The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-05-15

they regarded me as a downright i'm
postor, and believed me to have spread
the report myselfin order to gain an I'M
founded reputation for craftsmanship.
Others disregarded my denial, and evil
IDENTIFY believed that l had captured a
big fish, but from q mean reluctance to
explain how I did it, or some other
nefarions reason, thought properto dis
own my achievement. Both parties
evidently regarded me as a contempti-
BILE sort of fellow; the one set for not
having caught the fish, the other for
having caught it, and not sticking to it
like a man. At last, so sick was I of
being disbelieved. and looked down
upon, or believed and looked down
upon Notwithstanding, that when l met
friend Brown in the city one afternoon,
and he began as usual: az say, old
fellow, what about the big fishp 1 saw
all about It in the papers," I did
not take the trouble to contradict
him, but wearily said: 80 yes, rather
q big thing, wasn't itp" and forthwith
changed the subject to more congenial
matters. We parted, and the same
afternoon l ran against Robinson. "Ah,
JONES' he said: 81 met our friend
Brown this morning, and he was telling
me all about your big fish. You always
were a lucky dog. Such things don't
come in my way" Having allowed
Brown to believe in the legend I could
not very we'll give him the lie, so to
speak, to Robinson, so again a~cquiesced
in a vague kind of way, and changed
the subject as soon as possible, hoping
m hoor nm Nova cf tho n,offar Pint
was disappointed. Within the next two
friends who claimed to have had partic'
lars from either Brown or Robinson,
and, having let the thing go so far 1 had
not the courage to undeceive them. But
Nemesis was beginning to pursue me.
As the poet justly remarks Il forget fol
the moment what poet, or his exact
words, but he must have been a man in
the first rank of the professional
"Ahl what a tangled web we weave
When once we venture to deceived"
Remorse had begun to set in. I be.
gan positively to go round back streets
in order to avoid meeting friends. ]
lived in a morbid dread of the subject
of fish cropping up, as it invariably did
in some shape or other. Even a pain
of soles on the table was enough to de.
stroy all my appetite for dinner. ]
dared not now undeceive Brown and
Robinson, who, having related the
story Con my own authority!) to others,
would naturally think that 1 had inten.
tionally befooled them. Again I me-
Brown, this time in company with 8
stranger, a tall, gentlemanly man, tc
whom he introduced me as 'tMr. Marina
duke h. Jones, the hero of the big
fish" His friend, whom l found to be
Sir Lionel Damer, a noted fisherman,
paid me the usual compliments on my
great catch, and then proceeded to ask
me one or two questions, which would
have been plain sailing enough if 1 mad
really caught the fish, but which, as il
was, I answered in such an incohereni
manner that Brown charitably cut
short the interview, saying that we
must talk over details another time.
have since heard that he apologizec
to Sir Lionel for my being "a little
tight" kindly adding that he never
knew me in that condition be
fore. Never in all my previous
experience had l been in so horrible {
position. For the first time in my life
1 realized what a "cold sweat meant
If anybody suffers from a colder sweat
or more of it, than L did on that occa
sion, l pity him. And the worst of i
was that I might find myself in the
same position again at any moment.
had hitherto attached so little impor.
lance to the matter that I had never
even seen the paragraph which started
the mischief, nor had taken the trouble
to note the name of the papers in
which it had appeared, though the,
had o than once been referred to BY
my congratulations. l was pretty sur,
that the original statement was in tn,
Fishing something or other, but wha
the precise name was, or where it wa
obtainable, I had not the smallest idea
With a feeling as if l was concocting
bank fraud, and might be 'run inn a
any moment, 1 began to make inquire
at news agents and fishing-tackle deal
ers for any paper that answered tn
description. I discovered that Their
was u paper called the Fishing Gazette
and 1 bought the back numbers for
month past and began to study them
At last 1 came on a paragraph as fol
lows:
"a MONSTER PIKE:-We learn from a col
respondent that on the 24th ult. Mr.. Marine
| duke H. Jones, solicitor, while spinning TO
pike at the Upper Weir, Tenbury, was fol-
er, which, after a ~three-quarters of an hou
! struggle, he succeeded in landing"
This was so far satisfactory, though
had an uneasy consciousness tina
somebody in my presence had men
toned Sunbury, and somebody els
Newbury, as the scene of my exploit
and that / had not contradicted them
However, my moral sense was by thi
time so far perverted that (now 1 knew
Tenbury was the spot) 1 was fully pre-
pared to maintain that 1 had Away
said Tenbury. One expression puzzle,
me. What on earth was spinning il
connection with pike? 1t unfortunatel
happens that if there is one subjec
about which I know less than an
other il is angling. My experiences a
a fisherman are limited to the fact tina
when I was a boy of eleven, or there
abouts, I spent all my available poke
money observation-disclosures, l think
was) in a brand-new rod and line.
used it perseveringly for about a week
but not having caught anything (e1
cept colds) l felt that it was locking u
capital to no purpose, and Il ccordingl
snapped il away to another boy fo
eighteen pence and a dead squire
What use / intended to make of tn
squirrel l don't remember, but 1 kno,
that was the price.
The above having been my first an
only experience in the fishing line On
joke is intended, the subject is far to
painful to be treated with levity), it wi
be readily understood that my know
edge of the art was, to say the leas
elementary. However, one point wa
now clear. I had caught my monste
fish by spinning (whatever that migt
mean), and spinning L must stick tt
The mystery as to how the paragrap
appeared in the paper was still III
solved. 1 referred to the claw List,
but could not find any Marmaduke f
Jones, solicitor. 1t was just barrel
possible that there might be a countr
practitioner of that. name, country 81