The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1893-06-15
4 GOOD FISH STORY.

49,
wke Z. es.. IS n,sl.,rs LIT. Is Il.
: Good .Ghoss ssosfy. Ioo.
= lew years ago. 2 aid tho old gen-
tleman. = was a-cutting and piling
driftwood on the lake shore, when :
party fom the village clne down to
flsh through the Ice. It was 3 cold. raw
day. They told me that II I'd let them
use my fishing shanty and they had
any luck they would give me some 6sh.
Well, at it they went. Just Is was
s-picking up ct night to 60 home, they
fetched me . pickerel that would
a-pulled down six pounds good and
strong. I brought him home and put
him up in the crotch of that apple tree
over there. Then done my chores. eat
my supper, got the pickerel aud thought
I'd clean him; but he was froze hard as
q brick, SO I run q string through his
gills and hung him up back Of the stove
to thaw out. u
I'D got 9 good grip on the sleep that
night, and was a-plowing ahead on the
gallop, when my wife woke me up and
said there was some one at the door. i
listened bit md heard noise Jest like
some Teller was a-knocking on the door
with mittens on his hand. I were q
bit vexed; slid out of bed, pulled on my
pants and boots, but did not strike
light, grabbed q big cane which stood
at the head of my bed, hurried to the
door, opened itand jumped out ready
to knock the stuftin' out of anything.
But, my dear sir, there weren't any
thing there to knock. I run round the
house; not q living critter could see;
nor even any tracks in the snow.
ITO bed went ag' in, and was just
dropping of, when the old woman, she
nudged me hard and whispered, Hear
that! jest listen; there it goes ag'inv
II sat up in bed, and jest as plain as
day could hear q dull sort of a thump!
thump! I begun to feel agerish like;
mought have trembled bit; then
hollered, Who's !there?' No answer. &,
II kinder shivered for bout half q
minute, when there was the darndest
racket out in the kitchen you ever
heard; sounded as if some one was a.
kicken' tin pan all around the room;
and my dog, he came a-yelpin' and
howlin' into the bedroom and crawled
clear under the bed, where he kept
up a-whinin' and a-yelpin'. My wife
screamed and crawled down under tho
bed clothes. l had not only the ager,
but the chills-sweating chills good and
strong. I was ratified, badly ratified;
jest had sense enough left to crawl out
of bed, grab my gun, which was loaded,
and creep carefully to the kitchen
door. There was certainly some fellow
out there barefooted, and he was having
. hull dancing school all to hisself. 1
located him as near as could in the
dark, then, without making any noise,
brought my gun to my shoulder and
let her 60.
'The flash of the gun was just long
enough to let me see what the trouble
was went back, lit candle and
then went to the kitchen. There, right
in the middle of the floor was that are
cussed piclxerel having the liveliest
kind of circus all by hisself. He was
a-cutting up in great shape with his
f1ipity-hop, hipity-hop, jest as lively as
if he had jest been pulled out of the
water. With stick of firewood l busted
that are show quicker you could say
shoe.
''You see, I hung him up in good,
warm place to thaw out directly over
the old woman's dishpan, right under
the pan being good, warm, out-of-the
way place the dog used to sleep. AS
that internal pickerel began to thaw
out his old cussedness crept back into
him. Between the flappings of his tail
and the workings of his jaws he broke
the string, then dropped onto the dish,
and both fell onto the dog" Forest
and Stream.