The Republican journal., 1881-06-02

ulHllcl NHtll Hc was uunSTt, WHICH WAS
all the time, and then eating little be-
| tween meals for his stomach's sake
So it went on for three long years and
at the end of this time our little fish had
grown to be a great, fine salmon, of forty
pounds weight, shining and silyery as a
new tin pan, and with rows Of the lowell
est round black spots on his head, and
back, and tail. one day, as he was swim
ming about, idly chasing a big sculpin,
with head so thorny that be neI er was
swallowed by anybody, all Of a sudden
the salmon noticcda change in the water
around him.
spring had come again, and the south
lying snowdrtts on the Cascade mount
aims once more felt that the ''earth was
wheeling Sunward,' and the cold snow
water ran down from the mountains and
| into tine Columbia river, and made 4
trcshCt on the river, and high water went
far out into the sea, and our salmon felt
il on his gills; and he remembered how
the cold water used to feel III C0WitZ
when he was 4 little fish, and in blum
derlng, iiShN fashion he thought about it,
and wondered whether the little eddy
looked as it used to, and whether cad
dice-worms and young mosquitoes were
really as sweet and tender as he used to
think they were; and he thought some
other things, but, as a salmon's mind is
located in the optic lobes of his brain, and
ours in Il different place, we can not be
certain, after all, what his thoughts really
were. What he did. we know. He did
what every grown salmon in the ocean
does when he feels the glacier water once
more upon his gills. He became u
changed being lie spurncd the blan-
dishments Of soft -shclled crabs. Thc
pleasures of the table and of the chase.
heretofore bis only delights, lost their
charms for him. He turned his course
straight toward the direction whence the
cold fresh water came, and for the rest of
his life he never tasted a mouthful of
food. He moved on toward the river
mouth, at first playfully, as though he
were not really certain whether he meant
anything, after all. Afterward, when he
struck the full current Of the Columbia,
he plunged straight forward with an I'M
tlnching determination that had in it
something Of the heroic When he had
passed the rough water at the bar, he
found that he was not alone his OLD
ncighbors of the COwltl and many more,
4 great army OF salmon, were with him.
In front thousands pressing on, and be
hind them, We're thousands more. all
moved 10y a common impulse, which
lured them up the Columbia.
They We're swimming braNcly along
where the current was deepest, when
suddenly the foremost felt something
tickling like Il cob-Web about their noses
and under their chns, They changed
their course a little t. brush il Off and it
touched their fins as We'll. Then they
tried to slip down with the current. and
thus to leave it behind. But no-the
thing, Whatcveri it was, although its touch
was soft, refused Ia let go. and held them
like a 1etter; and, the more they strug-
glcd, the tighter became its grasp. And
the whole foremost rank of the salmon
1elt it together, for it was a great gill
net a quarter Of mile long, and stretched
sgualcl} across the mouth Of the river.
BY and-by men came in boats and hauled
up the gill net and threw the helpless
salmon into Il pile on the bottom OF the
boat, and the others saw them no more.
ter what be1alls them, and we can tell
the story which the salmon could not.
All this time our salmon is going up
the river escaping one net as by a mira
Gle, and soon having need OF more mira
cles to escape the rest passing 10y Astoria
on a fortunate day, which was Sunday
the day on which no man may fish if he
expects to sell what he catches. till finally
he came to where nets were few, and. at
last to where they ceased altogether
But here he found that scarcely any of
his many companions were with him, for
the nets cease when there are no more
salmon to be caught in them. So he
went on day and night where the water
was deepest, stoppingno DICED or oiter
on the way, till at last he came to a wild
gorge, where the great river became an
angry torrent rushing wildly over a huge
staircase Of rocks. But our hero did not
taltcr, and. summoning all his forces, he
plunged into the Cascades. The current
caught him and dashed him against the
rocks. y whole row OF silvery scales
came Oft and glstened in the water like
sparks of fire, and place on his side be-
came black and red, which, for a salmon,
is the same as being black and blue for
other people His comrades tried to go
up with him: and one lost his eye, one
his tail, and one had his lower jaw push
ed back into his head like the Joints Of a
telescope. Again he tried to surmount
the Cascades, and at last he succeeded,
and an Indian on the rocks above was
waiting to receive him. But the Indian
with his spear was less skillful than he
was wont to be, and our hero escaped,
losing only a part Of one of his fins, and
with him came one other, and hencetorth
these two pursued their journey together
Now Il gradual change took place in
the looks Of our salmon. In the sea he
was plump and round and siIvery, with
delicate teeth, and us handsome and
symmetrical a mouth as any one need
wish to kiss. Now his silVery color dis
appeared, his skin grew Shiny, and the
scales sank into it; his back grew black
and his sides turned red-not healthy
red, but sort of hectic flush. He grew
poor, and his back, formerly as straight
as need be, now developed an unpleasant
hump at the shoulders. Ills eyes-lke
those OF all enthusiasts who lorsake eat
ing and sleeping for some loftier aim
became dark and Sunken. His Symmetri-
cal jaws grew longer and longer, and
meeting each other as the nose OF an old
man meets his chin, each had to turn
aside to let the other pass. And his
beautiful teeth grew longer and longer,
and projected from his mouth, giving
him a savage and wollish appearance,
quite unlike his real disposition. For all
the desires and ambitions of his nature
had become centered into one. We do
not know what this one was, but we know
that 1t was a strong one, for it had led
him on and on, past the nets and horrors
OF Astoria. past the spears OF the Indians,
through the terrible tume of the Dalles,
where the mighty river is compressed be
tween huge rocks into 4 channel narrower
thana village street; on past themeadows
OF lmatlla and the wheat fields of Walla
Walla; on to where the great Snake river
and the Columbia Join; on up the Snake