Litchfield enquirer., 1862-01-23
SHORT SERMONS. BY A LAYMAN.-No. THIRTEEN.
ON FISHING.
TEXT"I Go 4 A.Fshinq."

ON FISHING.
 TEXT" I Go 4 .Fsshinq''
 BELOVED HEARERS My text you will find if you look carefully, in the southwest corner O the eleventh page of the Amusements of tht Apostles, sixth line from the bottom, counting up.
 l In these days, when latterday saints and sin ners go down upon the ice like ships, and fish un der the big waters, and draw up eels, and pick erel, and perch, and "sich," until they have what they call |" big thing on ice" it may bt we'll for us to consider fishing philosophically for few minutes, and take whatever comes up on our line or into our net, as proper and legiti mate sport and good for digestion. It may be fn-~e Suppose it is-to go down upon cold, raw day in January, upon the bo som of some frozen lake, and cut hole, and drop line, then cut another and drop another then third, and so on, till all the string and fsh-hooks are used up, and then finding warm place on the ice, sit down upon it, and then watch, while the wind blows, to see the first line bob, and then pull up and put down, and blow your fingers and put down somewhere else It ma, be a big thing, but your respected preacher don't see it. He prefers, my brethren, to be stand ing up here among you, bobbing around in this desk of his fathers, dropping his lines of wis dom, with the hook of correction, down into you school of gaping gills, batting his hook with moral reflections, encouragements, warnings, ad vice, which you may nibble at, taste, swallow, ol swim off from, just as you please. But there may be a good deal of profit, if not fun, from philosophical fishing and so, my hearers, we may get basket full of wisdom this morning and a-stomach full of the real fish, which shall beat the metaphor of Jonahs whale | all hollow.
 There are some men, my hearers, who go fishing for office. These bait their hooks with promises and spacious fatteries, and pretty phra- ses and now-aud then glass of spe7its-and ohl how often, my gudgeons, are you caught by these!
 Then there are some men who go Q fishing for fame merely, and pomp, and praise,-and how often we inclined to nibble at their hooks and afford them enough sustenance to swell up on for weeks in and weeks out-who have nc more to them than the "idle wind," with which they are temporarily puhed up and vaunted, by fishy aattery.
 Then there are others who fishing after mon ey, and these are among the cunningest, shrewd [ oIr Esharnoap If all Tbay co+o oil sorts of traps, and use all sorts of bait, and all .he r~-ey eR.peilies- that come into their basket.
 Then there are those-especially among the younger fshermen-who go fishing after the girls An my young angler-what an old head wags upon your shoulders You have seen the trout fisherman in June, vending his way slyly along the banks of some laughing, tumbling, babbing stream. Carefully he at, 1 taches his fly to the hook, delicately tosses il over the brink, the hook floats moment down the stream, then is nibbled at slyly by more than one of the unsuspecting fish, played with, nosed with, toyed with for while by the small fry until suddenly, some plump, sleek, shiny mem Der of the fish family, darts out from his or he, retreat, snaps at the bait, swallows the hook and all, and then darts back under corcr with the unpleasant sensation of tickling in the thr oat, and the consciousness of being hooked at last Then you have noticed how the careful fisherman, not yet wholly secure of his game, but holding fast to his victim on the other end of the line, by turns tickles, plays with, cajoles and coaxes hi: shining prey, and tries to draw it out from it: old haunts, until finally the breathless fish yields up gracefully to it's fate, and permits itselft be landed, and sinks without murmur into the fish erman's basket!
 But, my young fisherman, it isn't always thus Sometimes he that goes out fishing thus, gets himself caught on his own line and hook, and like Jonah, before referred to, has the unexpect surprise of finding positions reversed! Such being the delightful uncertainties of fishermen: luck
 There are another class of fishers, my breth ren,-I have alluded to them often 5efore--whe seem to delight in dabbling in all sorts O. pud dles and bogs, and fishing up all the miserable dirty, small trash they can lay hook to-fshe that might be labeled scandal, and tittle-tattle and gossip, and backbites, and which are al known under the not very euphoneous or delicate genus of smeNGsh. Oh! my brethren and sis ters, when will you leave of spending your tim' and patience in endeavoring to collect such { foul, filthy mess as these ?-What possible pleas
 ure can there be in deliberately setting out, bask ct in hand, and rod in pickle, in pursuit of sucl game? Poor, mean, miserable is your reward
 and the smell of your doings clings to the coa
 you wear, like the fragrance of decomposed shat in fly time.
 Finally, Igo fishing, my brethren, chief!
 and solely for your good. If fall short yo' must chide me if wander you must correct me if I labor with you you must thank me. if I pla with you you must enjoy it, if hook you-yo must make the best of it. And now, as fishing is rather dry work, let m dismiss you with your mouths full-as the fisbe, boy said who couldn't talk plaip-of "wums fo bait ;"
 !. Which is all at present. s... >. ise Mir. Russell the correspondent of the Londol TSnass it is said will return to England early i Febuary. He complains of i'll health, and ( t had treatment at the hands of some of our pee lie who insist upon sixitiing upon him the indie