1871.] 
AMKUiCAN AGKIOULTURIST. 
227 
1B©YS <k dUlILS' (B©1LTOMS 
l-'ixliiii;^. 
BY "CARLETON/ 
I need not ask the boys if they ever have been a-fiBh- 
ing: of course they have. If there is a lad anywhere in 
the United States who never dropped a hook and lice 
into the water, and felt a nibble, and pulled up a perch 
or horned pout, »e don't know what fun is. I have a 
vivid remembrance of the first time I tried my haud : it 
waa not with a hook and line, however, but with a spear. 
It was in the spring of the year, when the birds were 
singing, the frogs peeping, and the suckers were begin- 
ning to make their appearance in the meadow brook, 
and my elder brothers were getting their billets of pitch 
wood in shape for a grand spearing excursion on the 
first calm night. They talked about it so much that I 
caught the fever, and sallied out one sunny afternoon in 
May, with a one-tined spear, which I had made myself, 
by driving a nail into a breom handle and filing the nail 
to a sharp point. I hastened down to the brook side, 
but saw no suckers nor perch nor pout. Tin. le were frogs 
by the score, swelling out their throats and winking at 
me with their great goggle eyes. "You won't wink at 
me in that way much longer,*' I said, as I let my spear 
drive at a great pot-bellied fellow, who leaped into the 
water ker-chug, and I followed him ker-splash! The 
bank was slippery, and I had not calculated the distance 
carefully, and unexpectedly found myself up to my arms 
in mud and water. I crawled up the bank and went 
home, thinking that there wasn't much fun in spearing. 
I can remember the time when I caught my first fish as 
plainly as if it were only yesterday. I see the pond, al- 
though it is faraway ; the water is still : there is not a 
ripple upon the calm surface ; the boat lies motionless. 
I have a little alder fishing pole, and there is a squirming 
mud worm on my hook. Ha ! there is a nibble. An 
electric thrill runs through me, from the ends of my 
fingers to the soles of my feet. There ib a heavier pall. 
" O o, wasn't that a big one V The O is several 
seconds long. Another pull, and the little alder pole 
bends with the weight. " I've got him ! I've got him !" 
and the echoes come back from the wooded shore — "got 
him." 
■'0 o, ain't he a tanker?" You need not look 
into the dictionary to see whether or not that is a choice 
word; but whether in the dictionary or not, the people 
of my native place used it when they wanted to describe 
a big thing 1 . Are you impatient to know how large the 
•• Junker" was ! Well, it was a shiner, fully four inches 
long ! 
I think that I hear a haw-haw-haw from all the boys 
from Maine to Nebraska. Laugh away my lads, for I 
love to hear a good. Jolly laugh from a wide-awake boy, 
even if it is at. my expense. It is sweeter than anything 
else I know of, except the laughter of the girls. I like 
that a little better. 
I have caught many fish since then that weighed more 
than that shiner, but I never have caught a fish so big — 
one that seemed so big, I mean. I caught that day a 
half-dozen perch and a pout, but I shall never again ex- 
perience a thrill ef pleasure like that which flashed 
through me when I pulled up that shiner. I have seen 
whales in the Atlantic and in the Pacific Oceans since 
then that were puffing, blowing, and spouting— one that 
was forty feet long, but he did not seem to be near so 
large as that first shiner. How proudly I walked home 
from the pond, carrying my string of fish, running ahead 
to let the folks know what I had done. "See there ! 
— — o, ain't they big ones **' I do not believe that 
Wellington at Waterloo, or General Grant at Appomat- 
tox, felt prouder than I on that eventful day, when I 
caught one shiner, three flat sides, six perch, and a 
pout. It was like capturing the " horse, foot, and dra- 
goons " that we read about in the war books. 
I have fished many times since then, and have caught 
pickerel, pouts, eels, cod-fish, and mackerel, and once I 
caught a great turtle in a funny way — by the tail with my 
hands. I was in Minnesota, on a beautiful lake, in a 
row-boat, with a long line trailing from the stem, troll- 
ing for pickerel, aud was pulling them in one after an- 
other — great fellows with wide mouths, and voracious 
jaws, that made the water fly when they took the hook. 
A young Norwegian was rowing the boat, and we were 
gliding gaily over the lake, when suddenly I saw some- 
thing black floating on the water, and as we came near- 
er, discovered that it was a great turtle, taki^ a morn- 
ing nap. He was lying on his back, but waked up sud- 
denly, flopped over with his face downward, and made a 
dive for the bottom ; then, as if only half awake, and 
not knowing what he was about, he rose slowly to the 
surface. I could see him rising. He was a monster — an 
eld settler— so old that his back was all covered with 
green moss like the shingles on an old bnilding that has 
braved the storms of a hundred years. 
"We'll have him yet," I whispered to the boatman, 
who worked the oars noiselessly, and sent the boat stern 
foremost toward the spot. I looked down into the water 
and saw the old fellow slowly rising, Up— up— up— he 
came. 
11 One more stroke," I said, and the boat shoots ahead 
to the very spot. He is at the surface : I grab him by the 
tail, and lift with all my might. The boat goes over, but 
a quick backward spring saves it from turning bottom- 
side up. Another lift, aud he is mine. He is in the 
boat, flopping and floundering. The boat is half filled 
with water, and the turtle is making at me with his jaws 
wide open, hissing, snapping, snarling, digging his great 
scaly claws into the side of the boat. The frightened 
Norwegian is dancing about at the other end, ready to 
leap overboard. It is an exciting moment. Let the tur- 
tle but once get his jaws hold of my flesh, and it would 
take an iron bar to open them again. 
He is making at me. I seize an oar, for defence. I 
must whirl him upon his back, and then I can master 
him. He bites the wood into splinters, in a twinkling. 
But at last I have him on his back, the oar upon him, 
the boat-chain around his legs, and so with our prisoner 
snapping and hissing me, work our way to the shore, and 
find, when we weigh him. that he is a forty-eight-pouuder 
— one of the largest fresh-water turtles probably that 
ever were caught. That was fun worth having, and the 
eating in our camp at night was worth having also. And 
here let me give you a bit of advice in regard to turtle- 
catch im; — always grab them by the tail ! 
Aunt Sue's Puzzle-Box. 
Instead of giving one prize for the longest list of cor- 
rect answers, I shall give four sets of anagram-letters, to 
be drawn by lot, for the solution of all the anagrams. I 
receive a great many letters containing answers only to 
the anagrams. I should like to reward each one. but 
that would be a little too much of an undertaking. So I 
shall draw four names for this month's anagrams, and 
give to each one drawn, a prize. Answers to these must 
reach me before the first of July. Those received later 
will not be credited. 
Address Aunt Sue, Box 111. P. O., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Sure bond. 
2. Comet is dated. 
3. A fed horse. 
4. Is soda, gin 5 
5. O ! bail a ring. 
WORDS ENIGMATICALLY EXPRESSED. 
11. What vessel ? Tempy. 
1-2. A warm letter. 
13. Greasy pronoun. 
14. Observe an instrument with teeth. 
15. A foolish weight. Hopper. 
JCULTUM IN PARVO. 
16. Out of what one pronoun can you get nine pro- 
nouns inclusive ? 
DIAMOND CROSS PUZZLE. 
IT. 1. The capitol of Norway. 2. A fish. 3. A cutter. 
4. A city. .5. A color. 6. Great auger. 7. The 
tail of a bird. The center letters, perpendicular, 
will name a great city, and the center letters, hori- 
zontal, will give the lame of the State it is in. 
Adolph M. Nagle. 
IS. To the nickname of a great statesman add a com- 
mon French word, aud a wild beast, and make a 
plant valued by some for its medicinal properties. 
M. Richardson. 
6. C. torn side. 
7. I can apples. 
8. Never no wit. 
9. O 1 go finger. 
10. Featherer. 
Opeh, rafe, capee dan trisef 
Kame pu hist gedlant bew fo file. 
A. R. 
• I Lay down 24 matches, form- 
~~ 1 ing squares, as in the accom- 
_ | panying diagram. Now. take 
away S of the matches, without 
I | | ■ displacing- the rest, and leave 
twr. perfect squares. 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
The following is a simple sum in division ; letters are 
substituted for figures : 
21. BNP) DIEOA (GEP 
NTG • 
ODO 
OME 
GGA 
ENP 
OM 
CHARADE. 
22. My first is a vehicle, my second the nationality of 
ite driver, my whole the casing of the room he lives in. 
Tempy. 
riddle. 
There arc two nicknames, both well known, 
One of sister, one of brother . 
Place a vowel before each one 
(Each vowel, mind, unlike the other)* 
And lo! a wondrous organ,— human} 
Can our puzzlers guess the true one? Tempt. 
410. Illustrated Rebus. — A saying which many unfor- 
tunately find true. 
PUZZLE. 
Find the word out of which the following sentence 
was made : 
24. A modern Matron had on a Roman garment, and 
tore the hem on a thorn. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE APRIL NUMBER. 
Anagrams. — 1. Innumerable. 2. Turmoil. 3. Imag- 
ined. 4. Universal. 5. Wearied. (3. Builders (this was 
ofteu answered with "Rebuilds, 1 ' which I credited as 
good). 7. Ransacked. 8. Retrospect (several young 
ones answered this — "Protectees," and then informed 
me that it should have been " — ors "}. 9. Blemishes. 
10. Entangle. 11, Black, white: brew, lash, alibi, currant, 
kayle. 12. Barbarous. 13. Taintless (J. A. B., and others 
send "nevertheless," which is equally correct and more 
elegant). 14. Microscope. 15. In twine. 1(1. Farthing. 17. 
Figure. 18. (There was an error in this puzzle, so I shall 
republish it, amended.) 10. Share, hare. 20. Bear, car. 21. 
Heel, eel. 22. Bass, ass. 23. Goat, oat. 24. Rice, ice. 
25. Spike, pike, Ike. 26. Sea-lion. 27. Promise little 
and do much. — 406. One ought to manage, arrange, and 
superintend all his own business. — 407. Fort Wayne (four 
twain). (Thi? Rebus has met with universal approval). 
Correct auswers to more or less of the puzzles have 
been sent by Willie Webster, M. St. John, Susie H. r 
M. C. S.. M. Soulc, J. L. W., J. Corbett. F. W. H., N. Y. 
411. IUmtraltd Rebus.— Words used by the weather- 
wise or otherwise. 
H., J. E. S. D., A. A. M., C. A. S., S. L. D., W. Taylor, 
W. II. R.. Laura E., M. T., O. A. G., M. C, W. II. & S. 
G. K., J. H. B., Gipsy Jane, M. B. C, C. II. K., R. B. E., 
J. W. L., Emma D., H. E. P., M. St. J.. J. P.. W. W. Y., 
H. P., E. M. II.. L. E. M., L. S. G., M. M. M., Ainslee 
Bros., U. H. WV, B. W. P., and J. B. 
Al'NT SCE's NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
J. A. B. Some of those "proverbial" words, I think, 
might be considered obsolete. 
H. H. Clarke. Thanks for your puzzles, which are 
very good. It is quite a relief to not find any numerical 
enigmas nor eross-werd enigmas among them. I should 
prefer giving the puzzlers your first item to square, 
rather than describe each word, if yo have no objection. 
Newy. "Rich" and "pretty." Bless me! it must 
be some other party. But proceed to "cultivate," I'm 
willing. Give my love to your "mother" for the " sif- 
ter's " sake. 
