Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-23
caught on the cushion and

caught on the cushion and
hung out in full view of
the congregation. Well, OF course a
smile went over the audience. The
ladies wondered what the little bits ;of
~high-colored silk and feather wear, but
the mon knew. and smothered their
laughs in their ha~ndkerchiefs. 1 knew
then l was done for, and that Knight as
we'll go on as if nothing had happened;
but l couldn't do much. There hung
that big "Yellow Professor out in
front. l dared not pick it up, as l
knew if l did every one would laugh.
Every time 1 saw it it discomfitted me,
and l was a complete wreck when l
reached the end. The benediction was
a comfort. l slid out of the back door,
and fastened to the house where l was
stopping. could have broken my best
bamboo rod over that son of mine then.
To make me feel worse the sexton came
around in about half an hour with those
miserable flies, saying that he thought
II might want 'em."
The dominic stopped his narrative to
rellght his pipc-a pause that n of the
boys made use of to ask a question.
"Did you receive a call to that church,"
"No," replied the minister, s'and I
don't:think 1 should have accepted it if
| had. No. / heard that an old elder
had said after the service that he didn't
object to a preacher that went fishing
once in a while, but when it came to
fetching bait into the pulpit it was going
too far. The ladies said they didn't
know about that, but the boots were
horrid."
The clergyman then heaved a little
sigh and proceeded to skin the loon. AS
he hacked away with his jack-knife he
pulled over the skin and so worked
down to the head.
''But you haven't told us how your
son beat you on the trout said the
young man who had evinced an interest
in the clergyman's family.
sob, | forgot that" he said. "Wcll,
after the %Presbytery meeting was over
l started toward home, but got of at
the first station below, and was driven
up to the woods. My son was profuse
in his sorrow for what he had done, and
promised never, under any circum-
stances, to use my boots again. l for
gave him, and we determined to have
n good days fishing any way. We
struck the stream at a large, broad pool,
which looked shallow to me. The boy
said he would stop there and fish down
a bit, and suggested that l 90 up in the
wagon a couple of miles and fish down
until l met him on his way back. 1
agreed, and did so. 1t was an awful
journey along the stream, and the sun
had come out warm. Somehow the
trout were not there. 1 could not get a
rise, nor did | see the fish run as [
waded down the stream. AS luck would
have it, l Slipped on a log and fell into
the water. It's awful on a hot day to
get ones shoulders wet, even though
you were wading. Logs were piled up
very frequently among laurel bushes
and brier thickets, and altogether it
was the worst two miles 1 ever tried to
fish. Time passed on as 1 struggled
through the brush, and it was dusk
when got down to the pool and time
to go home. There on the bank stood
my son unjointing his rod, while his
fish creel lay on the ground near by.
''Did you catch any?' he cried out,
rather saucily, and 1 thought I noticed
a smile when l said no.
"Ihen | turned toward his basket. 1t
was filled with as pretty a lot of fish as
one could ask for-nice fellows, weigh
ing from half a pound to a pound and a
quarter. He had not stirred from that
pool, which was a spring hole, and there
all the trout had gathered. He had
seen them in the water when he got out
nf fhn Ivo ~ on1 60 +1,o,,pI,t lo Mould
stop there. Almost every cast he had
hooked a nice fish, and all the time was
in the shade and enjoying a breeze that
blew across the open pool. He said they
had stopped rising when I wanted to
make a few casts; so l had to go home
without a fish and his basket was full.
We did not say much on that ride home.
In fact, he only made remark dur
ing the ride"
"What was that?" was asked.
"Dad, l caught them all on a yellow
Professor replied the clergyman, as
he proceeded to scrape the flesh off the
leg bones of the loon. Then he drew
the SKIN down to the head. Cutting a
square piece out of the skull, he remoy-
ed the brains and filled in the Uranium
with cotton. Having reversed the skin
to its proper shape, he put in some light
tow stutfing, with a good sprinkling of
arsenic to preserve the skin from insects
and to keep it strong, and. after the
feathers had been smoothed down, it
was ready to pack away.
sis your son a ministcr:?n asked the
| young man as the minister finished his
work.
No was the reply. ''He is an edi-
tor. IA Y. Times.
"A man named Hall recently sold
out what he supposed was a w]orked-out
claim, ear Sonora, Tuolumne County,