f&E NEW YORK AQUARIUM JOURNAL. 
43 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT FISH, 
BY MADGE ELLIOT. 
A fisherman went out to fish. 
“Oh! herrings,” said he, “don’t I wish 
That something never seen before 
I’d catch. My sail would then be o’er, 
And I’d forsake the sea for shore, 
And no more fishing would I go, 
But straightway start a trav’ling show.” 
FOR OUR YOUNG FOLKS. 
TOLD BY UNCLE OCTOPUS. 
A merry rCLristmas to you all, my young 
(friends, and mgy your whole long lives be as 
rfull of health and happiness as these Christmas 
.days. Hqw many of you, I wonder, have bright, 
warm and beaptifiil homes, with everything 
; about to make yonr.days happy and your sleep 
•sweet? d hope it is .so (With 
‘s’h'o'ufj~fiap p e n to be any among all your ugly 
iuneles or friends who are .go poor that they are 
often hungry and cold, then let me tell these 
that for them your .Uncle, Octopus is very, very 
sorry to day. But they must mot give up, nor 
think it hard that others are happy while they 
are sad. We who live in the sea , are not all rich 
and beautiful either, and even .now some little 
lonely fish is hiding under the rocks for fear that 
some hungry shark or greedy pickerel will want 
him for his Christmas dinner. I know that there 
may not be much comfort for you in this, and 
yet I tell you of it just so that you may know that; 
even your Uncle Octopus has a warm heart, 
though men may call him “cold blooded.” 
He knows, too, that the creatures, great and 
■ small, that live in Cod’s great sea are all his 
, children, and surely the kind master who gives to 
i the fish its food and who watches over the spar¬ 
rows these cold winter nights will not let any of 
ihis children suffer without good reason. And 
to you who have more than you need to day let 
me say that in no better, surer way can you be 
made happy than by trying to help the other 
little ones whose hearts are sad and whose bodies 
are tired and cold. Perhaps this will sound 
queer to you, since you never knew that your 
Uncle Octopus could preach a sermon, and yet 
he could not let this beautiful Christmas season 
pass by without reminding you that there is much 
that you can do. Perhaps you have little money, 
for these are hard times, everybody tells us, but 
whatever you may have just try and give a little 
part of it to those who need it most, and then 
when the New Year comes you will begin it with 
such light hearts and happy thoughts that I 
know you will be glad of the sober advice that 
is now given you by your Uncle Octopus. 
As this he said he felt a bite, 
And pulled and hauled with all his might, 
And landed—well, it was a fright— 
And looked like nothing he had seen, 
Unless, in shape, a violin. 
“Great Greenland whales!” cried he, “I know 
I’ve found the wonder for my show.” 
And reaching forth his hand he took, 
Or tried to take, it from the hook, 
When, with one blow, up in the air 
It sent him flying; all his hair 
Arose on end ; his eyes did stare 
Just like a frog’s, and in a town 
A full mile off that man came down ! 
The thing then opened wide its jaws 
And laughed with many loud “haw haws. 
i ‘ Oh! Skates,” it said, “how he did fly,’ 
And winked its very wicked eye. 
“He wont want me for his old show— 
I bet he wont—oh! no, oh! no, 
For I’m a stunning Torpedo.” 
What is the reason that the two “little ladies” 
who received the first prize for their composi¬ 
tions about the whale do not come to the 
Aquarium and get them. Or if they cannot 
come why do they not send some one to get 
them. They are all ready and waiting, and you 
have only to tell the gentleman who is selling 
gold fish who you are and what you have come 
for, and he will give you the globe and fish as 
promised by Uncle Octopus. 
A BIG FISH AND A LITTLE FISHERMAN. 
Every child who has spent a summer in the 
country is familiar with the speckled and shining 
little fellows that dart along in the brook, and 
vanish when they find themselves watched, as 
suddenly as the bright eyes of a mouse whisk 
away from a hole in the cupboard. 
Yes, you all know the brook trout, but per¬ 
haps you are not as well acquainted with his 
big brother, the lake trout, who, like other big 
brothers, does not have anything to do with the 
little fry, but gets along swimmingly with his 
famous cousins, the Salmon family, who live in 
the large lakes. Well, it is about him that I am 
going to tell you a queer story, and a true one, 
too. 
^JmkrT 3 oyTeight or nine 
years old, was fishing in the lake at Fort Wash¬ 
ington, away out West. He had gone out in a 
boat alone, though there were a number of peo¬ 
ple on the shore. After throwing his line sev¬ 
eral times without getting a bite he suddenly felt 
a very decided nibble, and at the same time the 
line bobbed down so quickly into the water that 
he was almost jerked overboard. He just man¬ 
aged to save himself, however, and now the 
struggle began in good earnest. They pulled 
this way and that, now one getting the better 
and now the other, like Mr. Punch and the 
hangman. Every time that the boy, tugging 
with both arms, hauled the fish to the top of the 
water, it plunged so violently that he had to let 
out the line again. For a long time no one 
could tell whether the fish would be dragged out 
of the lake or the boy into it, but finally, by the 
help of a firm brace against the side of the boat 
and a strong pole and line, the little shaver 
pulled in a magnificent trout, and rowed to 
shore in triumph. 
Meanwhile the crowd on the shore had watched 
the contest, and when they saw the trout flop 
over the side of the boat you should have seen 
the way they waved their hats and handkerchiefs 
in their delight and excitement! Some of the 
men made bets as to which was heavier, the cap¬ 
tive or the captor, and when the boat touched 
the land scales were sent for and brought down 
to the shore, and there, amid shouts and cheers, 
the boy was put in on one side and the fish on 
the other, and, would you believe it! there was 
only six pounds difference in their weight—the 
little fisherman weighed just forty-six pounds, 
and the trout weighed forty. That is as big as 
quite a good-sized pig. Wouldn’t you like to 
have been that boy ? Rachel Farley. 
