The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-07-13
A PICKEREL STORY.
So Wonderful That Those Who Know 1
True Don't Dare Tell 1t.

So Wonderful That Those Who Know It's
True Don't Dare Tell 1t.
Of all the numerous guides and oars
men at Greenwood lake, young Tom
Garrison is one of the most industrious
and the most patient under misfortunes
and adverse circumstances. Tom
never has been lucky for himself. He
has had dad leg" for several years,
and last summer his grandfather died
and left $500 to Toms younger broth
err, locally known as Snapper" since
the jockey of that name became ia
nous.
Tom struggled through last season
with his bad leg encased in six yards
| ofelastic rubber, and did not make much
money because the season was short
and the fishing rather unsatisfactory,
for what reason nobody knows. In
previous years Tom was enabled to
make considerable money by plotting
unsuspecting anglers to little lake on
top of the mountain, inducing them to
tramp there with him by means of the
alluring story that the lake was so full
of bass that another could not be put in
without two being crowded out on
| shore. The crop of strangers was not
large last year, and the story had be-
come too threadbare for the frequent
visitors.
Late last fall Tom and Frank Hazen
went out after rabbits. A single shot
from Hazen's gun glanced from stone
aid put out Toms right eye. This
was the worst luck Tom ever had,
worse even than missing share of his
grandfather's inheritance; but it did
not prevent him being one of the most
skilful oarsmen and anglers at the
lake. He procured a perfect counter
part of his cool ele in glass, and,
while it was a hollow sham for all
practical optical use, it certainly served
the outward purposes of the eye he lost
in the woods, and if it had not been for
the fact that the glass eye was prone to
weep at all times and was constantly
sutfused, Tom would not have minded
it much. 1t was hollow shell of cum
ningly blown and colored glass, and be-
haved well, inasmuch as it stayed
straight in its socket and did not make
him appear ridiculous by. trying to turn
into the corners. Tom, while out fish
ing few weeks ago, took his eye out
to wash it in the lake, and as he was
rubbing it between his thumb and fore
finger it popped out of his hand and
fell in twelve feet of water. Tom
spent two hours looking for it, and was
| finally compelled to sadly turn away
and contemplate the necessity of spend
ing large sum for new eye.
4 day or two later he took Charles
Mockridge, of Soho, out after pickerel,
and they caught l15 fair sized-fsh be-
fore turning the bow of the boat toward
the Lakeside Hotel. When they landed
at the wharf Tom called Mr.. De Graw's
attention to the fact that he had recov-
cred his eye and was wearing it,
How did you get it?" asked De Graw,
and right there Tom became silent.
Since then he has said rather than lose
the respect of his patrons, who have al
ways believed what he said, he would
never tell how he recovered the eye.
Among the fish which he displayed
was the largest pickerel which has been
caught in Greenwood Lake in several
years. 1t was a six-pounder and had
only one eye, the other having evident
ly been eaten out by the deadly 'eye-
pincher'' as the guides call sort Of
water beetle which attacks the eyes of
all fishes in the lake. Mr.. Mockridge
was almost as reticent as Tom, but he
admitted that the recovery of the eye
was so singular that he would not have
believed it if he had not witnessed it.
He finally and reluctantly said-it was
as much as he dared say at the time
that the eye was disgorged in the fish
we'll of the boat by the big pickerel.
Afterward, however, in a moment of
confidence, he told Newark friend
that when the big pickerel was pulled
in it wore in its vacant eye socket the
glass which Garrison dropped over
board day or two before. He now
absolutely refuses to say any thing
about the matter, but he has the dried
head of the pickerel and Tom Garrison
has the glass eye.-Cor. n. Y. Sun.
insecticides should be used before
the damage to fruit is done. 1t is too