The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-02
WEAKNESS OF THE TROUT.
DISCOpERY or AN Angler ~ FRI
MEYiL TISCOSSIS WOODS.

CHICAGO. June 3O-There are yet some
plnces where the heavy foot OF man has not
hammered path upon the earth's tender
lace where natures green things grow in un-
disturbed luxuriance. Across the Rlades. in
Iunlight and moonlight and black dark. the
beasts OF the woods drift az silently as shad-
pws. and the winds which move slowly among
lhe branches bear not a faint OF mans making
Deep in the soil rest tho yet unrotted roots OF
the primeva forest. The berries turn from
green to rod and then to purple ungathercd
save by The birds. and the fruits OF the waste
places drop to the ground unpluckcd. Thick
grasses grow whore the sun falls. but for
the most part the earth is covered only by tiny
struggling blades. which win their way up
ward through the mold OF drfted leaves.
Stretching away in ali directions between the
Eiant boles are dim alsle5. rooted by curvinR
limbs. and no stranger over saw them without
being carried back in memory to some vast
and family ncensed cathedral. from whose far
Ind the organ pealed solemny. SO thckly
stand the trees. and SO interlaced are their
Ientacles. that the sun reaches the ground
pnly in patches OF yellow brightness. 1t
would seem n checkerboard done in black
md gold but for the fact that as the breeze
Itirs the limbs the bright squares shift
oddly to aud fro. Near to the ground
On the northern side OF these great trees grow
smooth green tufts Of moss and from the
southern sides OF them, bound in rougher and
thicker bark. spring the largest limbs. These
Jotuns Of the woods stood in full height and
strength when the fighting Five Nations came
from the east to harry the fish eaters. and they
itand to-day as guides to the lonely hunter
who makes his way between them on the sharp.
deeply imprinted hootmarks o, the deer They
are OF elm and beech and oak and pine.
but the stoutest ot them all is the black
hickory, which rises columnar and has in its
heart the strength and sprinGness OF Toledo
steel From the black hickory. when it is
brought to the uses Of man. come wagon
spokes and tongues and shafts for golf clubs
and all wooden things that are to be subjected
to heavy. continuous and varied strains. No
man has yet had the interior Of his house fin
shed in black hickory. polished but unstained.
because no man has yet been wise enough.
These woods still unscarred by the axe. into
whose shadows man comes but sell
dom, are thrilling now to the voices
of thousand birds returned from
their outing in the South Far from the
depths of some brake comes the wild and
musical liquidity OF the hermit thrush The
flute like note of the vecry thrush. a dweller in
deep forests answers 1t. The Gurglng bubble
OF the golden crowned wren. the finer song Of
its ruby-crowned cousin. the babel of catbirds.
hackhirds robins. starlngs. Grossbeaks. tana
gers and vireos rings truly In the far north
ern woods as in the meadowands OF tho South
when all this region is locked in the grip OF ice.
1t would seem that to the woods and glades OF
northern Wisconsin almost every variety OF our
tree-breeders comes in May and June.
Sung to by the birds. chartered at by the
squirrels. mirroring the forms OF deer. wolves.
foxes. wolverines. badgers. always singing or
murmuring itself. goes a broad and deep creek
on its journey to the blue lake twenty miles
icf fort r5a wi harn and thara
and in the East would be called river. In tho
West. where everything "bulks big" it is
sometimes beltted as a branch" When it
rattles over stony shadows it is not moro than
two feet in depth On certain fiat and rocky
lodges this depth is reduced even TO six inches.
and then it looks ike broad sheet OF crystal
moving SO smoothly and evenly that it cnn-
not be seen to move at all. For the
most part. however. its surface runs Ave
feet above its bottom. aud every mile or SO it
plunges into a circular pool. sometimes sixty
feet across and Of depth unknown. These
pools come always below q swift decline.
and have been worn by the action OF the water
through countless centuries. They seem blue
in the half light that Sits through the trees.
They are smooth to the eye and apparently
currentless. but on them swim round and
round leaves and little bits OF wood and
drowned insects until they reach the lower
euHt III lHo ClT'lc anu arc pOIHe away upOu
the hurrying ripples. Although it Is semi
dark above. the wonderful clearness OF the
water Is shown by the fact that a
spoon dropped down may be seen family glim-
mering twenty feet below the angler. 1t is
very silent about them. save for steady hum
OF tiny life and the voices OF tho birds. so that
the leap and splash OF a trout may be heard n
hundred yards away. They are rock ribbed
always. with precipltous banks; they are. in
4
OF many OF them are clear OF underbrush and
the limbs OF the great trees do not often hang
so low that cast will be baked In these
pools are the homes OF the old men OF the red
spotted tribe. The younger members OF that
famous family live in the racing creek proper.
or hang abou below the shallow falls. waiting
for such things as Providence may send them
There are brook trout. yes. in other parts OF
America. but they are not the brook trout OF
the northern Wisconsin pools. Each of these
streams makes into Lake Superior. and the
waters Of Superior are 80 cold that no man may
battle in them even in August. Yet the tenn
perature Of the abysmal wood pools is ten de-
grecs below the temperature OF the lake. and
the captured fish fought UP from the depths
feels to the hand as a bar of ice would feel.
Fishermen who fish as they should fish know
that OF all fish the brook trout is wiSest Per-
haps pound for pound he has less muscle and
less lung and heart capacity than the GUIANA
niche, bat he has not less courage. and az for
his brain. il is big brain. On the Saguenay
when the foam is lying in haIf.acre patches
above Isle Maligne and each patch is filled
with flies. anybody can catch the ounaniche.
He simply goes on hour after hour striking in
q frenzy OF appetite Seized by the tail and
rudely shaken when he has been brought into
the boat. half pint OF flies will spill ont OF
him But the brook trout is not n glutton. He
eats dantily and only such things as are to
his liking He will not throw himself into a
half circle and Immediately shoot back to the
surface when no has missed a strike. He goes
down oven more deeply and lies sullenly think
ing. his fms moving slowly to and fro and his
broad tail as straight as an iron bar. Perhaps
no will remain SO for five minutes while the
broken rays OF light dance down to him through
the surface. or perhaps lie willlremain SO for all
az the day There is never any telling 1t de-
ponds upon how he is feeling and upon the sci
ence of the man who wants him. II he has