Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-27
No Tobacco for
 Solomon
H Hefn1oek Belt Story About
 Fl Gifted Catfish.
ssTHE man sat on the top rail of the

fence as I came along" said I John Gilbert, the travelling grocery man, referring to an incident of trip l through the Hemlock Belt last fall. "He hailed me and I stopped my horse. l "'Cap'n,' said he, kin you give me 8
 toler'ble good-sized chaw off . your 1 plug O black navy terbacker"
 T told him I could not.
 Faint fer me, said the man. It's
 fer Solomon. If Solomon don't git 1 chaw o' navy plug terbacker he'll be dead afore night. A comfortable sized 1 hunk off Q your plug might see him l through, Cap'n.'
 "'I can't help you out, said I. T haven't got any navy plug tobacco.'
 "tSocks!' said the man, getting an
 easier position on the rail. This is 1 tough! Solomon's goner, sure as l cats!'
 ''I told the man that I thought that 1 any person who was such a slave o tc- bacco that he would die unless he got q 1 chaw would be about as well off dead as 1 alive.
 "'Yes,' said the man. But I'm afeard l your pint don't jest eNae'ly hit Solo l mon. They told you about Solomon, l didn't they, down to Geeville?'
 T said they hadn't mentioned Solo, l mon.
 "''sing'lar how folks don't think e
 things when they oughter,' said the man, much put out over the forgetful- ness of people at Geeville. Why, a dog fight, or an ask 10 come have somethin' l even, used to take a back seatfor telhn' 1 about Solomon, down to Geeville.'
 ''I was in quite hurry and was start 1 ing on my way when the man on the top rail hailed me again and paused
 ".Though you say you hain't got no
 black navy plug, Cap'n,' said he, T don't want you to go away with wrong idees about Solomon. 1t won't never i do. Theway of it was this: Twas bob 1 bin for catfish over in Ganderneck pond one night, and I ketched some thin like bushel. One of them was a good two-pound in heft. and I noticed that he swore and jawed at me witha good deal more vim, and a good deal longer, than any O the others did. "I lugged my fish home, and this
 sassy big feller kep' up his jawin' all
 the way. I Ichuclxed him and the rest of lem in a Box on the back stoop, and I could hear him pitchin' into me long after l had gone to bed. Next mornin' when I went out there was that big i feller, as full O life and vim as ever, but he had cooled down.
 He looked up at me, winked one eye, made a spring out O the box'and l landed plumb in pail O water l was carrying out to water the COW with. I ] says to myself that here was a catfish with snap, and I'd jest give him a l chance to work himself up. So l turned him into tub full O water, and 1 it wasn't long afore I found that l l hadn't made no mistake about him.
 "'That catfish would grab and eat 1 anything you chucked in the tub to him, but one day when I thought I'd ] l'arn jest how a catfish took the hook when they was fished for I hid ! hook in nice piece O pork and handed it down to him at the end 1 of line. Do you know, Cap'n, that amazin' catfish jest cooked his eye i up at me and winked and turned his tail ag'in that nice bit O pork with ! hook in it and swoshed it, hook | ana dllp ClSdn out . LuG bllD.
 "'Me and him got so close and un- ] derstandin' with one another that l afore he'd been in the tub a week I want afeared to bet anybody two l dollars that they couldn't fish that catfish out on fshhool1, or two dol lars that they could, either which ! way they wanted to take the bet. l If anybody bet me that he could fish the stupid-lookin' old feller out l on a hook the catfsh'd give me sly wink, and then only sniff and scowl at the nice fat bait with the hook in it that was stuck under his l nose, and never tetch it. But if l anybody took the bet that he l couldn't fish the catfish out why, 1 Solomon-I called him Solomon cause he knowed so much-Solo- l mon'd go for that bait like hawk 1 for chicken, grab it at the hind side O the hook and would be flop l pin on the ground outside the tub l afore the chap that had made the bet got over his scare and knowed what had happened.
 :. Then Solomon would spit out the hook and I'd dump him back in the l tub, and the way he'd grin up at the chap as he handed me over his two 1 dollars was worth two dollars of any mans money. Me and Solo mon worked together so brotherly and enterprisin' that we paid off the l mortgage on my clearin' and bought a mule and the best coon dog on the Passydanky spread in 1ess'n two months.
 ".One day the hired man was l standin' at the tub lookin' at Solo, mon, and he took out his plug O black navy terbacker-say, Cap'n, if YOU kin give me a toler'ble good sized chaw off Q your plug O jist common, everyday yaller tobacco, it'd be sort O balm in Gilyad to Solomon, I think, and mebbe tide him over. A toler'ble good-sized chaw.'
 i s'I had no plug of common, everyday waller terbacker, either, and told the man so.
 sGeeville II hear from me, you kin l bet a hen,' exclaimed the man. 'Forgit- l tin to tell you about Solomon! Why, 1 you'd "a handed your terbacker right out without bein' asked, if they'd only l told you about Solomon
 Il felt that ought to be pushing on, | and I made another start. but the man