10 
gler, for he caught one of the cod, al¬ 
though he did not mention the fact in 
his diary. Incidentally he lost his bal¬ 
ance when a cod let go suddenly, fell 
into the bait pail, and got a black eye. 
Colonel Samuel Cogswell, of General 
Washington’s staff, let the world know 
of the incident through a letter to his 
wife. 
‘‘It let go so sudden,” wrote Colonel 
Cogswell, “that General Washington 
was precipitated down squarely on the 
bait pipkin (pail), which held clams. 
He also got hit on a corner of ’Squire 
Langdon’s hat, which resulted, by the 
time they landed, in a black eye. 
“His Excellency rose again with char¬ 
acteristic grace and dignity, veiling 
both disappoint¬ 
ment and discom¬ 
fiture in smiles. 
“For this mean 
trick the gods 
compensated h i m 
with a lusty cod¬ 
fish—the first and 
best catch of the 
excursion — just a 
moment after his 
clammy downfall.” 
One more story 
concerning the 
first President, or, 
rather, a guest, 
•and we will leave 
America’s first 
Commander - in - 
Chief. Once when 
Baron Steuben 
was visiting the 
Washingtons after 
the Revolution, 
Mrs. Washington 
asked the Baron 
how he occupied his time. 
“I read and play chess, my lady,” 
said the Baron, “and yesterday I was 
invited to go a-fishing. It was under¬ 
stood to be a very fine amusement. I 
sat in a boat two hours, though it was 
very warm, and caught two fish.” 
Naturally, Mrs. Washington asked: 
“What kind?” 
The Baron replied: “Indeed, I do 
not recollect perfectly, but one of them 
was a whale.” 
“A whale in the North River?” ex¬ 
claimed his hostess. 
“Yes, on my word, a very fine whale, 
as that gentleman informed me. Did 
you not tell me it was a whale, Major?” 
“An eel, Baron,” responded the Major. 
“I beg your pardon, my lady,” Baron 
Steuben protested, “but the gentleman 
certainly called it a whale. But it is of 
little consequence. I shall abandon the 
trade, notwithstanding the amusement it 
affords.” 
“No good fisherman was ever a bad 
man, and history will bear out the asser¬ 
tion that the best Presidents have been 
the best fishermen,” wrote Moore in 
dedicating “Washington as an Angler” 
to Grover Cleveland. 
I T might not be amiss at this point to 
name the fifteen Presidents who were 
anglers. They are, named as they served 
the Nation, George Washington, Martin 
Van Buren, John Tyler, Zachary Tay¬ 
lor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, 
Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, 
Ulysses Simpson Grant, James Abram 
Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover 
Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, William 
Howard Taft and Warren Gamaliel 
Harding. 
Those who were both fishermen and 
hunters include Washington, Tyler, Tay¬ 
lor, Pierce, Lincoln, Garfield, Arthur, 
Cleveland and Roosevelt. 
The hunters, among the Presidents, who 
did not indulge in angling, were : Thomas 
Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William 
Henry Harrison, James Buchanan, 
Rutherford Burchard Hayes, Benjamin 
Harrison and Woodrow Wilson. 
Those Presidents not fond of either 
of these recreations were John Adams, 
James Madison, James Monroe, John 
Quincy Adams, James Knox Polk, and 
William McKinley. 
Of the fishing Presidents, Cleveland 
stands out foremost, the generation of 
yesterday recalling Arthur. Roosevelt is 
associated in the public mind more as a 
hunter, his fishing coming later in life, 
although he “ironed” a manta, second 
in size to that of Russell J. Cole’s, whose 
record devilfish is preserved by the 
American Museum of Natural History 
in New York City. Taft is recalled for 
his delight in black bass fishing and 
Harding’s capture of the acrobatic tar¬ 
pon is still fresh in the public mind. 
Of Cleveland, the most amusing and 
entertaining stories are told. Here is 
one of his gems told to Richard Watson 
Gilder: 
An old darky who risked his life, 
when out fishing, to save a small darkey, 
was asked whether the boy was his own. 
“Oh, no, sah; he not my son,” re¬ 
plied the darkey. 
“Well, was he some relative that you 
risked your life for him?” 
“Noh, sah; he no relative; no sah.” 
“Then why did you plunge in in that 
reckless way and fetch him out?” 
“Well, sah, the fact is, sah, that that 
boy had the bait.” 
Cleveland had a congenial group of 
Forest and Stream 
fishing companions. They included Jo¬ 
seph Jefferson, the creator of the im¬ 
mortal Rip van Winkle; E. C. Benedict, 
Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, affec¬ 
tionately. called “Fighting Bob,” Jethro 
Mitchell and others. It was to Joe 
Jefferson that Cleveland, in his will, 
presented “my best Kentucky reel.” 
One day, E. C. Benedict, Joe Jeffer¬ 
son and President Cleveland were fish¬ 
ing together in Buzzards Bay for sque- 
teague, the same fish known in New 
York as weakfish and in the South as 
trout. 
The squeteague were biting actively 
and Jefferson was “horsing” them in. 
Cleveland admonished him: “For God’s 
sake, Jefferson, don’t yank them so!” 
In a most in¬ 
jured look and 
tone of voice, Jef¬ 
ferson replied : 
“Well, they yanked 
me first!” 
Cleveland was a 
most resourceful 
angler and studied 
the habits of fish. 
He was one of that 
small group of 
anglers who en¬ 
joyed fishing for 
the fish that would 
not bite as much 
or more so than 
angling for those 
that would bite 
freely. When 
other men in the 
party became dis¬ 
couraged, not so 
with Cleveland. 
He never allowed 
anything to inter¬ 
fere with his fishing. That was one of 
the reasons for his ability to catch fish 
when others could not. 
Once when his companions gave up 
fishing, Cleveland continued, changing 
his lures. Finally he landed a fine fish, 
“What did you get it on ?” one of the 
non-fishing companions asked. 
“On my restaurant fly,” the patient 
fisherman replied. 
“Why do you call it that?” asked his 
questioner. 
“Because the fish can get anything he 
likes on it,” replied Cleveland. 
It was a fly with all the colors of the 
rainbow, its feathers being of every 
shade and size. 
When fishing, Cleveland cared little 
about his personal appearance, as the 
following story indicates. 
An angler, fastidiously dressed, met 
Cleveland clad in oilskins and a slouch 
hat, addressing him as follows: 
“Hello, boatman, you’ve certainly got 
a good catch. What will you take for 
the fish ?” 
“I’m not selling them,” he replied. 
“Well,” persisted the angler who was 
dressed in fashionable togs, “what do 
you want to take me out fishing to¬ 
morrow ?” 
“I can’t make any engagement except 
for the season,” was the reply. “Will 
you give me as much as I made last 
year?’ (Continued on page 28) 
Underwood & Underwood 
President Harding with some of his Florida catch of fish 
