The Newtown bee., 1900-02-02
The Old Fisherman.

 more Iater.-[E. D. Barker.
 The Old Fisherman. [osCAR ELY, IN THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLI-
 CAN.
 The way was long, the wind was cold,
 The Min strel was inf1rm and old.
 Sir Walter Scott. A gray old fisherman drove out In early spring to capture trout. The collar ot his we'll worn coat Turned upward to protect his throat; With aching ears and tinsling nose What wonder that his choler roael Though in his mind he doubted whether To blame his zeal, or scold the weather. The sun that morn, just showed his head, Then pulled the curtains round his bed. And left below the midnight chill Enfolding valley, wood and hill; And shallow pools amid the grass Showed spears ot ice like splintered glass. For sign of change the veterans eye Sought vainly in the wintry sky; No rays of sunshine sitting down nlumed the landscape bare and brown. The fisherman in all his ways Showed that he had seen better days Much better days for catching trout, But April first had brought him out In the beginnic g Of the season In spite Of common sense and reason. For from the time he was a boy The rod and line had been his joy. Though he recalled the solemn time. When sport was deemed almost crime, The time when no one dared to shirk The doom ot everlasting work. But, when the magnates of the nation Take tune for rest and relax Atfon, And by the stream, or on the lake, Their boyish recreation take, We gladly meet them face to face, In natures haunts without disgrace. ! AS thus he unused, the veteran shook 1 The reins, and hastened toward his brook He noted well the signs of spring; He heard with oy bluehird sing, And saw the pussy willows blow, So lately banked with winters snow; pair ot robins, newly wed, l Upon their wedding journey sped; And on pond he skirted by
 He saw a floating muskrat lie, l Till, terrified with sudden fears, With sounding splash he disappears. At last the steed has reached the brook, And finds rest in a sheltered nook. And now 8 change comes o'er the sky Dim shadows from the landscape fly, The clouds roll up their curtains gray. The sun sends down 8 cheering ray, And ushers in g brighter day. With bamboo rod, silk line and reel.
 And at his side willow creel,
 And quickened pulses in his veins,
 The veteran halt his youth regains.
 Each hollow bank, and quiet pool,
 Btimming with water. deep and cool,
 Each waterfall dear to his heart,
 Recalls some triumph of his art.
 And while he wanders down the stream, The past returns as in dream, ; And memories thronging through his braii He lives his boYhood OCT again. ' The same old stump. half in the brook,
 Draws underneath his baited hook,
 And quick electric shocks convey
 A message from the struggling prey. Without delay the gleaming prize 5 Upon the bank before him lies. g With what delight the angler views 3 His mottled sides and pearly hues,
 With spots like crimson berr1es seen l Upon 8 bank ot wintergreen.
 ksome fern leaves in the creel are spread Il To make dew besprinkled bed, ,- Where cool and moist at rest may dream q. The lovely naiads Of the s ream. ~ The sun was bright the sky was blues And oft the angler paused to view }. The pictures spring before him spread. Z. The glorious dome above his head, e The woods without leafy screen
 Save here and there an evergreen. IA Thus leisurely, in joyous mood, - The fisherman his course pursued. Is He sends 8 line with questioning hook te For spoI ting news along the brook, And as he loiters here and there
 noble trout rewards his care. :, At length beside the bank appears
 A spring well known through many years.
 Beneath rock little Till
 Gushed from inc bosom of the hill,
 So choked with moss and watercress
 No stranger would it's presence guess.
 Here many time in sunny June H. The angler took his rest at noon,
 Beneath an apple trees that made
 Above his couch a pleasant shape. 1n The weary veteran now confessed he His falling limbs demanded rest. ar- He cleared the spring with fingers cold ,n. And viewed hs image, grim and old.
 An, how unlike the picture tair sss He used to see reflected therei or That little we'll revealed the truth, he And he bemoaned his vanished youth nls And now scarcely need to say - Ets That in an absent-minded way, -aa Thesweteran's trembling fingers stray +;1l To find pocket safe within,
 That holds his flask of medicine,