Evening journal., 1889-08-31


ground. II was a very nice little boat
and the rig was Just lovely. A pair of
oars belonging to cunning slif were in
rowlocks that were certainly not twins
One was brass and too large for the oar
the other was of iron, rusty but useful
That brass row-lock drew forth more
perspiration and swearing than is allow
able before company. Probably the
trouble resulted from our not having
key to the row-lock.
Thus we hoated down the river,
Looking II we might diskiver
Where the floating grasses grow,
And perchance to catch the fishes,
Suitable for dining dishes,
There we let our anchor go.
There is strong current in Elk creek
as the tide recedes; 1t seems as if the tide
takes the current out with it. Our
anchor held, but the other end Of the
vehicle was very nervous and seemed un-
able to retain its position. There was
danger Of the lower end Of the vessel de-
parting from the rest but It kept its
gravity and there was no tragedy.
We fshed. The first fish caught was
an orphan; we could tell this by the
great brown eyes as they heaved with
the beating breast. Thrown on a damp
and pitiless locality with a crest doubt
less, but little family history, it wanted
to raise its position to q higher plane.
1t WAS raised-into the boat. Two near
relatives, neither old enough to vote,
we're caught in rapid succession 1t
looked like day for the youngsters, as
the racing papers say, until
big sunhsh was pulled out Of
the depths into the boat. Luck was with
us and we had good fishing for two
hours
A feature Of the fun was the catching
of an eel A strange kind of bite, long
pull and you have him hooked As you
draw the line up he cuts great swaths in
the water and "kicks" great deal, but
it's no use. Then you drop him in the
boat and try to remove him from the
hook. You put your foot on him
be wriggles from under it. You put
it down harder and he again escapes
Then you try to shake him off the
tangled line. He lovingly twines him
self about your left arm and leaves slime
on your coat sleeve. You get mad and
pick up your stab knife That's the
idea Nick him in the back Of the neck
near the top of the spinal cord He
offers no resistance after that, and eel
worry you no longer.
If there was such thing as a typhoid
fever factory it would find good location
on Elk river half a mile from Elkton.
Foul smelling liquid from Singerly's s
mills fills the stream aud makes the
atmosphere heavy and the water black
No fishing, there We hurried through
this disease breeding patch Of water and
rowed up the creek to the starting point
where we left the boat. not desiring to
take it with u.s. The fish were given to
the veracious boatman in consideration
for his receipt of the aforesaid half a.
dollar
They were talking of ducks and geese
"What is the difference" asked one Of
/ the girls No one knew. One of the
boys ventured that it was in color, but
that was not the opinion Of the others.
/ Then he remarked that ducks are moth
ing but plain ducks, but geese are ducks
in their second growth. Consequently
an old duck is a young gosling
Nothing succeeds like success, so we
we went fishing on Wednesday, and had
company, making party of five. We
had larger boat and two pairs of oars.
/ One pair of oars was nearer the bow than
the other so that two CT four persons
could row. When rowed, the boat
weighed about one and.a half tons;
at other times 1t was not so
heavy. When we arrived at our desti-
nation we found that party of pick
nickers had taken possession of the creek
We were able however to get a slice
large enough to fish in. Four lines were
thrown in the water al the same point so
that we might draw the fish by the con.
cert. We drew them-three dozen in all.
As we sat there in the boat catching
fish and cracking jokes-with crOquet
mallet-the people who owned the creek
observed us with curious eyes, and sen
tences like this hoated into hearing
"Hello-"
Who's that fellow in the blazerw
Catching birdsY'
.'Oh, there's - with those Whining
ton boys. All there
Pull up
Then we weighed anchor. forget the
exact weight and landed to eat lunch.
We not only landed to- eat. but we did
eat after we landed. Several of the pic
nickers went by in boats as we were en-
joying our repast, and many Of them
re-passed. They gazed at us with large,
longing eyes, but that did not affect our
appetites. When we asked an old man
if we could eat our lunch on his point
he replied that he had been sunstruck,
so we did so. Then we got into the vessel
and won't home.
Another day passed and our week was
drawing 20 close We awaited the 9. is
train for Wilmington with sad hearts,
for we had enjoyed ourselves in Elkton.
We bad managed in one short week to
distribute ourselves ratl er generally
over the place aud had many recoIlections