The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1897-04-15
PROBLEMS.
seh Psefsr Dirty. stagnans

PROBLEMS.
E5ch Prefer Dirty. stagnant
Sister to Clean.
sedke TO have some scien-
Do me, said West Slider
tetigating turn of mind,
tah fish can get into the
dbodies Of water where
stPlutely no channel from
Other pond or river. I
By that nataral lakes,
NJ ~ y ief6e rain, filing ex-
~ 80: aduced small ponds.
Psy, Indiana ,be expected to re-
A 8. s. Hns .nal life, barring
s p''1esls 'G Il they don't. The
AZ ~ vas be studied out on
s $50 syssu - pol put in consider
last Snmer specializing
4ys a contributor to the Chi
west of the old limits, in
HARNESS which lies on the
nd Cicero, are several big
fand two or three which
~ been abandoned. One of
bandoned quarries in partic-
corded me much research and
y 1t has been filled up, part
st the water usually found
ser asdeep excavation is made and
Etly by the rains of Is years, I'M
ne water is at least 20 feet deep.
ERE is almost no vegetation, ex-
Jpting few sparse tufts of grass,
'ound the rocky shores. The white
tones and yellow sand or hardened
lay stretches away on all sides, and
he general aspect of the place is as
horrible and forbidding as the shores
If the Dead sea. The water is almost
black and exhales a sickening odor.
No wonder, for it has been the bury
ng ground for years of all animals
which have died in the neighbor-
hood and the drowning place for in
Vulnerable kittens and puppies.
Here and there the corpse of
some beast can be seen floating on
the surface; along the shores are
many skeletons. 1t is no wonder
that none of the murderers who in
past years have gone to so much
trouble in hiding the bodies of their
victims thought of weighing the
bodies with rocks which lie strewn
so thickly on the shores and
then hurting them into these black
waters. That quarry hole, accord
ing to the people who live near, has
never been dragged for any purpose.
I'm this hideous sink of stagnant
water are live fish and hundreds of
them, The boys of the neighbor-
hood cast their nets for them and
catch them in great quantities.
only trust that they do not eat them.
have at different times caught
many of the fish and found that,
without exception, they have sick
ened and died almost Immediately
when transferred into clean water.
In that hole they live, and in that
liquid putridity they thrive.
These queer inhabitants of the
water are like a catfish in one re.
enthusiastically scaleless and as
shiny as an eel. Yet they have the
form of heavier scaled species of
ish. One kind is of the form and
size of the common 'sunfish' or
pumpkin seed, which boys all over
catch so easily, and is of the same
sllvery color, but, as l have said,
las lost its scales. The other species
is as remarkable freak of nature
as could be imagined. It's body is
comparatively slender, shaped like
that of catfish, and a dull lead in
color. The head is hideously de-
formed, almost like that of minia-
Iure Dog IN shape and is jet black.
Either of those fish will take hook
and, as ] said, neither can
live ten minutes in other water than
the slime of this quarry.
Now, what l want to know is,
Where did those fish come from, and
how did they get into the quarry 2"