Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-30
Household Eurn,,ure Er,ots For Sale
PREACHER AND SNAKES.
Remark able Adventure of a Missouri
CIeryYman Who Went A-Eishing.

Clergyman Who Went a-Fishing.
81 want to tell you good story on
Rev. j. Wesley Johnson,' remarked a
friend of that gentleman to reporter
OF the Joplin (Mo.) News. ''You won't
tell who told you, will you?"
Nope"
well, you know Johnson enjoys
fishing about as well as the next one,
and is quite successful, too; and he
of the sport pretty thoroughly, but he
learned something the last time he was
out. IL was one day last week he gath
cred his poles, and having secured Il
fine lot of live bait, went to the lakes
southeast of town to put in the day. He
arrived safely and had excellent luck at
the start. Big fat perch and gamey
bass nabbed ut his bait as soon as his
line touched the water, and he soon had
a fine string. After awhile, not wish
ing to bestow all his patronage on one
place. he went to another, leaving his
sUring OF fish in the water tied to IL root.
"At the new place he caught another
nice string, and leaving them where he
had caught them, again changed his
base of operations.
'.,At the third place he had the same
excellent luck and soon had the third
string of fine fish. Finally he concluded
he had better get the result of his
catch all together. thinking he had
about all he could carry TO the train
station. So he started to the place
where his first string was, and there he
beheld sight that would have struck
terror to the heart of some men, for
they would have thought they "had
'em'' sure. There in the edge of the
water where he had left his fish the as
tonished dominic saw writhing,
seething mass of snakes. He gathered
q pole and beat the reptiles off, and
found that they had eaten his fish to
the gills. He then fastened to where
his second string was, and found more
snakes there than at the other place,
and they were having great feast on
his fish. Then that preacher was as
mad as preacher can well get, and the
way he used his pole on that pile OF
hungry reptiles was caution. He had
been thinking all day how agreeably he
was going to surprise his friends by
sending them nice mess of fish OF his
catching, and then to have them eaten
up by lot OF nasty suakes! He started
back to where he had left his last string,
declaring to himself that he would
take that string OF fish and his lines
and leave, and never again fish In that
neighborhood, which was so alive with
the varmipts which had been a plague
to the world and companion of the
evil one ever since the time of Adam.
1.-THE clerical gentleman's feelings
can better be imagined than described
when on arriving at his last fishing
place he found his last remaining lot OF
fish surrounded by more snakes than he
had ever seen In one place before. AS
he began winding up his lines prepara-
tory to his departure he set tothinking
seriously. Perhaps this was plague
sent upon him by divine direction for
something he had done which had dis
pleased the ruler of all; such things
were done in oiden times,why not nowp
AS he was revolving these thoughts in
his mind some boys-natives OF the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, and he ad-
dressed them: Boys, do you ever fish
hereY
"'Yep.'
"'Do the snakes ever bother your
fish?'
"'Nope.'
"'Why; l had three strings in differ
ent places and the snakes ate them
ALL
"'H-e-l-l; course snakes'll eat 'em II
We leave 'em in the water this time O.
year. Yotter know that much"
The preacher returned sadder but
wiser man.