The Portland daily press., 1895-06-22

| years VI age, duu U6CduSe FeduerS OF the
PRESS will be interested and glad to
know that his old age is green old age,
and that he can still enjoy the outdoor
delights of life just as much as younger
men. He said with merry twinkle in
his eye: ooh, if 1 could only have a
bottom strike (as he calls it when the
hook catches on the bottom) that would
be something. want that sensation of
a strike, if only for second. 1t is ex-
quisite. -
| But the sensation was denied him for
that day, even of a bottom strike" and
after had frantically and delightedly
hooked two fish, only to find flat fish
and sinner after a moments Keeling,
though he expressed great contempt at
hooking anything but salmon, it is
dollars to doughnuts that he would
have reeled in horn pout with inward
satisfaction.
The true angler, while finding his high
est pleasure in the noblest of fish and
most skillful of methods, is as patient as
he is adroit and does not wholly scorn
any one of the fascinating finny tribe.
The Governor is no stranger at Lake
Webb. Few, if any, living men have
fished there for longer period of time.
He has been visitor to Lake Webb al
most annually for 80 years. He was born
in Franklin county, and his father was
sheriff there 70 years ago. 1t was in the
days when no man thought of paying
bill until he was sued for it. AS a little
boy he used to accompany his father
of which he was always carrying about
the county. 1t was thus that he first
visited Lake Webb over 70 years ago.
"Look at the abandoned farms,' he
said to me. pointing to the light green
clearings in the dark forests on the slopes
of the mountains all about us. "It took
courage to go up on those mountains
and clear away the forests" he added.
"But they made pretty good living
The soil was new and strong then and
they raised big crops. But now it is all
worn out
There were scores of these clearings
now used mostly for pasturage The Gov
OllOl POiAUOo OuU OlO III aUl6
highest up of all, on a spur of old Tumble
Down mountain. GA man named Dol
ley cleared that over 60 years ago, he
said. "And he raised great crops of
wheat there, and afterwards great crops
of grass seed, and made money. But now
the competition of the West has stopped
all that
The view from the middle of the lake
suggests the great cycl ramas that have
been made by men, such as the battle of
Gettysburg But it has the immense ad-
vantage that everything is real. The
sides of the enclosing mountains are ma
lures canvas, and the forests and clear
| ings are grand and beautiful spectacle
But as one thinks of the human labor
| and sacrifice that helped to paint this
mighty picture and the former happy
homes on those abandoned farms, now
gone forever, there is something very
melancholy about it.
The Governor stopped for week at the
lake this spring, waiting for the ice to go
out, and on that very day or the next
| after, the Both of April, he was out on
the lake with his rod. He caught some
big strings of fish at that time. This is
his second visit this season, and probably
at Pine Point camps and laid out one
night after a bear with several others.
The bear did not show up, but if it had
| the Governors bullet would have surely
| been in evidence. For he is and always
has been hunter as well as an angler.
He has used all the rifles from the old
flint lock to the modern repeater, and he
decidedly prefers the latter He related
two anecdotes that show good reason
for it, When a small boy he used to
hunt with flint lock rifle One day
he happened to get fine shot at fox at
close range The flint lock failed in it's
duty and the fox escaped He felt as
badly about that then as he did many
years AFTER when he lost moose under
similar circumstances He was at Cup
suptic Lake back in the fifties The
guide was rough old fellow, and as they
approached the place where they were to
call the moose to the water he told his
COIupdulU WIFI ludIly O1bllS uOb W speak
or move or he'd throw him overheard
They glided along without a sound.
The moose came down, and Mr.. Marble
pulled the trigger of the muzzle-loading
| rife. The cap flashed, and that was all
He put on another. That only flashed.
He seized the other gun, and the cap on
that simply flashed. The guns would
not go off, but the moose finally con-
cluded to do So
Then Mr.. Marble was very angry with
the rough old guide who had sworn at
him and threatened him and brought him
to moose only to provide him with guns
improperly loaded. He unbranded the
guide for his carelessness in not filling
| the tubes with powder and tainted him
with being incapable and useless as a
guide. Finally the guide got mad also
and swore that he wouldn't have hit the
moose had the gun exploded.
When they got back Mr.. Marble told
the guide that he'd show him whether
h<pI L LII an or