The Republican journal., 1875-11-11
Observations of Men and Things.
BY OUR GEORGE.

/
arock and acted as audience. Sam dropped hi
canoe out short distance into the lake t.
where the trout were jumping, fastened it f
| his pike pole, and then got out his fly rod. A
| we had never seen fly rod before, possibl
| there may be some one else who has not, there
fore we here venture this bit of description. !
| fly rod is onted rod Of some II feet in length
the butt being about an inch in diameter, AM
| tapering to a tip Of about an eighth of an inch
A good rod will bend so that the tip and but
| will touch without breaking. The rod is light
and can be handled as easily as whip. AT tn
butt of the / i is n click reel to which is Woun
the line Of braided silk or y:it. On the end o
| the line is Il gut leader, from six to ten fee
| long, and attached TO this leader, are three o
| four flies at distances apart OF about tilecl
| inches. These flies are not such as the Womel
shoo" out Of the dining rooms, and that ligh
| on mans nose seyentv-1iye or eighty times
| but are little hooks covered with different col
ored feathers and tinses, and are made to rep
| resent different kinds OF flies and bugs. TheN
| are ganged to a bit Of gut about foot long
| The fly fisherman has three things to learn-t(
cast the fly, hook the fish when it bites, ant
| play him till he is ready to land The beginne
casts the fly, catches the hook in the seat Of hi
| trousers, gives Il jerk when the fish bites, break!
of the tip of his rod. loses his line and quote,
Scripture. sam stood up in the canoe, ans
with about twenty feet of line gave the rod /;
lllrt. and the flies landed on the water and were
skipped along. and then east again farther out
IT'S he pulled ont about yard of line each time
he east. Behind each side and ahead, he
casts his flies until he has out some scNenty-tilt
feet OF line. Our eyes follow each east, " lien
suddenly there is ripple and Il splash, and the
sides of a trout with its bright spots are visible
for an instant, rs Sam hooks him. and then tho
reel clicks rs the line runs out, and the rod
doubles up is the fish darts away II, suddenly
as If he had sat down on a red hot stove cover
sam watches his line, and rs ii begins To slack
en- he commences to reel it in slowly. He
knows Just how much it will bear, and when
to stop In Il moment off starts the fish, and
again the reel clicks and the line runs out,
but this time not rs far as before, and then Il
slack, and sam reels him in AGAIN. This is con-
tlnled some twenty minutes, the reel whiz-
ling and the rod bending till at last, thorough
~ tired out the fish gives up and is rccled
in, that he can be drawn up alongside OF
the canoe, when sam dipped him up with the
landing net, and laid down in the bottom Of the
canoe II beautiful square-taied trout weigh ne
near y four pounds. All the time this was going
on we sat on that rock as interested in the pro-
recdnss us though we were going TO be hung
and hen sam landed the fish. we jumped up
and sung out-"rhree cheers for General Jack
SON." forgetting for the moment that the Old
gentleman was dead, and had no more TO do
with catching that fish than Susan i. Anthony.
An article appeared in the Harpcr's Monthly
of August Oh Mooseheau Lake, written by Il
clergyman who resided at Thomaston In it
he gives an account Of his trip, and sketches
some of the characters" at the lake, Old Ivory
Marsh Lane, Old Sabattis, and skipper sam and
his Wife Shipper Sam was his guide, and we
met him at the upper end of the lake He has
no house. but squatS any where. He and his
wife were padding Il canoe and towing II bat
teau, containing all their worldly wealth. Both
OF them were smoking, and this is the way you
will always lind them. skipper Sans name is
Hartford, and he is Il medium sized man with
grizzly hair and whiskers, and is, we Judge,
about 60 Years Old. lie does nothing but live
from hand to mouth, and if he has nothing in
his hand he does not have TO put it up to his
mouth which is some comfort, for if sam had
lived in the days of the Pilgrims, they would
have called him lazy. Mrs. sam is an ETHEREAL
mortal VIII" turns the scale al 300. As sam
hove in sight he remarked to us-"Wall, lest
see big one out here. He was three foot long.
and neat one. lie jumped right clean out of
water, and l noticed he had big mouth and
was wide across the toreleld." He didn't
mention whether this trout wore a mustache or
parted his hair in the middle, but be had an in
tcllcclual head, certainly. The reverend. in his
article, encountered Marsh Lane, and thought
he WAS not neat, but he did not notice the same
defect III sam. That was the first thing we did
notice, and should have seen that if we had
been born blind. Old Sabatts is an Old broken
down man. who works round doing chores at
the Lake House. lie told us he twas l95 years
Old and made Moosenead Lake about 175 years
ago" Old Ivory is Ivory Littletield-owns and
formerly kept the Lake House. He is fat and
jolly. lie was born when one was not obliged
10 tell the truth, consequently his stories are
very amusing, and have at least five feet to the
yard. He likes 10 fish, and is always ready to
make one of aparty. Old Iyory's demise would
be loss much felt al the foot of the lake. That
article in IEarper's reminds us of an incident
that came under our eye at the lake. We ran
into a cove one night, intending TO occupy Il de-
serted camp there, but we found it already oc-
cupicd by Il man, whom we found sitting on Il
box smoking. 1t was after dark. and he said
there was room enough for us ALL so we con-
cluded to stay there. AS we brought in our
things we remarked that we did not wish TO i'll
trule, but he said-''Not at all. not at all. The
motto Of this camp is PRO bono publco, for the
good of the people. | found it empty and came
in, and you ave the same right that | ave"
lie sat on a box smoking apple. He was about
H. years old and his brown, weather beaten face
told that he was Il sailor. He had on Scotch
He was bent over, his elbows resting on his
knees, and his cliia between his hands. A more
dsconsolate looking mortal we never saw lie
sat watching Sam fix the fire and get supper,
but was as silent as a cold mince pie. Suddenly
he raised his eyes to our companion and asked
-"'Aye you read that harticle in'Arper's about
Moosehead Lake Z" Our companion said he had.
"Well,' said he, .If lad that man 'ere I'll be
c. d if | wouldn't cruelty him. That
remark told the whole story. Fhis man was Il
Welciman, and he had read that article and
thought he could go to the lake and sit down
and catch cartridges with one hand, and fish
with the other, and occasionally kick over II
big moose OF deer with his foot. He was lazicr
than guide board, for that will point the way,
and he found that man must work to get game
here He had invested over $500 in camping
outfit, and that was all he had in the world.
He could not afford to lose that amount, and he
was homcsck and Disguised. He had come
there to stay all winter, and felt that he must.
If the writer of that article don't want to be
nailed up against a barn, he better avoid all
men who look us though they were born in
Wales. We were gone on our trip two weeks,
and went prepared for dry, cold weather, and