The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-04-04
BILL ARP,S LETTER.
Arp Discusses Sharks and Girls.
atlanta Constitution.

| IL was aUOuG y y Vlcch auo tuo ulooh
was shining bright upon the dancing
waters, when old man Braem, the old
soldier who followed Colonel Frazer
all through the war, and follows him
still, was heard to cry for help help !
help away down at the long dock
that leads out from the Colonel's home
on the beach. And so they ran-ran
down the bluff and on to the gangway,
one and all, armed with pistols and
guns and thresh poles. But youth
and blood and beauty will tell and so
Miss Phebe Frazer out ran the rest
and with her pistol in hand, got to
the channel just as the old man was
about to give up the contest. He had
hooked large shark and struggled
with him hard and long before he
cried for help, but help came just in
the nick Of time, for Miss Phebe, who
| is a sure shot, fred from the dock as
the malicious beast lifted himself
from the water to make another
plunge for freedom. The shot was
fatal. It struck the fish in vital
part and he sank limp and languid in
the foaming water just as the old man
had tainted upon the floor. They
seized the line from his grasp and
pulled the shark into the shadows and
tied him to the railing. He was dead
and when all hands raised him to
perpendicular he looked to be about
seven feet long and as big and white
as a Christmas hog in killing time.
His back was dove color, but three
fourths of his body was as white and
velvety as bridal glove. Even his
big, yawning mouth was white inside
and outside and his thousand teeth
shone like pearls cut into triangles. l
said thousand teeth, for besides the
front row that line a curve of two and
a half feet. there are four rows more
that lie fat behind them and are only
elevated when needed for crushing it's
animal food and making mince pies for
dinner. These four rows lap on each
other like layers of saw teeth and look
about as venomous.
Aud yet they say that this species
of shark are not man-eaters and will
shy away from a boy in the water:
Miss Phebe is a mighty pretty girl
and deserves medal, and so like
good newspaper man, I modestly ad-
dressed her with pencil and pad in my
hand and said:
"Your name, please p
"Phebe Frazer" she said with
look of surprise.
"Your age, please" said I: She
did not reply, but her look said, ut
is none of your business" Instinct
that is-feminine instinct. A girlish
girl who is yet in her teens begins to
be shy of her age because-because
possibly she may not be wanted until
her age becomes uncertain, and 80 to
| keep it an unknown quantity she be-
gins early. I wonder if woman ever
gets so old that she is willing for her
age to be known. l never heard my
wife tell anybody how old she was,
but IL know. Ten years before we
were married I was twice as old as she
was and now We have just passed our
forty-ffth wedding day. What lad or
lassie can tell our ages ?
But sharks are not all the horrible
things that navigate these waters.
The other day some fishermen har-
pooned a monster that carried the
boat FIVE miles out in the gulf and got
away at last. 1t is a species Of devil
fish that will gulp down keg Of nails
as quick as if it was niger baby
that's what the fishermen say. To-
day I was shown the sting bone of a
large stingaree that was killed yester-
day. 1t was four inches long and was
awful to look at and awfuller to feel of
it's poisonous barbs. When it strikes
you the bone breaks off and if you
don't have it cut out instantly you
will die of lockjaw in fifteen minutes
by the clock-standard time. That's
what a fisherman told me. I saw
young octopus yesterday with its
hooks and grabbers and manacles and
tentacles squirming around like fish
bait and its google eyes and jelly
mouth. I wonder what ali these hor-
rible creatures are made for. Old I'm
Gle Sam says 'the debil made 'em.
The Lord make everything that is
purity and good and He look at it and
say it was all very good, and SO de
Lord He was tired by Saturday night
and went to sleep all day Sunday and
shore enuf de debil cum along Sunday
morning and make up lot Of snakes
and spiders and scorpions and sharks
and debil fish and stingarees and pisen
oak and tread salts and so on and
hides 'em and mixes 'em all up with
| the good things and dats how dey
come here-sho. -
But the world is very lovely any
how, and IN thankful that [ live. |
have been three months in Florida,
and found but three unpleasant days.
I have not heard mosquito, nor felt
a flea in Clearwater, though my wife
says I am little deaf and unfeeling.
The mocking birds sing all the day
and the whipporwills all the night.
My wife has been to the islands sew
eral times and never tires Of picking
up the beautiful shells that line the
gulf side Of the beach. But she has
done more than this. She has been
bathing in the surf. Hush Don't
mention it. Tell it not in Gath.
Publish it not in Ajalon. There was
nobody there but the girls and some
other female women, but the scandal
has leaked out. The maternal ances-
tor has been buffeting with the foam
ing pillows of the deep blue sea. She
has ridden upon the waves and sang
Crooked in the Cradle of the Deep
I was away off on the heel of the is
land. and thought the tide was rising
out of its time, but I understand it
now. 1t was hard work to get her
down here, but she is enjoying every
day, and every night, and I'm afraid
will not go home with me by the 1st
of April. Nevertheless she still brags
on her home in Cartersville.
Well this is indeed a lovely spot.