^44 
P'OftEST AMD STREAM. 
iSEPt. ^9, 1(300, 
off a stake that held it and drew it to him. We all 
thought our last moment had come, and to defer it 
a little, crowded into the furthest corners of the trap. 
The terrible man tried to loose a cord, until out of 
patience with the stubborn knot, lie whipped out his 
knife and cut it, whereupon free outlet was given at the 
small end of the funnel-shaped net. Then drawing the 
larger end to him, he lifted it well up and emptied us all 
pell-mell into the free water. Dazed by this unaccountable 
deliverance, each hurried away after his own fashion, 
the eel and bullheads and sucker to the bottom, the perch 
making quivering streaks of gold, black and red far away 
in the middle depths, my mate and I expressing our joy 
by a somersault in the air and all getting away to a 
safe distance except the pickerel, who hid himself m the 
nearest tangle of water weeds, whence he took observa- 
tions. He was a shrewd old fellow, whatever else might 
be said of him, for when we fell in with him shortly 
after, he gave a plausible explanation of our singular re- 
lease. He said that our deliverer was a fish warden, w-hose 
duty was to put a stop to all illegal fisliing. Nets were 
among the prohibited devices, and in seizing this the 
warden released us. Devoutly thankful for our escape, we 
pursued our journey, now over wrinkles and shallows, 
through swirls of swift, deep water, now in the shade of 
willows, now darker shade of pine. Once we saw a mink 
gliding along a bank, lithe, silent and constantly alert 
for game. Next we saw him poised motionless over a 
deep pool, and after a moment shoot into it so smoothly 
that the surface seemed scarcely broken. In a moment 
he appeared, struggling mightily with a perch two-thirds 
as big as himself, which he presently quieted and towed 
to the bank, where he fell to feeding, while the victim's 
fins were yet quivering. Seeing a perch so large so 
easily killed by a mink, we realized how dangerous an 
enemy he must be to our own kind of a little less size; 
indeed, we would not have cared to risk an attack from 
him ourselves. 
"We were swimming near the surface on the lookout 
for flies, when a broad shadow fell upon the water, and 
looking higher to learn the cause of it. I saw a great bird 
with a sharp-hooked beak and talons, rushing down upon 
us. We had just time enough to change our course deeper 
when he struck the water with a force that carried him 
quite beneath the surface, and threw the spray up in a 
great shower. I barely escaped capture, or at least seriouS 
injury, for one great talon tore the membrane of my 
back fin, giving me such a fright that I bumped my nose 
against the bottom in my wild downward flight. My 
mate and I lay for a long time quite still, but for the 
quick palpitation of our gills before we ventured to resume 
our ojurney, and only then after a careful observation 
skyward. 
"Continuing, we entered a deep, slow pool, where many 
kinds of fish were gathered, resting after the long journey 
against the current. We knew by the steady tremor of 
the water and the dull thunder continually dinning in our 
ears that we were drawing near to a fall, and perhaps the 
end of our travels in this direction. One shore of the 
pool was a steep clay bank, abutting against the current 
and turning the course of it along its side, where the 
deepest water was. The other shore was a gravel beach, 
sloping gradually to the margin, and so to deep water. 
It was a pleasant resting place, but too populous to 
suit us for a long stay. We' let ourselves sink to the 
bottom,. got in the lee of a great stone quite protected from 
the force of the current, and thought ourselves well fixed 
for passing a quiet night. 
"A little after nightfall we saw a bright light ap- 
proaching. On its coming nearer we discovered that it 
was a torch of pine knots in an iron crate at the end of a 
staff carried by a man, who was followed by another, hold- 
ing in his hand a long pole with a sharp-pronged spear at 
the end. They came stealthily down to the water's 
edge and waded in, slowly advancing as they intently 
scanned the illuminated water before them, while we, sus- 
pecting mischief, as closely watched their movements. 
Now their attention was drawn to a large fish lying 
directly above us, but he seemed quite unconscious of 
it, or was dazed by the bright torchlight, and when we 
gave him a word of caution, as we swam aside to a safe 
distance on seeing the spear raised and aimed at him, he 
remained- stationary, not moving a scale's breadth. The 
next instant the weapon crushed into his skull with such 
force that an outer prong came quite through his jaw. 
The stricken fish struggled violently, dying the water with 
blood as he was lifted from it, when we got a fair look 
at his face, and to our amazement discovered it to be our 
fellow prisoner, the pickerel of the trap. 
"The two men were presently joined by another, bear- 
ing a large net, and the first two at onfce set about draw- 
ing it, one wading to his armpits as he encircled a good 
part of the pool and many of the fish, with the slowly 
unfolding net, and then began hauling it up the beach. 
Somehow, in the wild confusion of fish dashing this way 
and that, my mate and I got caught inside this terrible 
net, and dashing to and fro to escape, ran against a twine 
wall, now on this side, now on that, and now into the 
crowd of fish at the hinder part and now onto the shelving 
beach, and almost grounded on it, so that the man with the 
torch grabbed me, but my thorny back fin pricked him so 
sorely that he dropped me like a thistle, where by luck I 
could swim, and calling to my mate to follow, rushed to the 
side near the top and with a great leap cleared the upper 
rope and fell safe two good feet outside, my mate close to 
my caudal, both well but for the fright we were in. 
"With one accord, without a look backward to see the 
woeful end of our poor comrades' tragedy, we made such 
haste to get away that we were in the swirl of bubble 
wreaths at the foot of the falls in next to no time. As 
far as we could see in the dim starlight, the white water 
came tumbling down the ledge in a long slant, promising 
hard, rough work that was best deferred till morning, so 
we took lodgings with a family' of our cousins, the rock 
bass, who' hospitably offered us refuge. We spent the rest 
of the night lying at the opening of the crevice, watching 
the bubbles twist and untangle as they drifted past, or now 
and then a great fish, stemming the strong current up to 
the churned foam and the foot of the fall, and then drift 
slowly down stream. 
"When morning dawned we set forth to try the ascent 
bf the falls, which were like a flight of stairs, the water 
pouring over each step in a broken sheet, with shallow 
pools on either side that made capital and welcome 
resting places for a climbing fish. There were schools 
of minnows, and as we breakfasted on them, we noticed 
several young fish of our own kind not longer than our 
heads chasing minnows as big as themselves, and re- 
marked how truly in these gallant fellows noble blood 
would assert itself. However, I did not doubt that their 
fire and dash were imparted by higlily aerated water in 
which they were hatciied and bred, and this made us the 
more desirous to raise a family in these upper waters in 
spite of the dangers attending the undertaking. 
*'As we leaped step after step of the rough way, I 
was reminded how, according to the tradition of our old 
bass, the great salmon used to swarm up the same streams 
and were speared by the red men who lived here. 
"Arrived at the top, we found our way more easy, 
though the current ran swift over gravelly bottom. We 
did not go much further before we made choice of a place 
for our bed, where the river doubled a low point of gravel 
and sand, channel very shallow on this side and sloping 
to a good depth on the other. We selected a spot half- 
way between, and carefully cleared it of coarse pebbles ; 
ma'dame deposited her eggs and we devoted ourselves to 
guarding them. Now and then the current would roll a 
pebble or water-soaked stick onto the bed, which had to 
be removed at once, or now and then a minnow invaded 
the sacred precincts and paid the forfeit of his life to 
madame; but it was seldom any big fish had to be 
driven, which was usually easily done by both of us if 
we could not accomplish it alone. 
"Upon the whole, we congratulated ourselves that we 
were getting on very comfortably. But it was the fair 
weather that comes before foul, when day after day the 
sun shines unclouded from its setting and then there 
comes one dismaler than night, the sun making no sign 
more than if it were blotted out by the black clouds. 1 
was lying under the bank one morning waiting for my 
breakfast to come to me in some form, when it appeared 
in the shape of a fine soft-finned minnow drifting by, mov- 
ing his fins only enough to keep his head to the current. 
It was an offer not to be refused, so I dashed out and 
seized him, then swam leisurely back and began swallow- 
ing my captive. It was scarcely well within my jaws when 
it was smartly jerked outward by some unseen power, and 
increased in force the more firmly I resisted, whereupon 
I received such a painful thrust in my under lip that I 
was fain to let go my hold on this strangely armed min- 
now, but 'it would not let me, piercing my lip quite 
through, and when I tried to run away, holding me so 
that I could only swim. The top of the water was 
ruffled by a stiff breeze, so that objects above it were very 
indistinct. I could see what held me, and that there was a 
slender string extending from my mouth, and suspecting 
the cause of my trouble, I jumped twice my length above 
the surface and in the quick glance afforded me dis- 
covered a man on the bank a short distance up stream, a 
slim rod in his hand, and bent and unbent in conformity 
with my movements, and I perceived after falling back 
into the water that the man had some way of lengthening 
or shortening the string at will, which, with the spring of 
the rod, kept a constant and very painftil strain on my 
pierced lip. 
"1 determined not to yield to it, however it might 
hurt, and at last the man, to save the rod from breaking, 
was forced to let me run out several yards of the line. 
Having gained this small advantage, I turned and swam 
toward shore with all my might, until I reached a sunken 
stick firmly fixed on the bottom, and had just time to take 
a turn of the line around a projecting end of it before he 
could recover the slack. He could not budge it an inch, 
and I had time now to rest and recover strength. Having 
done so, I braced myself for a grand effort to break 
loose. I pulled with all the strength of every fin, but the 
tough line and stout rod held. 
"Until now my mate had not known of my plight. 
Discovering it, she hastened to offer help and advice. 
She saw at once how the sharp hook which had gone 
through the lip was kept from slipping out by a barb, but 
also that a slit was torn in the lip long enough to let it 
out with a little directing. This she promptly gave, and 
I was a free fish again, to my great joy and thankfulness. 
The man on the bank was not so happy— finding his tackle 
hopelessly foul, obliging him to break the line wherever 
it would part, which proved to be near the tip. 
"As he stood ruefully regarding his beshortened line 
and the blank surface of stream and listening to jeers of a 
comrade who now appeared on the other bank, he was 
scarcely typical of the jolly angler nor of a contemplative 
man greatly enjoying his recreation. He paid me the 
usual compliment that is given lost fish, calling to his 
friend that I was the biggest bass he had seen, which 
somewhat eased the smarting of my lip. He mended his 
tackle and began fishing again in the same place for me, 
though he might as well have cast the bait in the pasture 
grass behind him. His comrade discovered a bed and 
dropped his hook on it, carefully concealed in a worm. 
Mv mate went at once to remove it, but took good care 
to "avoid its getting inside her mouth, holding to it by the 
unper end of the worm as she bore it swiftly beyond 
the edge of the bed. The angler struck smartly, and the 
released hook sprang harmless high above the surface, 
while we two grinned to our gill covers to see the dis- 
appointment of our baffled foe. He disguised his hook 
with various grubs and bugs, which he cast upon the bed 
again and again, but we managed to remove them with- 
out harm to ourselves, though to his great disgust, and 
he went his way along to where his more lucky comrade 
was having a hard fight with one of our brethren. We 
swam down to the scene of the struggle to advise, and if 
possible give more substantial aid to our kinsman, whom 
We found in a desperate strait. The hook was fast far 
back in his mouth, Avhere all efforts _ to loosen it by 
leaping or bringing a sudden strain on it proved useless. 
I told him to try my plan, btit the angler prevented it by 
keeping the line constantly taut. We both laid hold of 
the line and pulled with might and main, now against 
our distressed friend, now with him, but could neither 
tear the hook from its hold nor break the line. He was 
becoming exhausted, and could only work his fins feebly, 
inclining more and more to turn on his side as he was 
drawn gasping to the shore. 
'It's all up with me,' he said, going over on his side 
at last, to be drawn unresisting to the shore and gathered 
in by his captor, which was the last we ever saw of our 
unfortunate friend. The victorious angler, showing him 
to his comrade, unbhishiiigly declared him to be much 
smaller than the one he had just lost, meaning myself, 
when, in fact, I was not more than tworthirds his length. 
They say these fishing men always tell about the fish 
they lose and don't lose, until nobody pretends to be- 
lieve them- — don't know why they do, unless they, think 
they are making amends for the cruelty to us by this sort 
of flattery, for every fish likes to be called big. 
■'A week passed without any remarkable adventure. 
We were frequently fished for by men with hooks, withi 
.spears and with net.s, all of which we had learned to look 
out for. as we thought. If a man was seen, danger was^ 
at once suspected and guarded against, and all sorts of 
food that appeared until the coast was clear of our cun- 
ning enemy. 
"Once, however, I came near being fooled to my de- 
struction through catching a harmless-looking drowning 
fly that came fluttering along the water. Just in tirne 1 
discovered that there was a slender string attached to 
it, and spat it from my mouth. Closer examination re- 
vealed a tiny hook hidden under the wings of the sham. 
While I was having a close look, it arose from the 
water, and after a flight high in air, again alighted and 
fluttered along above me as before. I was already: well 
enough aware of its character not to meddle with it if I 
had not seen a man weilding a very slender rush-like rod 
by which its movements were controlled. This he con- 
tinued for some time, accomplishing nothing, but tiring 
his arms and teaching me a very useful lessOn, and then 
went his way. 
"The eggs began hatching, and the bed was soon black 
with a lively brood that required constant care to protect 
them from "an increased number of enemies. Bullfrogs, 
crayfish, water snakes, mud turtles and many kinds of 
fish were ready to de.stroy our tiny fry. Some were ^easily 
disposed of, but many were tough customers to deal 
with, and gave us no rest nor time to get food, so that the 
fishing men who continued their persecution had a greater 
chance to tempt us with their lures, our stomachs being 
cramped with hunger. When they oft'ered us live minnows 
or frogs, we managed to fare pretty well by seizing the 
bait below the hook, but we did not dare- try this with 
worms and insects offered us, 
"One day, being as u.sual nearest the bed, I saw a -most 
evil-looking thing appear in the midst of our brood, on 
one of which it laid hold with two strong claws and be- 
gan ravenously devouring. My mate seized it at -once and 
crushed it with her jaws, thereby making the discovery 
that this new enemy was a most delicious article of food, in 
.spile of its forbidding looks. This creature was the 
helgramite, not often seen in these lower waters, but 
one of the most voracious devourers of young fish, Next 
day another appeared, and my good mate pounced upovi 
it without hesitation. But, alas! for her too great coiat- 
fidence. it was scarcely in her maw than instead of the- 
anticipated pleasant tickling of the palate, she felt the. hor- 
rid pang of a hook. She pulled stoutly, but the pain was 
unendurable, and likely to kill her on the spot, the blood'i 
Howing from the gills and mouth. She tried to bite off 
the snell, but the tough gut could not be severed. I tried [ 
to break the line, but could not do so. 
" T must go. Take care of yourself and do the best , 
you can for the young ones.' With that she quietly sub- - 
mittcd to her cruel fate, and was taken from me forever. 
How I managed to rear one of our helpless brood is more; 
than I know, but somehow I did save at least a third of 
them from the multitude of foes, until they were of ani 
age to shift for themselves, and then left those trouble^ 
waters, and ever since have been quite content with thif 
quiet part of tlie river, as I advise you to be. 
"I have told vou my experience, and now you can 
choose for yourself between spending ^the summer in 
comparative safety or in constant danger." 
The wise old patriarch knew pretty well which would be 
their choice. As is usually the case, they had decided on 
their course first, then asked advice. They thanked him 
and resumed their way up the river. Not one of them 
ever returned, while the old bass and his present partner 
lived to see that summer's brood grown to lusty fish, rais- 
ing annual families of their own. 
Rowland E. Robinson. 
Deserted Homesteads. 
The following letter from Mr. H. S. Gere, of North- 
ampton, Mass., was read before the convention of the 
Old Folks' Association at Charlemont, Mass. We copy 
it from the Springfield Republican: -r, . , , 
Northampton. Sept i.— A. L. Tyler, Esq President 
Old Folks' Association: —My Dear Sir: Thanks tor 
your verv cordial invitation to attend the old folks 
gathering' at Charlemont on Sept. 5. I should be greatly 
pleased to be there and give your old people a hearty 
greeting, but I fear I shall not be able to attend this 
year so I send vou a few words of cheer, as you suggest 
In the first place, let me again congratulate your Old 
Folks' Association on its successful annual gatherings. 
They are unique in their character. They appeal to the 
aged — to all the tender memories and associations which 
surround and give a charm to length of days. Happy 
indeed are they who can look back upon lives well 
spent tipon pleasant associations, lasting friendships, 
sunshiny years. Life at best has its trials and afflictions, 
and none "escape them. Strive as we may to avoid them, 
sooner or later they overtake us. Childhood and youth 
are full of hope. They see no past. The fut;ire only is 
visible to them. But age brings us to the lofty heights, 
and from them we look back through the vista of years., 
three score and ten perhaps, possibly four score, and tO' 
her of whom, it can be said, "Shc: hath done what she 
could" and of him to whom the words. fittingly apply. "I 
have fought a good fight, I have keot the faith,", how 
pleasing the retrospect! And when your old people meet 
in their annual gatherings, to talk of the things of long 
ago of the davs of their youth, of the events of their 
riper years, of their hopes of the future life, . how ddight- 
ful to see in the past only that which has been useftjl and 
good, and still is pleasing.. - . , 
I know of no other association of its kind so success- 
ful as yours. It is a wonder that more of them have 
not been formed, since one might be maintained in almost 
