The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-10-27
TFrom Land and Water.

\ pretty rambling story about fishing We
print below, written by man who knows
how to tell a yarn in sparkling way:
MY sroITING COMPANIONS.
\ hot July day in the wood Of Glenlawn.
1t is deep and dark wood, in which there
are but odd skeins of sunlight, across which
YOU can see the insects swarming like meats
ON a beam. The Lawn brook is gurglinS,
drumming, and whispering; the pigeons
are cooing overhead; now thrush sings,
now there lisa profound summer silence, only
broken by the constant tune Of the water and
the voice of a girl chanting a wild Celtic air
in the fields without.
have been lying in the moss ut the foot Of
an oak for the last half hour. There is moth
ing in the Crcel, the trout would not rise, j
have tried every likely fly in the book, and
have given il up and lii cigarette. i
wish could come across old sam Freeman.
Old Sam Freeman is 4 professor Of the gentle
craft who haunts these parts.
watch the stream in a lazy, idle mood.
Suddenly there comes a sound from out Of the
dusk Of break at the opposite hank
the sound Of whistle, TO which the pleasant
trill Of ilageolet is meaningless.
This is the overture to the approach of the
accomplished Sam Freeman, who can whistle,
with his mouth at the river, tunes sweeter than
Pan blew from his reed.
The whistle ceases, and know that Sam
is putting up a cs,st-a work of so important
a nature that il must not he interrupted by
music.
Presently the whistle-which has an odd
charm in il, as though it were an incanta-
A.: =, Lo.-J ,c,;,, ,uI I or, tho vs,int
of a rod moving. l am better acquainted
by any notice at this moment. 20
With what a grace and lightness the tiny
line drops behind that bunch of weeds-there
is twenty years. aye thirty years Of expert
cncc in the performance. by JOve he has a
rise, and whisk! out goes a little spckled
beauty.
Good morrow, Sam"
ooh! good morrow, sir, an good luck"
81 had no luck, Sam; hold on and l will
cross over to YOU" ---
Sam is grizzled veteran, clothed in
dun dress, and wearing on his red nose a
pair of silver spectacles. He is very proud
Of these spectacles, As remnants of family
plate; for Sam, though he ties flies and sells
them, and is not above taking half crown for
his offices during ramble, vet claims to
come Of good stock, and the spcctacles are re-
ported by him to have belonged TO his great
grandfather, who farmel Hatheragne
Grange. fyou want to know why Sam is
poor, take whiskey for the first reason,
whiskey for the second. He was reclaimed
from the grave and the poor-house that is
by the priest, who made him stake the
pledgt :" but he had long ago swallowed his
few acres, and it was fortunate for him he
had a passion for, As well As skill in, angling.
In one respect old Sam wins a nuisance.
He was never refused leave to fish on his
own account anywhere; and If you wanted
a stream to yourself, it was almost impOssi-
bic to have the solitary possession Of it for q
day in his neighborhood He had ''shOrt
c,iis'' from one brook to another, and knew
exactly when the trout were on the feed in
each. 1t was from him that learned that
fish in the Lawn, for instance, were in the
habit of rising to flies at the unusual hour of
moontide in the early summer months.
81 think, sir, remarked Sam, I'VE mad bet
ter put up material (Angiice the natural
Ay), they'll not be lively at anything else"
+" Have you brought them with YOU,
SAM"
"Leave me alone for that"' and Sam
turned round his basket, from winch he pro-
duced a cows horn plugged ct one end,
stopped with cork at the other, and perfor
ated with holes.
Raising the cork c,l; at one corner, a large
blue bottle began to make an effort for deliv-
erance, and to buzz for it Is well as he could
under the circumstances. Sam shut him mp
again, and proceeded TO take down the flies
from the casting line, substituting a long
piece Of gut with a single hook to it, with a
grain of small shot fastened close to the hook.
Then he takes blue-bottle as though he
loves him.
II though; the oak-iy would he better,
SAM"
Not at all, sir, not at all, haven't half
the life in him the blse- bottles have; an be-
sides, catches bigger trout with the bottles.
Let us try under the little fall beyant."
"Beyant'' was half mile at leastthrough
the underground of brian, that sen: out =
sweet scent as We pressed it; through grand
avenue Of foliage, that rose above va like the
pillars and. arch Of noble minister.
"Aisy, sir! aisy!" whispered Sam, who
believed in the sharp hearing Of trout (which