Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-07-11

Plentiful are the eelS-thOse trouble
some visitors who are Matched in salt
water, and seek the fresh ponds for
food and recreation. and take trout
food as readily as any other. They are
slippery customers" and have an in
direction of motion which is discredita-
BILE to what is really so good fish.
although unfortunately it does eat
trout. They are ''monstrous sly" too,
and do a deal of thinking-they are al
together more uncertain than ''white
man" in his most uncertain moods.
What is to be said of an eel which gets
into the pipe of the hydraulic ram and
stops the water supply of the house,
nearly causing the boiler of the range
to blow up, and the laundry-maid to
have an attack of sporadic insanity; and
then. when the pipes have all been dug
up, and the joints uncOupled, and
plumber and helper" have run up a
fabulous bill for soldering and holding
candles. wriggles away triumphantly
when his place of retreat is at last in
vaded? Or how are we TO treat a crea-
ture that goes up the perpendicular side
of a water-gate five feet high, and thus,
scaleless as he is. scales his way into
pond where he is not wanted, and where
his room is regarded as far more valua-
BILE than his company? Eels are too
much for me. | have given up con-
tending with them, and just let them
work their own sweet will. In May
they appear from the Great South Bay
in countless millions, making the pure
water inky with their diminutive,
squirming bodies; they infest every
portion of the stream, and fill every lit
tie rivulet that feeds it. Nothing de-
tiers them, no flood Injuries them, and
no drought annOys them. There they
grow beneath my eyes. Some thou
sands climb my 1loOd-gates into the
pond. other thousands watch a chance
to SqUirm into the ram, other thousands
explore incidental water-cOurses, and
other thousands remain below the
gates, and appropriate whatever comes
their way; while few hundred enthu-
Siasts select damp night and creep
directly over the dam itself-at least |
think so. for believe them capable of
any enormity. | submit to them as one
does to fate and fleas, and all that sort |
of thing-not without a struggle, but a
vain one. and accompanied with the eX-
penditure of much useless rage. 1 have |
used alternately nets and spears and |
eel-pOts. | appreciate eels en- mdteIote |
for a table-dish, and hate TO be out
witted and defied by any wriggling |
thing; still / have been defeated, and |
the qualification of my stomach has not |
made up for the modification of my |
heart. The eels have squirmed all |
around me. and were | TO stand upon |
nv rights and die i'm their defense. the |
l. 4
dead body, With such creatures mod |
Grafton is the better part of valor. | !
eat all of them | can possibly catch and |
take good care they do not eat me.
one day when using the net in our
mortal conflict, | caught fellow of diff
ferent species, and, as il was a rare /
visitor placed it in a floating ear for
study. 1t had queer mouth, with eX
uberance of lip, and holes behind the
head along its neck. If any one took
hold of its body. it instantly attached
its lips with more than lovers kiss to
the bottom of the ear, from which the
hardest pull would not disengage il. 1t
and twisted, but held on. Re
leased. il swan at once about the box
ready, however, if
again grasped, to renew its attachment.
The conduct of this strange creature
suggested new metaphor. We have
heard of kissing close" of lovers
TO their mistresSes' lips and of
kisses which seemed To suck away life
itself. These are rather strong express
sions and eXemplify PASSIONS intensity
but. after all, they are mild in compar-
isOn with the expression kissing As
close as lamprey-eel." 1t was LAM
prey; rather a rare production of Long /
Island waters; worthless anywhere,
but curious as exhibiting the freaks TO
which Nature occasionally resorts-nOt
a good, honest eel which, although err
ratio, is useful: nor fish, although
provided with the neutrality-suspicious.
used by certain members of the finny
-ribe: more like a snake. and vet not
openly that low, crawling enemy of
mankind. Its appearance would sug-
gest that possibly it was a lamprey-eel,
and no mere serpent, which beguiled
VI other Eve, and by its wonderful os-
capacities touched the weak
ness of her resolution. and induced her
TO surrender all that was most worth
having in life for a bite out of an ap-
pie. Surely Il woman who Will go so
far fer so little ought at least to have
been well kissed for it.-AppIetoa'
Journal.