Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-04-22

filled, and the roads take on quite a
brisk appearance at post office time,
when lately we have seen, sometimes
as many as five wheeled vehicles as
sembled about that center of interest at
ten O'Clock in the morning-the store
where the post Office is kept The
horses about here, at least those used
for driving, are not what could be
called fine, excepting few owned by
lNOrtherners; but the riding horse of
the country, known as the 'pinery-
woods pony" is a wiry little black
beast we'll adapted to trips shro' the
woods and over these roads.
You should see some of the houses
and grounds here; most of them only
winter residences, hut arranged with
all the care of permanent home. One
Chicago man has fitted out his place
with everything to make it qnite as
convenient down here in the woods as
could be wished: boat house, conserva-
tory, servants house, wind mill,
launch, ample grounds, and beautiful
cottage But the finest grounds lie on
the road to the post Office, surrounded
on every side by pine trees, yard in
which can be found almost every tree
or shrub that grows in the woods;
magnolia, holly, eupon, oak, sweet
olive, dog-wood and others thrive
there there the yellow jascmine fills
several large trees with its yellow vines,
whose fragrance haunts us far on our
Tourney to and from the post office;
| great bushes of bridal wreath and Of
lroses are scattered all about, and over
the fence runs a cherokee rose. Every
day that yard grows more beautiful
with the sudden bloom of some uneX-
/ ,NoafnI a. -, ba bCapnn ,.fi itC
owners, is guarded with jealous care
by the two faithful old darkeys who are
left in charge during the summer.
"Shell- banks" over on Mobile Bay,
has many large mounds built of oyster
shells, supposedly left by the mound
| builders; there, many pieces of broken
pottery have been found, and placed in
the Field Museum at Chicago, by a
gentleman who recently gave us mosI
! interesting chalk-talk on mounds ana
mound-builders in general and 'shell-
banks" in particular.
We have had all sorts of odd good
times, from jolly moon light hay crack
ride and chop fry in February when we
went To the Red Bluff where Farraguts
| gun boats came up the river, to a de-
! ightful evening party that we attended
in pouring rain when the carriage-
the only covered one in the country
around about-sent for all the guests,
was drawn by mules sp!aShing ankle
deep in the roads thro' which the water
was running stream.
Now here's fish story worth some
thing-and true, too as you may see for
yourself by coming down here some
dark night when the tide is running high
The boys went out in a boat one of those
nights, and armed, with no bait but
lantern and no rod but stick with
which to make a noise on the boat, in a
few minutes landed a good meal of null
let, a fish averaging about half foot
long. The process is this by
means of light in the boat
and a noise to startle them the
mullet will begin to jump in all direc
tlons, many of them attracted by the
| light and noise Hopping into the boat.
When the fish are jumping well there
is often danger of sinking the boat with
the load. In this manner or with net,
is the only way mullet are to be caught
| Perhaps this sounds like big fish story
about a small fish, but it is true and
anyone who doesn't believe it is wei
come to actual proof by toying the eX-
pertinent himself lin fact tue mullet in
their jumping have been known to land
in the boat in the day time The favor
ite fish here are the salt water trout and
red fish during the winter when the
water is salt, and the black bass in the
spring when the river is fresh and the
bass come down from their hiding
places in the creeks.
The golf fiends have been out in full
! force lately, making their way around
the links inside and outside of the Inn
enclosure and across the creek with
more or less loss of balls and ploughing
up of earth in exemplification of the old
mans definition of golf ''first you find
little mole hill, then you place the ball
upon the mole-hill, then you hit the
| ball, after that you walk mile, and if
you find the ball that day you win the
game.n The story is old but it fits well
with many of the amateur players here
abouts. Away at the west end OF town
you will find the QUOT tiends gathered
every morning Just after post office
time, when the air is filled with cries OF
Two A, y "Six after four" and so on
until the final score is made and called
in. the stentorian voice of the champion,
and we know by its ring whether he has
merely added another leaf to his laurel
wreath or whether as sometimes hap
pens, he has been defeated If you were
sitting here now with the wind in the
right direction you might perhaps hear
! from mile away above the song of the
mocking bird making love in the rose
vine of the front porch, and the quar-
rels of the would -be-golfers over the
proper construction of a .'tee, the
shouts of the QUOT players at their
usual sport.
Easter day was beautiful one with
us: we escaped all the storms that
caused so much destruction, not even
hearing of them until several days after
wards when people who left here to go
north reached Mobile only tofiud them
selves, like many others. unable to pro-
ceed farther In the little Episcopal
church, decorated beautifully with wild
| flowers and ivy vines, appropriate ser
vices were held, as also in the pretty
rustic little Catholic logchurch away
down the river The woods and fields
were bright with sunshine, birds, and
flowers and altogether the day was one
of the most perfect | have ever seen,
with all nature in the freshest of spring
raiment And we are having that sort
of days right along now.
Some of the darkeys down here are
! characters. Once, on a trip down the
river we encountered a ragged, bare
1 foot, dusky old man, who, upon little
! encouragement preached for over an
hour a curious sing song sermon, on
! '.Nicodemus, walking all the time in
circle, one hand over his face, the other
used TO emphasize his remarks, dis
course sometimes sung, sometimes
barely whispered Aud that reminds
me of the man who used TO give his
4 darkey servant. Robert texts TO
preach from. Now Robert knew
1 from experience that Mr. Van didn't
always adhere TO strict veracity in his
( text-giving and be was Won: to look TO
( Mrs. Van for assurance. One day be
was told about how Esau sold his birth
YiObt for a mass If x,C4ashf His aufhor