St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-14
A Fish Story.

81 remember one time. ii had been
blowing hard for several weeks on an.
of. and there was hardly il dish of tiSl
| t" he got for love or money. Havim.
/ little To do, Il foreman at one of tn,
/ shops here. named Tom Round. go
hold of Il turhot with hardly an ouuc.
OF flesh upon 1t. IL mere skin indeed
and amused himself by try ing to sell it
But 1t was no 60. and no wonder. The
thing had been kicking about the shoI
for nearly Il week. and had several very
narrow ESCAPES of the refuse basket
Directly anybody took it up. being
about as limp as IL Shrt-collar in Il
shower of rain. its want of flesh WAS at
once detected. Well. what does Mr.
Tom do, but cut long stick into Il
skcwer. and thrust it into the napc of
the tiSh's neck, and So right along his
backbone down to the beginning of his
tail. Ii WAS NOW aS stiff as ifit had not
been out of the water twrntN-fnur
hours. Then he gets Il great wallet of
wet paper. makes Il pad upon the board
and throws the turbot on it. II was a
great success the creature looked a>
plump us Il bun. 1t lay there an hour
or two. and Il great deal of chatf had
been fired over il. when behold Won.
along comes Il gentleman in nankeeu~.
bun walStcoat. and blue coat with gilt
buttons. He stops and eyes the de
celtful one with quite Il pleasant smile.
"'i"w are turhots to-day p SAYS he.
livery scarce indeed. >ir. is the an
swer: that one is Srventccu-and-six.
"'l> there enough fish there for
eight !! says the gentleman.
"'All depends upon what sort of
feeders they are replied Tom. hardly
able I" contain himself. or keep his
conntenanrr ''at all events | can tell
You one thing YOU won't find its equal
i'll the trade.
"'N i'll YOU bate Il half-crowu , SlyS
old nankcrn>.
llalt-cr"Wn. sin. rXclaim> Tom.
no. Nir: don't mind Knocking of the
"dd expense.
livery well. I'll have it, SavS the
other
"Iom dursn't give it To any of the
men l." clean. He did that himself.
popped II int" Il basket, Il porter WIS
called. the customer paid his none,
aud departed. and Tom shut up th,.
shop and departed too.
hlre days afterwards. judge Nh
"m horror. ON suddenly discovering
himself lace I" face with that Srlt>;Imr
gcntlcmin. There was Il gravity in the.
old chaps look that bodied i'll to th,.
salesman. /" Use the ra>ral'S own cN-
preston. he felt as if he should have
liked the earth to open and swallow
MN up
hcllrNe. SAYS the old gentleman.
hAlng Keen and steady eye ON the
culpilt' YOU ale the person oi whom
purchased turh"t one day this week ,
h""ni heart thumpcd heavily
against MS Slde. lie felt III" blood
mount t" his check. There WAS n" cs-
cape.
lit might have been my mate. >ir.
replied he: we're very much alike
No !"n are til" man. I'm certain
'''N ell, >Ir, >tammrred the con
ScleiIre-Slrlckcn one. i can't say. l"u
see. Slr. see. sir. :" many people in Il
day. sir, but if it WAS me. >ir. hope it
uePe''''e" upon ti'i> Time "t he Nc;'r.
,., ,,
=. S''''I> Tue ''S'l' "'''' mere was
''' ''' ~ -
enough nul II was lrmdrkahlN poor.
ana II" wonder, Tor "" found the cause
"f ITS want OF substance on lis coming
I" the table.
ON itl' great sense OF relief ut
ms; "''i MS eyes nearly started out of
MS liead WIN aStonlSilmcnt a> tn" other
continued.
'At sometime that poor creature
han swallowed piece of stick. which
liad forced ITS way right down hc>id"
tle spinal column to Its very tail. lis
SliiicrlhGs must have been intense.
However the thing could have lived at
all, cannot think. 1t iS Il remarkable
fact III the natural history of fishes.
he stick | have Ia ken care of. and
with ITS legend placed it in Il cabinet of
curlo>ItIe> which possess
NV 18th that the old chap departed, |
leaving Tom heartily blessing him for
his credulity. and thanking his own
stars at having escaped so easily. =
,"sscHs -HdJd-tne.