Mexico Missouri message., 1900-07-19

backs, and they were the most
suspicious things along the line of
the brook. They would not wait
for the boys to get near enough to
hit them with a long pole, and
neither would they give them an
opportunity to knock them off the
logs with rocks. They usually slid
clumsily into the water at the least
alarm aud stayed there until the
coast was clear.
But the chief JOY and wonder of
the brook were the different fishes
that made their home there. The
sunfish, bold, fierce and roaming
about after food. The "silver-
Sides" not mentioned in any histo-
ny of fishes, are very numerous in
that particular brook. And there
were rumors and old tales also of
"goggle-eyes," Il most voracious
and dangerous fish, as inhabiting
the waters of theibrook. But that
was where the brook widened and
deepened, toward the middle of the
big woods. But the boy and his
cousin had lately found wild ex-
citement in fishing for these deni-
Zens of the brook, and every day
they could be found bobbing pa
ticntly at the bridges across the
stream or from its banks. How
they ever learned the art of ang-
ling neither of them could have
told. 1t seemed to have been in
stinctive, as II young hawk will
reach for bird or as Il kitten cat
ches at mouse. A predatory,
cruel instinct, maybe, Il relic of
those dead ages when man roamed
a savage, and found his living
with the stone spearhead or the
bone ishhook. At any rate, they
had found out how to fish and
where fishworms were to he found;
with bent pins for hooks and with
Il can of red fishworms they walked
eagerly to the brook and angled
diligently for the finny rovers a
mong the pools and hollows there.
Their poles were branches cut
from willows that grew near the
pasture bars, and their lines were
strong linen thread, captured from
the home spools. Their hooks
were pins, bent to proper angle,
and for corks they had the stop
pers of various medicine bottles,
which they had distracted from a
top shelf in II set of shelves from
gramma's" room. Their initial
trip was something to remember
when everything else in life might
fade away. The first nibble was a
thrill of expectancy that set their
hearts beating madly. The first
bite was a delirium. And the first
fish, Topping and tumbling in the
grass, its shining, green colors
showing, its fins stretching in vain
efforts to get back to the brook
well, that cannot be described.
Most of the fish they caught the
first time were sunlish. The next
day they moved to "the sheep
hole" deep pool where the hired
hands washed the sheep in sum-
mer, and there they caught some
silversides," three times as large
as the sunfish, some of which were
so big and strong that they straight
cned the bent pins out and gal
lantly escaped the snare. But
once some monstrous fish, posi-
bly, fierce 'goggle-eye," took
worm, pin hook and a yard of lin
EN- thread ut one fell swOop, and
set them TO shivering in apprehen-
sion. They were not certain but
that he might climb out on the
bank after them, n fish of that
kind.
The swallows dipped and touch
ed the water as they passed, the
glistening drops dripping from
their glossy breasts as they mount
ed higher. Great red and yellow
butterflies lowered above the mead
ows, and the sun fell strong and
bright on the velvety grasses.
Crawfsh darted backward over
the hard clay bottom of the brook,
and II wild canary balanced on a
weed stalk like n tipht-rOpc per-