Less than half way down his feet slipped, and grabbing 
and gasping he tumbled, slid and rolled to the bottom, 
lighting with a splash in the shallow water, fortunately 
feet first, but never through it all losing hold of his bait 
or his precious "pol'-en'-lin'." A moment later, as calmly 
as though that was his usual way of descending steep 
banks, this imperturbable youth was calmly fishing. 
We found the fish biting very well and were soon catch- 
ing small fry fast enough to make it quite interesting. 
The small boy did not catch any fish, but his industry did 
not abate nor his enthusiasm wane. Three trips he made 
back and forth for fresh supplies of bait, and each time 
he would resume fishing with an air of business that 
boded ill for any unwary fish in his vicinity. Some small 
minnows were collected around him and were eagerly 
pulling the worms off his bent pin as fast as he dropped 
it in the water, and these he was apostrophizing between 
vicious jerks that would have thrown them 40 feet if the 
hook had struck. He seemed totally unconscious of our 
presence, and my companion finally left off fishing alto- 
gether to enjoy watching him. 
With his pole grasped in his left hand and standing 
nearly knee deep in the water, moving only when he 
made sudden and desperate jerks, he kept repeating: 
"Now I goin' git you, 1 des is; I goin' ketch you, sho', I 
des is, now; an' I ain' goin' fool wid you no mo', I des 
ain'." 
"Finally, when he made his fourth trip for more bait, 
I stopped him, and removing the bent pin replaced it 
with a real hook properlj^ baited. 
He had barely regained his position and resumed his 
dire threats, Avhen he jerked vigorously, tearing a small 
fish out of the water that swung three or four times 
around his head and then hung squirming in front of his 
big black eyes opened to their fullest extent. 
"Da now !"* he fairly screamed. "What I don' tol' you? 
Didn' I don' tol' you to quit foolin' wid me? Dat I git 
you ef you didn' ? Dus see what you don' got by not 
mindin' me w'en I tol' you. Now I goin' " -. But what 
he was "goin' " will never be known, for just at this 
point the little fish gave a flirt which released it from 
the hook, and dropping back into the water quickly dis- 
appeared. 
The boy stood looking straight down into the water 
where the fish had disappeared for a full minute, and then 
in perfect silence resumed his fishing. 
In a few moments he caught another fish, but he did 
not stop to make any remarks to it until he had scrambled 
up the bank and run back 10 feet from the edge and 
grasped it in both hands, then he proceeded with his 
harangue to its entire completion. 
Concluding after a while that we had about fished out 
this hole, we moved on down the river to a point where 
the water looked deep, and large rocks in the water's edge 
made advantageous and comfortable positions. 
The trees grew thickly on either bank, and it was clear 
and cool looking with that sweet and restful smell of 
water and woods; the sun sifting down through the thick 
foliage on the still surface of the water in a thousand 
shapeless splashes of molten gold. The only sound 
heard was the low gurgling song of the water, as it 
broke on the shoal at the foot of the pool. 
Here we comfortably disposed ourselves on the ad- 
mirably arranged seats on the rocks, while the boy waded 
out in the stream and took possession of a large, flat 
rock forming a small island a few feet from the bank. 
We continued to have excellent luck, my companion 
being high hook, with the largest fish of the d^y — a perch 
weighing nearly a pound, and several others large enough 
to make it interesting. Governor had waded out three or 
four times with small fish which he added to his creel, 
this being as primitive as his tackle, consisting of a hole 
scooped in the sand at the water's edge, and finally came 
rolling and staggering out, with little regard to his 
personal safety or comfort, but deeply solicitous for the 
safe impounding of his greatest prize — a mud cat 6 or 8 
inches long. 
The smile of delight at successfully accomplishing this 
had scarcely faded from his happy face after he resumed 
his position, when I noticed that he had a tug at his 
line that looked very much like business. Following his 
usual course, he jerked sharply, but his hook seemed 
fast, and did not come flying out. Waiting a moment 
and the pull on the line being repeated, he jerked again, 
Avith the same result. Then growing very much excited, 
he grasped his pole with both hands and laid back with a 
good, long, strong pull. 
The little switch was tough and well seasoned, the 
wrapping cord was strong, the little fisherman in earnest, 
and something had to give way. It did. The grip of a 
long, slender eel that had taken the boy's bait was pulled 
loose from the sunken brush in which it had twisted its 
strong body, and out of the water and straight into the 
little fellow's face it came with a most startling sudden- 
ness. With a terrified shriek of "Snak' !" the boy ducked 
barely in time to let it pass over his head, but held on to 
the pole. Swinging out to the end of the line it was 
brought up with a sharp jerk and came squirming and 
threshing back toward the terrified boy. 
"Snak' ! Snak' !" he screamed, and spun around on 
the rock with arm extended, holding the outfit as far 
away as possible, for a moment, and then tangling his 
legs he fell full length off the edge of the rock into the 
water, fortunately rather in to the bank, where it was not 
more than 2 feet deep, and then only releasing his hold 
on his beloved pole. 
Never so much as attempting to get to his feet, he 
scrambled in to the shore, churning up the water and con- 
tinuing his cry of "Snak' I Snak' ! Snak' !" Seeing that 
he was in no danger, I promptly set about rescuing his 
fishing outfit, which was being dragged away by the cap- 
tive eel. and was fortunate enough the first cast to catch 
my hook in a twig on the pole, and proceeded to haul it 
in. with the struggling captive. 
Thereupon my companion surprised me by springing 
to her feet and dashing up the face of the steep bluff, at 
the foot of which we were seated, with a disregard for 
nersonal safetv and dainty costume that was not at all in 
keeping with her usual dignity and repose of manner. 
It was not until the boy had made his way safely 'to 
land, where he was dividing his lamentations between the 
gtate of his clothes and loss of hi§ beloved pole, that this 
last remarkable act in the comedy was made clear by a 
request from the lady np the bluff to "Please kill the 
snake, quick." Then I remembered that eels were not 
usual sights in drawing rooms and boudoirs, and some 
one else besides the little boy had mistaken the identity 
of the one "be-born the house." 
The lady was easily reassured, but when I approached 
the boy, holding out to him the rescued pole and line, 
with the eel threshing and squirming thereon, and at- 
tempted an explanation, he promptly turned and scrambled 
up the bluff with the piteous appeal: "Oh! pleas', suh, 
don' put him on me ; pleas', suh, don'." After seeing me 
detach the supposed snake from the hook and kick him 
back into the water, both of the terrified ones were soon 
persuaded to come down, and as the boy was thoroughly 
soaked we concluded to quit and return to the house. 
Breaking a generous forked switch, Governor pro- 
ceeded to string his fish — seven in all, ranging from 3 to 8 
inches in length — then enjoying the proud honor of carry- 
ing our right respectable string, very wet, hut quite 
fiappy, he led the way as we started on the return trip, 
I had bid him hurry on and walk fast, so as to get out 
of the woods and intO' the clearing, where the sun could 
warm him and dry his clothes, and he quickly disappeared 
around a bend in the path that followed the river bank. 
We had proceeded but a short distance when we heard his 
voice, and making my way through a fringe of trees that 
stood on the bank and looking over, I saw Governor in a 
very earnest conversation with the little fellow with 
whom he had held the confab of early morning that had 
instigated our fishing trip. 
"You ain' got but des dem?" Governor was saying in 
the most surprised and disgusted manner, pointing 
dramatically at a stick projecting out from the bank, from 
which depended half a dozen little dried, shriveled min- 
nows. "W'y, des look at what we all got, an' 'sides som' 
what got away — big ones too. Thought you said you 
was goin' ketch mo' feesh den evah I see? An now des 
look at dem minners. Ain' 'nuff to make de grees smell 
feeshy." 
"How you git wet?" was the irrelevant reply of the 
youth, who evidently desired a change of subject. 
"I got wet by bein'. pulled in," said the other, slowly 
and impressively. 
"Pulled in! What don' pull you in? Ain' no feesh 
big 'nuff to pull you in, in dis heah little rivah," 
"Hit wan't no feesh, it was a snak', dat's what." 
"Snake, you say; snake pull you in? You buttah g'way 
from heah an quit tellen' me sech fool's'ness as dat, or I 
take a stic' an' bus' yo' haid. I got mo' sense den be 
fool'd by sech lies as dat, I is." 
"I ain' foolin' you, an' it's so — des lik' I tellin' you," 
was the reply, delivered in the most impressive manner. 
"How com' he git hoi' of you to pull you in de watah ?" 
was the next question by the now thoroughly interested 
boy. 
"Didn' git hoi' of me ; he des com' 'long an' bit my 
hook, an' he juk me des like dis" (throwing forward his 
arms and jerking his body in the most violent manner). 
"Den I wouldn' leg go, and he des up and snatch me off 
in de rivah, an' I wouldn' a leg go den, but de white folks 
dey up an grab me an holler foh me to leg go quick as 
evah I could, an' I don' it ; an' den dey pull me out, an' I 
was mos' drown'd, I was, an' de gen'man he des mak' a 
grab and he ketch my pol', and he an' Mis' Lady to- 
gedda, dey des pul' dey level bes', an' den dey, bofe 
couldn' ha'dly pull dat ole snak' out. But at las' I rim an' 
help som', too, an' we pull him out, an' he was 'mos' long 
as yo' feesh pol' is, an' des as big 'roun'." 
This was not such a great exaggeration, for a fisher- 
man, as the pole was a sapling about 12 feet long, and as 
thick as a man's wrist, and the eel was about 2 feet long 
and near an inch in diameter. 
Revenge is generally supposed to contain a large pro- 
portion of the saccharine ingredient, but in the case of 
our young Munchausen it was apparently the pure article 
unadulterated. The boy who had been so supercilious 
and condescending in the morning, now found himself a 
very humble and ordinary individual compared with the 
youth who had been through such a thrilling adventure 
and hairbreadth escape. 
After a short silence he feebly gasped out : 
"Well, I des don' believe it." 
"Huc-cum you don' believe it w'en I tell you des lik' it 
wuz ? Feel my clo's, den, an' see if dey ain' wet defe like 
I tol' you." 
"Yaas, dey is sho' wet," was the unwilling admission. 
"Wat kin' of snak' you say it wuz?" 
"It kin' w'at noboddy didn' nevah see 'roun' heah 
befo'," was the reply. "It wuz a Heel snak', an' mo' 
pizun den a mocsun, wid tools des like feesh hooks, an' 
kill you des lik' lit'nin' striken ef he bit you." 
This last flight of the boy's imagination was wholly un- 
necessary, as his auditor was already speechless and 
helpless. 
Before he had sufficiently recovered to put another 
question, I slipped away and left them. 
A few moments thereafter the boy who had been the 
hero of the wonderful adventure overtook us, and the 
satisfaction that shone from his face told of inward peace 
and accomplished desire. Lewis Hopkins. 
The large saw fish caught last Thursday night by 
Udo Smith, bridgetender at Ormond (Fla.), was cap- 
tured with a shrimp net and measured 15 feet and 8 inches. 
5 feet and 6 inches across and his saw was 3 feet and 10 
inches. The net caught on the tip of the saw and he was 
so near the piles in the bridges, and the tide runnifig 
out, that he could not turn. Udo. nevertheless, got the 
rope off his arm as quickly as possible.— Halifax Journal. 
A peculiar thing has happened in the Housatonic River, 
which is thought to be due to the lightning which accom- 
panied the heavy showers last week. From the Lenox- 
dale bridge to the Valley mill of the Smith Paoer Com- 
panv, thousands of fish are dead, and they lay along 
the bank and float along the stream to the dam. Already 
the odor is very objectionable. — Hampshire (Mass.) 
Gazette. 
The Forest akd Stream is put to press each week on Tuesdar. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at t^ie 
jj,*,..* t,y Monday w4 t* imici) earlier an prgctieatile, 
