Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-05-15

good and thick on il, and I've heard 'em
up there say that even then they have
seen pickerel glazing up at 'eln
through the ice, and trying to knock
hole through it so they could spring
out and snatch 'em.
well. any how, was fishing one day
through the ice on Yankee pond, when
one Of my tip-ups. good ways from
where ] was standing went down with
rattle and a hum. The hole was only
a rod or so from the shore.
81 started on a run to yank the pick
erel out, but before ! got anywhere
near ii out Of the brush on the shore
trotted snorting big bear, and made
straight for that tip-up. ] didn't go
much nearer, and the bear hauled up
that line with the pickerel at the end
Of it as proper as could have done
It myself.
"And what a whopper that pickerel
was. And sassy He pitched into that
bear the minute he got his eyes on
him, and ii wasn't till the bear had
given him a couple o. swats that would
have tumbled an OK that the piekerel
give up.
THE bear took the pickerel off the
hook, shouldered the pickerel, and
went off into the woods with II, pay
ing no more attention to me than If
| ] hadn't been there The pickerel only
lacked four ounces Of weighing ten
pounds, and / never saw it again.
And, come to think of it," said
4 Badly, the landlord, smiling blandly
on Farmer Leonard, 81 don't really
suppose that / would ever have known
! just how much that pickerel did weigh
| il | hadn't been passing by a little
clearing on my way home, maybe an
/ hour later, and saw number Of men
standing looking at something.
stopped TO take a look, too. 1t was
big dead bear they were looking at.
] recognized the bear at once as the
one that had caught and walked off
with my pickerel One Of the men
had shot II somewhere in the woods.
"Ben Winner happened to be there.
/ Ben Winner was so sure a guesser on
/ the weight Of a hog or a bear OF
critter Of any kind, that all Sullivan
county barred him out on guessing
matches.
If Ben Winner guessed that a hog
or bear or a critter weighed so much.
that was as good as if the scales had
recorded it, and il went. So Ben he
/ guessed on the weight of that dead
bear, as the man who had killed it
wanted to know 1t.
1.-The bear weighs $40 pounds, just
said Ben, and everybody was satisfied
but one man, who didn't seem to be-
long around there, and he bet a dollar
the bear weighed more than $40 pounds.
The bet was made and they weighed
1 the bear.
"The steelyards showed the weight
at 349A pounds, TO an ounce. You
never saw such a surprised lot of peo-
pie in all your life. Winner couldn't
believe his eyes.
"'Your pesky steelyards amt right,
he said. Whoever heard o me guess
in nigh to ten pounds out O. the way
on a bear? Your pesky steelyards
amt plumb!
But the owner Of the steelyards,
amazed as he was at Ben Winner being
off on a guess, stood ready to bet his
farm that they were right TO the frac-
ton Of an ounce, and the excitement
was high, when happened TO mention
that the bear had stolen pickerel Of
mine an hour or so before. Then every
thing was clear.
"'Your steelyards is all rightl' hol-
Tered Ben Winner. i was guessin' on
bear. not on fish! The bear weighs
inst $40 poundsl The rest is pickerel!
"But guess I never'd known IT,
though, If l hadn't gone around that
way home" said Badly, the landlord
smiling on Farmer Leonard.
"Tm afraid mott said Farmer Leon
ard. and the cash register eheerfully
I iingled.-N Y. sun.