June. 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
277 
surd and ridiculous to Johnnie and me, 
as we deemed a cap to be more suitable 
in every way; and we imagined the fun 
we would have had in such company by 
knocking off the “plugs.” But, alas, the 
opportunity came much sooner than I ex- 
pected. and if this is to be an impartial 
history, I am compelled to record an 
event not at all to my credit. About 
this time it was the vogue for very small 
boys to wear a small edition of the high 
silk hat to Sunday school or church, but 
if a boy wearing such a hat was caught 
alone, without the body-guard of his par- 
ents, it is more than likely that the hat 
would have been used as a foot-ball by 
older and ungracious boys. 
One day the boy who sat at the desk 
immediately in front of Johnnie and my- 
self appeared wearing one of these odious 
“ ’igh ’ats” shown in our English book 
of sports. We considered that while it 
might be tolerated in Sunday school it 
was entirely out of place in a day school, 
and we vowed to smash it at the first 
favorable chance. The wearer, however, 
was the swiftest sprinter in our class, 
and we could never catch him after the 
school was dismissed. It was the custom 
at the close of school hours for the boys 
to remain in their 
seats with folded 
arms and with 
their hats on until 
class after class 
was dismissed. 
Whenever the boy 
in front placed that 
hat on his head I 
was seized with an 
insane and irresist- 
able desire to 
smash it over his 
ears, and was only 
restrained from do- 
ing so by Johnnie. 
It was winter 
time and a stove 
was within reach 
of me with a box of split wood be- 
side it. One unlucky day I could re- 
sist the desire and temptation no long- 
er, and seizing a stick of wood from the 
box and with all my strength I gave the 
offending hat a resounding whack that 
sent it flying over the heads of the aston- 
ished boys until it struck the opposite 
wall with a dull thud. As it sailed 
through the air I could see that the 
crown was loose and flapping like the 
wing of a wounded bird. Then the re- 
action came and I sank limp and guiltily 
in my seat. For an instant all was 
hushed and silent until a small boy 
laughed outright which was the signal 
for suppressed giggling from all the 
boys, until silence was again restored by 
the principal rapping on his desk with 
his rattan. He then dismissed the school 
after commanding me to remain in my 
seat. After all were gone he called me 
up to the platform. I saw that he was 
trying to smother a laugh and that there 
was a merry twinkle in his eye, so I felt 
safe. He then said: 
“Kenshall, I am very sorry and very 
much hurt that you could so far forget 
yourself as to commit such an outrageous 
act. What possessed you?” “I think it 
must have be^n the Devil,” I said, “for 
I could not help it.” “What do you mean 
by saying that you could not help it?” 
he said severely. 
I then explained by saying that day 
after day it had become an obsession and 
a consuming passion with me to smash 
the hat and I think I convinced him that 
it was done thoughtlessly and the impulse 
of a moment. He said the only punish- 
ment commensurate with the offense was 
expulsion from school, but that under the 
circumstances that would hardly be justi- 
fiable; but I must apologise to the whole 
school the next morning, and give Rich- 
ardson my Sunday cap, all of which was 
done. But Richardson would not accept 
the cap, and said he was glad that I had 
“busted” his hat, for he only wore it to 
school under protest to please his mother 
who thought it was stylish, and so ended 
the disgraceful affair. 
O NE Saturday, soon after the dis- 
reputable affair of the hat, Johnnie 
and I were wending our way to 
Spring Garden, a branch of the Patapsco 
river, to fish for white perch, yellow 
perch and spots, or Lafayettes, which 
were very abundant in that estuary. 
Plodding along, our steps were arrested 
“ Pound for pound and inch for inch the gamest fish 
by a very novel sight. Some workmen 
were planting the poles and stringing 
the wires for a telegraph line extending 
from New York to Washington, the first 
in the United States if not in the world. 
It was a strange and unique proceeding 
to us, as the only poles we had ever seen 
erected were the hickory poles of the 
Democrats or the ash poles of the Whigs 
during political campaigns. 
It is not only a matter of wonder, but 
it seems almost incredible to reflect, that 
within the narrow span of my life from 
this small beginning, electric wires now 
encircle the globe, traversing continents 
and crossing seas, so that an event that 
occurs at the antipodes is published in 
our newspapers on the same day of its 
occurrence. And then the related won- 
ders, wireless telegraphy and the tele- 
phone have also been invented and per- 
fected during my life, and the gasoline 
automobile, the airship and the sub- 
marine boat evolved during the same 
period. 
The seven wonders of the world of an- 
cient days are as nothing compared with 
the wonders of the nineteenth century; 
they are as mole-hills to the peaks of 
McKinley, Hood or Rainier. The greatest 
war in the world’s history which has just 
been brought to a close, would in all 
probability have lasted ten years longer, 
or might have rivalled in length the 
famous thirty years’ war of history, had 
it not been for the wonderful inventions 
mentioned that annihilate time and 
space. Well might one exclaim in the 
words of Celia to Rosalind: “0, wonder- 
ful, wonderful, and most wonderful, won- 
derful! and yet again wonderful, and 
after that out of all whooping.” 
But Johnnie and I will be late to our 
fishing if we stop by the way to moralize 
on the affairs of the world. So we has- 
tened to Bailey’s wharf, where we hired 
a rowboat, two light cane rods, a scap- 
net and a tin can for bait, for the sum 
of twenty-five cents, a “levy” apiece. We 
carried our lines, hooks, floats and sink- 
ers in our pockets; not a very expensive 
outfit compared with modern times ! Row- 
ing to the old pile bridge spanning the 
little bay, we scraped the scap-net up and 
down over the barnicle-studded piles and 
soon had a pint of shrimps, the bait par 
excellance for all brackish water fishes. 
We then proceeded to our well-known 
fishing grounds along the weedy borders 
of the flats, where the yellow perch, or 
“Yellow Neds,” as they were locally 
known, were al- 
ways to be found. 
The yellow perch 
of the coastal 
brackish waters 
grow larger and 
are more brightly 
colored than those 
of inland fresh wa- 
ters. I have caught 
them in Wisconsin 
lakes of a pound 
or, occasionally, of 
nearly two pounds. 
I have taken this 
beautiful fish near 
Baltimore of fully 
that swims” two, and once in 
awhile of three 
pounds, near the long bridge leading 
across the Patapsco to Ann Arundel 
county. The yellow perch of brackish 
waters is superior in flavor to the fresh 
water fish, which, however, is a much 
better pan-fish than some anglers are 
willing to admit. It is also a fair game- 
fish on light tackle when weighing a 
pound or more, and rises well to the fly. 
J OHNNIE and I varied our fishing by 
rowing to deeper and less weedy 
waters along the channels where we 
were soon engaged with the white perch, 
the most popular and one of the best pan- 
fishes of the brackfish bays of the At- 
lantic coast. It is free-biting and game- 
some on light tackle. It generally runs 
from six to eight inches in length, though 
occasionally reaches a foot, and weighs 
a pound or two. Then we varied our 
fishing by rowing to well-known holes 
along the old bridge where Lafayettes, 
spots, or as we called them roach, would 
congregate in small schools. The spot 
when not long out of the water is a de- 
licious titbit and a palatable morsel 
when well cooked. It is of less weight 
and size than either of the perches, and 
not at all to be considered a game-fish. 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 306) 
