The Winslow mail., 1900-02-08
"KAH-PEE-KOG" CLUB.
BY WRIGHT A. PATTERSON.

~ Smith, as the members OF tne Nan
nee-kog club gathered around the evening
FIRE. Chat this is to be our last evening to-
getber in these woods for at least year!
To.morrow our vacation in the Muskoka lake
district ends, and by tomorrow evening, II
nothing unlocked for happens, we will have
nailed up the door of the clubhouse, reeled
in onr lines for the last time this year, stored
our boats, and the night train on the Grand
Trunk will be carrying US swiftly back to
the states and to our various vocatlons.
"Without going into particulars, or men
tioninv names. it has seemed to me that this
would be an excellent time to confess our
nrevarications so that we may quit this beau
tiful spot with clear conscience. L would
suggest"
"To what do you refer, Brother Smith?''
asked the Pastor.
mro put it in plain English" said Smith,
sT think we have all lied more or less, and
that now would be good time to tell the
truth"
"I presume that you realize that there
are exceptions to that statement of. all.
Brother Smith, said the Pastor. "Now,
L"
"I made no exceptions, and intended
none" said Smith GAS for myself, am here
to state now that | have lied; lied as big
as | knew how and still make it lie that
might believed, and l guess you fellows
swallowed it without much question"
81 have not believed a single thing you
have said about fish since you have been
here" said the Pastor.
"Nor l." echoed the others.
"The biggest lie that | have told since l
4l,o4 oh &ha
number of bass Yorker and l caught in
Healey lake. We were trying to outdo the
Pastor and did so far as the lie was con-
cerned, and if he did not believe our story,
it was because his own was not true. What
We"
"I shall have to refer this matter to the
congregation when we reach home, Brother
Smith," put in the Pastor
81 would advise you not to-" replied
Smith, "but as 1 was going to say, what
we did catch that day was all IN the boat
when we returned, and, as several members
of this club counted them, it will not be dis
puted when l say there were l3S bass OF
over the legal length
"It was only 12S, for | counted them to-
gether with Husky Bill, - said Tice.
"What is the matter of ten bass more or
less, anyway" replied Smith. But there,
gentlemen, in my confession, l3S bass In
stead of the five or six hundred that | told
about, and believe that every one will feel
better if they follow my example"
"I believe that the advice Smith gives us
is good" said Yorker, 'and | realize now as
I never did before the enormity of the lie
told in reference to the muskellunge [ caught
in Crane lake"
"You don't need to make any confession
of that" said the Pastor, 'for everybody
knew that it was a lie when you told it"
"It seems to me that I remember distinct
ly of your going to Crane lake to fish for
muskellunge on the strength of that story"
replied Yorker, "and it was not as bad as
your Crown island bass story at that"
MY veracity is not in question at the
present time," replied the Pastor
"No, we will hear from you later" said
Yorker, provided, of course, your con-
science is not too elastic. But to return to
my Crane lake story, I simply wish to say
that [ did catch muskellunge, and that it
did upset our boat, but that was due to our
awkwardness, rather than the size of the
fish, for when we got it on shore, which we
finally did, it only weighed AZ pounds"
"You told me the truth of that Crane
lake story the day we were at Healy lake
together" said Smith, 'and you said it only
weighed 81 pounds"
"What is a matter of five pounds more or
less in the size of muskellunge?" said York
er, and Bill Reeves nudged Husky Bill when
Smith did not reply.
II have told so many different tales re-
garding the size and weight of fish that ]
have caught in these Ontario lakes and
rivers" said Tice, "that [ hardly know
where to begin my confession"
"Why not straighten out the Moon river
story of 38 muskellunge, 79 bass and l20
trout in ten hours?" asked Husky Bill.
"That might be good place to begin at,
as that story was exaggerated somewhat.
The truth is that / only caught 50 muskel-
lunge, 60 bass and no trout at all, for |
did not fish for them. There are any num-
Der of trout in that stream and its trlbu-
taries, however and | do not doubt that 1t
would be quite possible for man to catch
as many fish as l said l had caught in the
Moon river in the length of time | claimed
to have fshed. In reality [ only fshed nine
hours and three-quarters. AS for the other
stories | have told about fishing in Kah-
pee-Kog and the surrounding lakes, can
cover all of them with the single statement
in any one day in any of these lakes, but
that, imagine, is better than any of the
rest of you ever did, if the whole truth was
known"
Gentlemen" began the Pastor, "when
Brother Smith started this little experience
meeting, | did not realize the good that it
was to accomplish. In fact, [ was afraid it
would result in more harm than good, and
that the prevarications-I cannot bring my
self to the point of calling them ies--that
have been told by several of you around these
evening fires would only be again exag
gerated, and that some of you at least would
return to your homes with an added weight
upon your conscience. 1t has pleased me
greatly to listen to such confessions as have
been made this evening, and | am sure
that you feel the better for having made
them. There is one thing for which l am
sorry, and that is that Brother Barnes is
not here to retract the story he told of
catching more fish than | caught at Crown is.
land several years ago. | am sure that had
Brother Barnes been with us tonight he
would have been moved to tell the real
truth of that story, and so remove a load
from his conscience"
"What are you going to do about that
story of yours that started the trouble?"
asked 1ice.
81 wish to say in regard to anything that
may have told since | have been here, that
to now deny the story, and offer so-called
confession would be but farce and lie
in itself. When I told of those $50 bass my
self and friend caught in one day"
'You said $50 BEFORE" said Smith.
Possibly 1 did, but 500 was the correct
1 1