The Evening critic., 1882-06-16
A REED BIRD
OF MArNE-Y IRREGULARITIES.

save Any Tor ts. ana we give Him
Away-A Cosy spot i'm the valley.
MOUNT EDaEcoMBE,
pAxsoN, LoUpoUN COUNTY, VA,
June 10, 1882.
For foutteen.year old you are very old--of
your age-older than am, and am more than
twice as old as you are.
BY your favor OF tho 31st ult.I notice that a
young man of my acquaintance Visited your
office on thatday call in sweat, with beads
standing over every pore" and so "short AMI
sharp" that you took occasion to tell your
friends the whole story. You say ave threat
ened to put n Katorbere Kobblere whats
that y under his nose when he wllted and ex-
cusod himself by saying never was so mad
in my life before, and II you Will believe me,
have cause to be mad, and am mad.'" Had
l been the aforesaid young man should have
told you why was mad, and asked to sec the
what is 1t? Never mind, wen hunt that young
man up and settle when return and Ill TO
| see your pet press throw of sixteen thousand
| per hour, as you have often told me It does. If
II does, Ipay If not, you pay-eh.'
"a Reed Bird
I may say hare seen that young man, and
ascertained the provoking cause OF his mad.
ness to have been an lncallcd for contact with
a Reed bird from the Portland marshes,whlch,
| no doubt, will be put up again to-day to be
| taken in on the fly next September. This Reed
| bird, having strayed from the maternal nest,
|
"House' of Uncle Samuel, at Washington, has
| puffed and blowed and plumcd It's feathers
until It has forgotten Its place Of nativity and
| its Maine.stays. This fall 1t may go nest.hunt-
| hunting, If not "nest-hiding"
There are no Reed birds in this country,
which is now thoroughly reconstructed.
| Again; you say that young mau ''is going
| 10 take his mad out on the black bass of the
shenandoah, fooling them with an artificial
| fly. We always were fond OF black bass"
When 1 read that, my CRITICAL, thought,
"there's chance for Mainoiac to get into the
good graces of THE WASHINGTON CRITIC, and
| Immediately weighed my seven and one
| half ounce rod, purchased offriend Stevens,
and commenced casting fly made of n Reed
BIRDS feathers, across the lawn, until could
place It in a glass of milk, every time. Then
Iput up shut up and held up, for clear water
until last Saturday, when took a son of the
in harness and flies IN book, rod wrapped
up in a copy each of THE CRITIC and Repl6l,-
Gan, and carefully placed In the botto m Of the
law even to "go for black bass now-and
| started for
The Historic Shenandoah,
up through Snickers Gap, where my regiment,
the old Fourteenth Infantry, had a scrimmage
In the summer of 1882, and where n certain
young lieutenant was wounded in the arm
so seriously as to be sent home with 1t in a
sling, to attract the sympathy of numberless
pretty girls. wish you could have been with
me on the top of the mountain to have seer
that view. On the east, the Loudoun Valley,
with its beautiful farms and villages inter
spersed away over to the Catochin and Bull
Kun ranges Oh MOUNTAINS, including Alule,
where was encamped for u week with the
Army Of the Potomac on the way to &c ttys
burg, while "Bob Lee developed himself to
"Fighting Joe." on the west, the picturesque
Shenandoah Valley laid before me for miles
and miles up and down, and to the west
ward could see Berryvllle, but not Winches
ter, on account OF the forests. How did wisi
that the old A. p. had operated IN thu
valley, instead Of in the pine barrens Of vir
ginla.
We arrived at Castleman's Ferry s'very
very early In the morning., and the ferrymar
asked If we did not know 1t was against the
law TO catch black bass now. We answered
eyes! and have not caught n black bass,
and went down into our lunch-basket ant
} hauled up SuD,pfn on his account, when h,
| politely told us where we might catch ''sun
| suckers" and loaned us o boat. He woulC
have gone with us, but the water was still higf
| and the ferry would not run itself, any more
: than your pet press. They don't row or scul
t | boats here; they simply pole them, and with
) sprained arm l simply could not do it, 80
} | soon found myself sans everything but m,
/. Swiss.laundered shirt over IL the river pulln
> that boat up the rapids, with view of gettin
above an old mill down into deep, but swift
. running, water. How looked at that quie
mobile Nirginian as he sat in the boat an
. | saw me
Tug and Pull,
as nearly pulled me several times,and wlshe
my dear wife sat In his place TO speak al
) | encouraging word once In a while. With on
useless arm-useless for all but guiding tn
boat-I could not rise her over the crest of til
fall, and fearing she would rise me, called 70
my young man al In tdry store Snp nfl9thss 70 com
the boat lay like thing Of life in the seething
foaming water, with her Prov Just touching
|. the crest which nearly poured over into tn
l | boat concluded my bath, rearranged mysel
q in one OF Barr's best spring suits, and wa
, satisfied. ran out tfty-six feet Of line fron
the Tip of my Isaac Walton, and cast up Int
4 the smooth but swift-runnlng water above
D My young Virginia friend had dug for worms
and found only few sickly ones, as thin a.
: needles. ] had my small dip-net for minnowa
! but could find no small fish of any kind any
= where. | had turned over big rock an
2 found large, fat snail, which placed on
= hook at the end of my leader, while rs dror
. pers had fly Of white Reed bird feathers an
: a scarlet ibis, AS my line. noated sw,ftl
Strengthened out. let him feed until knew
q he had gulped 1t down, when 1 hooked hin
2 Away He Went Like Mad,
! my Orvis reel clicking sw eet music as the lin
4 spun out; now he turns, and try TO take 1
. slack, which required rapid work; now h
makes for the boat, apparently to take tn
line under and break away. Frank comes
5 the rescue with the pole, and strikes 1t in tn
water, turning him, and away he goes agai
down stream. To make long story short W
l | had hot work for about ten minutes, when Nj
i d. Bass gave up and allowed himself to b
}. ieeled into view, looking up at me and appear
q | ing to say, Now do your - worst"
Frank took him in with the scoop-net, an
3 Beauty @ and % ADMIRED his dark oliye sides. III III
+ spacious white belly and his form generally
4 weighed him and found he was good for thre
l. | pounds four ounces; threw him into my bal
= cam In which his lie was preserved.
& After taking three more, as storm wa
Q coming up and the wind high, reeled in, d
l. lointed my rod and prepared TO 'git." W
;; | knew how we got there, but how TO get ava
l. was the question then. We took IN killocl
n aud before We could say Jack Robinson
d Away Went the Boat like tii
p Dickens,
N and swung around broadside on and nearl
swamped. We seized poles, but before W
could use them our boat was away dow
stream When did get my pole down, II wa
o. run over and out Of my hand in second.
: was only by a quick plunge, which nearly sci
v me overheard, that recovered 1t. Howeve
IL we got down all right and finally landed at til
80 ferry. and told our ferryman that, out OF II
N spect for the law, we were going homo earl
ID and would leave all other "suckers" until tll
t. season came on.
8. NOW, friend CRITIC, you should have had
Is couple OF "them steers" but you were too Il
S, away, and my family and Mr.. Bowman's fami
IS and Mr.. Hibbs' family were too many for yO
and me, and those b. b. made a flrst-cla
supper, and we all appeared 10 have good a
petites. 'Nou know how II is yourself" Ha'
10 | patience, and In time, II you do not come an
le catch your own bass, Will place some larl
vs. and lively ones before you that shall swltC
o. | their tails under yonr nose and splash wat,
of | over your ''copy," "Dearest, believe NO."
ST Toreel up and close up, let me say that v
"a | are kent I'm the hest of sDirits by Mr.. w