The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1898-09-17
UNDOING OF THE TOMCOD.
An AminbIe Trait That Frequently
Lands the Fish, Especially
Along the Thames.

"The ~toothsome little tomcod is the
most confiding and credulous of fishes"
SAID a Connecticut man, land a good
many cores of my compatriots, espe-
cially along the Thames river, habitu-
ally take advantage of its trustful-
ness and jig it from its chilly but con-
genial home by the bushel. Never
jigged for tomcods? Then it is plain
! that you are so unfortunate as never
to have lived in Connecticut, anyway
never in any of those parts of that
incompatible state where tomcods are
jigged. Not to jig for tomcods over
there, especially along the Thames
river, is to be eccentric.
Like all fish, the tomcod has habits.
Unlike many fish, lone of the tomcod's
habits is bad. Yet the most innocent
and touching of them leads the tom
cod TO its undoing overin Connecticut.
It might better be a vicious, thieving,
rollicking dogfish, the tomcod might,
ten times over, than its w highly
! reputable and innocent self. 1t would
live many times as long and have a
heap more fun. 1t is a good thing that
virtue is its own reward. That is about
all the recompense it ever gets, even
in Connecticut.
The fatal habit of the tomcod is to
be caressing. If you never noticed
this popularity in the tomcod, make a
point of doing it the very first chance
you get. A good place to detect it is
on the end of some pier that extends
into the water it frequents. You will
see tomcods come up in schools around
the supporting piles of the pier and
rub themselves insinuatingly against
them, passing all around them, always
touching them, turning first this side
and then that side to the pile, then
rubbing their noses against it, and
fondling it in many ways, as a pet cat
rugs against your leg.
"But piers are not the only object OF
the tomcod's fondness. 1t caresses all
sorts of jetsam, and even ventures to
the surface and pays fondling adj
dresses to cold and unconscious flot-
SAM. 1t puts its trust in everything.
It's credulity is boundless; it's conf
dence, sublime. And the jigger plays
it for all it is worth.
people in Connecticut are very OBJ
servant folk, especially along the
Thames river. One day long ago one
of my fellow citizens sat on the bank
of the Thames river. He had in his
hand a small oak Dough, on which
were thick clusters of leaves. Without
any object whatever, he finally tossed
the bough into the stream. 1t fell near
the shore, and the leaf clusters sank a
foot or so beneath the surface. Pres
emily tomcods came swimming up to
the leaves, which the waite was agi-
tating.
Scores of them surrounded the oak
leaves, swan in a fondling way in
among them and about them, mani
testing much the same delight that q
cat does as it rolls and wriggles in a
bunch of catnip. This strange affinity
between the tomcods and the oak
leaves gave my fellow citizen an idea.
He went home and tied some sharp
hooks to the end of a stick. Then he
returned to the river, and, manipulate
ing the oak leaves beneath the water
within reach. he lifted the infatuated
tomcods out with the hooks on the end
Of the stick until the shore vas strewn
thick with the fish and he was surfeited
with the sport.
$50 long as he kept the bunch of oak
leaves in the water the tomcods
swarmed about it, unmindful of the
play of the destructive gaff among
them. Now and then my fellow citi-
Zen would remove the oak bough from
the water and then the tomcods would
instantly disappear. The oak leaves
being put back again into the water,
back came the tomcods, and were ap-
parently aware Of no other presence,
OF course this interesting discovery
in piscatorial psychology, so to speak.
soon absorbed attention in those parts.
and eXperimenters lined the banks OF
the Thames river daily. These ex.
periments became known as jigging
and tomcod juggling became a popular
recreation in Connecticut, and is yet
"An expert with a bunch of oak
leaves and a jig can fill a wagon with
tomcOds in an hour if he wants to, and
if every tomcod hat swims was In a
school around one bunch of leaves and
the jigger at that bunch could stay
AMI jig long enough, he could make the
race of tOmcods extinct, for every tom.
cod would come right up to that bunch
of leaves as soon as it could and b.
everlasting!y jigged."-N. Y. Sun.
How n Witness Took the Oath.
One of the noticeable features TO
II who has visited the courts of law
is the manner in which different wit
nesses take the oath that they will tell
"the truth, the whole truth, and moth
ing but the truth" in the case involved
Almost as striking is the used
by the clerks in administering the
oath, with various degrees of sincerity
clerk, who is a church member.
binds the witness with a high degree OF
seriousness. while the less Sniritual