The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1892-01-15

long felt want. The people have for To-
these many days been ON the ragged edge
awaiting the advent OF something. that would
crowd Ward and Parkill oil the front seat
Ihe suspense is now over. This story
| sweeps the deck. Yet, good as Ii Is, have
| one objection even to this | object to the
title. 1t ismisleading. The constitution of
the state proyides that mo law shall en-
brace more than one object which shall be
expressed in its title" My objection then
Is. the story is unconstitutional. But so
good a thing should not be lost when il can
he so easily saved. Amend the title. Let
the title read. "a big fish story. with small
bear IN the under-tOw." And yet, on second
thought, itmay be better not to mention the
bear at all. Better be accurate than funny.
Since A. B. g. has fixed the date So pre-
cisely. some OF tho old settlers, of Bennng-
ton may remember that Isaac Gale about
that time lest big black Berkshire pig, OF
the intense male persuasion. and all the
trace he coald ever get of the stray pig was
he found tracks leading dOwn steep bluff
10 the banks OF the ShiawRssee near where
small maple tree spanned the stream. and
few bulbheads and dimnutve sinners lay
rOtting in the sun. From this he concluded
hat his pig, In search of food, had ventured
loo near the raging river and had fallen i'm.
Again, some OF the old people of COrunna,
who do not remember the pet ear of the
grist mill, may recall the cir umstance that
the miller's assistant supplied the city with
pork sausage for q month in the spring of
lS4S. so on the whole perhaps the title
better read just this and nothing more: "A
fish story with an undertow." With this
caption the story is hard to beat. Some of
the more conservative readers, may be.
would rather the bear had caught the boy
on the bluff, shook the stuffing ont of him.
and closed the story with an inquest. But
the pleasure of conservative readers cannot
be consulted. The truth of history must be.
vitadicated.
The story itself is also very suggestive.
| remember In Olden times project was
agitated to dredge the Shawassee river from
the Saginaws up so as to allow shipping
from the lakes to make landing ut Owosso.
And it was then Thought that if a steamer
| could reach OwoSsO it could make @ run
around TO Knagg's bridge without much
| trouble. But at Knagg's bridge. trouble
commenced. Here and for four miles up
| the stream the pickerel were so large and so
numerous that they literally blocked the
stream from bank to bank, and it was con-
| sldered impracticabIe to attempt to run a
steamer through this living, compact mass,
| especially Ii the boat drew over fourteen
feet of water. Here was dilemma. How
to overcome this fish nuisance was the gues-
ton of the hour. But the projectors of tn S
inland, deep water navigation scheme were
not TO be bafiled. The Shawassee was q
navigable waterway and they knew it. So
one fine day in August they sent a survey
ing party over to Knagg's bridge TO investi-
gate. What was the result? will tell you.
| They found Knagg's bridge easily enough
but could not find the river. They wander
ed around among the tag-aiders for half a
day but there was not water enough in two
miles TO water their mules. How about the
| fish? Oh that's easy. After the pickcrel
had drank the river dry they landed and
turned that whole country upside down,
roofing for angle'worms. But the rootcrs
soon became dOmesticated, united readily
with the early settlers in their pass-times,
and SOON became important factors III.
society. And today it is the pride of many
of the prominent citizens of that section of
Shiawassce county that they can trace the
gencalogy (of their pelghbors) back to the
| piCkerel. lvANuo.
ELSIE, Jan. Z, 1892.