The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-08-24
,1ycLe JhBBF's FISH STORY.


fish they is. J"
4 partv of fishermen were camped on
the Rattiesnake creek, near the celebra-
ted Greening farm, in the trout-fshing
section of the Shohola region, in Pike
county Pa. The question of the voraci-
tv and tenacity Of fish was being dis
cus,ed over the pipe and bowl, after
dav's tramp of many miles. Old Uncle
Jerry was present. The catfish, the eel,
the black bass, the trout, and pickerel
each had its champion, and illustrative
stories that must baye made the bones
Of AIunchausen turn and rattle in their
grave were related 0 prove the superi-
oritv of each in the two attributes men
toned. Uncle jerry had taken but little
part in the discussion, and the weight Of
argument seemed sysle in favor of the
catfish. Then the oo fisherman came to
the of the pickerel.
"a full-grown pick'rL It's healthy" ,"
said Jerry, "'ll eat its chldurn and its
childurn's children to thetenth genera
ton ; n Pm burned # | ant seed one
t had got holt n his own all somehow,
N was trying his pootiestto get away
with hisself. I take Il tht a fish that
hez sich a appetite's that orter be put
down mong them as hez t east inkin'
of voraishusness. Is a lick'rel tee
naishus? Wall, mebbe l don't know
'zacly what teenaishus Is; hut I've
cotched pick'rel through the ice, throw
ed 'em out, and seed 'em flop round
till they froze stiff; KEEP 'emtwo r three
days. and then carried 'em twenty mile
to get home, n chucked EN- on the
kitchen floor till KID git really to clean
'em. Z seed these same fish lay thar by
the stove bout five minutes, n then
begin to gap and work their gills, n
then pooty soon go to fopTn' and skip
pin round the room with their jaws
open ike young alligator, n wouldn't
be still till ! hit 'em in tR head wi an
ak. Mebbe Dan'l Webser's dictionary
don't call that teenashu, but + .'taint
is pooty durn nigh onto it; amt it,
boys ?''
The boys conld scarcey help allowing
that there was at least suspicious OF
tenacity about a pickere guilty of such
conduct.
Guess never toll you bout ole
Squire BiIlins's picErel that he he'd
onct, did l? Wall, bo,s, thar was a fish I.
Nebbe you won't b'live this story, but
it's true : preachin, n 'fyou ever see
the ole Squire he'lltelI you the same
thing. He KEEP the ick'rel in a spring
in a pastur' on his fam. 1t VAN more u
a foot n a half long, .he pick'rel want,
but he were 3 comnoius as a ten-acre
lot. burned Fl hahn tgone t that spring
with a twelve-quart pail full o liver,
and, after feedin' it al TO ole Teetotaller
they called him TeaotaIler cause he
never got full--he'd snap his jaws and
tear round in that spring till she bled,
cause there want any more liver comm
to him. The COWS feeling in tn lot got so
they was 'traid to go an drink in the
spring, cause Teetoialler chawed their
noses. He'd tackle any thing. Old Squire
Ief a subsile plow layin' near tn spring
one night, and mex nornin' 'twere gone.
They allus blamed feller u lived over
that way WI stealiH t, but 1 tell you
he's innocent. That durn pick'rel eat
that plow
Wall, anyhow, the squire bought
now COW one day, an turned 'er in the
spring lot; were thar, an me an the
ole man was leanin' on the fence lookin'
at tn new COW. She fed round a while,
an then walks over t tn spring to
drink. She drunks, and turns round am
stands still a swishin' and swoshin' her
tail in the spring. She were a nice fat
critter, and ole Tetotaller liked tn
looks of 'er, an made up his mind to
eat 'er up. So he waltzes over to that
side O the spring, m when the cows
tail came down inter it ag'in, he closes
on it like a bar trap. Did that COW
beller? Some, I think. An then she
guv one jump and ole Tetotaller came
out'n that spring 5 if he'd been shot
out'n a cannon. I'M roun' that lot
they went, the cow a-bellerin' an hum
PIN her back, and lookin' 5 If the
wuthlessness of this h'yer mundane
spear had never struck 'er so forcible
afore, while Teetoller were a takin' up
the slack in 'er tail about foot at every
jump. They hedn't made more'n one
circuit O the lot afore tn pick'rel he'd
put hisself out side o all that cows tail,
but in maxim a grab fur 'er rumP he
missed his holt and came t tn greun
kerhummix.
g" By the horned spoon" said the ole
squire, that settles Teetotaller !
' We ruined over Z whar he fell,
'spectin', o course, t. fin him deader'n
a June shad. But, boys, you may ask
the Squire, n he'll tell you tn same
thiDg-if that durn fish want a raisin'
up and tryin' to see which way that COW
he'd gone, an spittin' out cows ha'r
enough to mix a hod O. plaster, | hope
NrlI never see the back o my neck One
q Tetotaller's eyes were out, and there
we're a han'ful r two o. meat scooped
outln his back; but we carried him Z
th' spring an put him in, an 'twere all
we k'd do to keep him from jumpin' out
n goinI cross-lots arter that COW, he were
50 durn\ mad an dis'p'inted. He got
auieted down in time, but that cow never
went within ten rod o the spring alter
that. The pickrel, Pm telling you, is 8
durn teenaishus and voraishus insec'."
And no one offered to dispute the su.
periority of Jerry's favorite.
"But, Uncle Jerry" said one of US
"what ever became of Teetotaller? l:
he living yet ?''
No, boys, he amt. His voraishus
ness were too many fox his teenaishus
Dess. Th' ole Squire got t'thinkin' {
couple year ago that the durn fish were
costing good deal to keep, 50 he cut
down his rations to eight quarts O. thicl
milk and ten poun's o liver day. You'c
naturally s'pose that were 'nuF for an,
fish. Now, catfsh'd live to be thou
can year ole on that fodder. But Tee
=, ..A,+ior