Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-30
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW
Some Things the Fisherman Though.

Going into the pine woods OF Wis :
cohsln on fishing trip had the same
eiect on the writer as going TO church
where the preacher was dull. the sing
liig poor and the audience asleep. That
is. IT ala once. This service was held
IN q poat, alone, at shutdown, out in a
lake. where nature has had a free
mana since man cut off the pine for
ests. The trees COMING down tn the
waters edge over the entire shore line.
me knowledge that perhaps twenty feet
away were deer waiting for the lone
fisherman to row away so that they
could come out of the lnderbrush and
get their evening drink of the cool lake
water, the almost certainty that within
sound Of the splashing bass that came
up were black bears fully as afraid of
the boat and its occupant as the fish
erinan was of the bears. the stiffness of
the evening darkness, the rising moon
ana the entire absence or suggestion of
human HE or occupation. all of these
Things brought about thoughts of self.
For what does a man amount to. any
way? AT home he is the head of the
family; how could they get along with
out him? But they are doing we'll lust
now Perhaps he Is the center of a
business enterprise. A thousand men
come and go at his beck and CALL They
need directing power. His business
partners expect to wait for his decis-
ions. His rivals in trade fear him. But 1t
occurs to that business man that things
are going on just the same while he
SITS in the solitary boat On a lake in the
Wisconsin woods. And It does take the
conceit out of that busy business man
to imagine how little it would affect the
busy world If he should happen to fall
INTO the water and not be found for
nine days. One night the writer saw
close to the bank. in an Old leaky boat,
ten miles from the nearest house, a man
casting for bass. This man, a physi-
clan with an immense practice, was
away on his vacation, getting rest by
the hardest kind of another kind Of
work. He told the writer how hard 1t
was to get away. How his patients
would suffer from his absence, how a
surgical operation was to be POSTPONED
TIL he returned. He mentioned maya
Zine article he had written which Gre
ated much favorable comment. And as
the writer rowed silently by the doc
tor-fsherman. all Of these things came
to mind: and then again came the
thought, suppose he failed to come back
to the shack that night: suppose he
never came back; suppose that he
never was seen again, what difference
to the world would 1t make?
And with this noralizIng came the
thought of the many little circles of
which some one is the center. Our
landlord in the saw milf log cabin has
g. circle of his own. It's bounded in the
summer by keeping visiting fishermen
for so much for board. services and
boat. In the winter the circle encloses
only the daily life at the saw mill. He
cares nothing for the so-called delights
of civilization. The clothes, food and
dwelling place we must have to enjoy
life have no attractions for him. He is
satisfied with an old weekly paper, new
or goes to church, and once year
trip to the circus in a town twenty
miles away is enough of that kind of
recreation. For society he cares moth
ing. All he can talk is fish In summer
and lumber in winter. Sunday is no
different from any other day. And so
his life moves on and around In his
circle. 1t suits him Just as well as the
doctors whose patients are awaiting his
return. And the writer is not at all
sure but what the lumberman gets fully
as much out of life as the business man
who can only stay one day longer"
And how easy 1t is to drop back into
the personal habits Of these lake dwell
ers! A ten days growth Of stubby
beard is not Just the thing for the or
dinarily smooth faced business man.
But who sees it? Somehow the tooth
ry savage, but finger nails are surely
neglected. There's no use cleaning off
those fish scales, for you're going to
wear the same clothes tomorrow. Mud
on shoes or clothes makes no differ
ence. for everybody sits down to the ta-
BILE 'just as they are" Even language
changes. A very nice young man in our
party, whose mother never heard him
talk that way, now dan,ns the weather,
the fish and the boat on the slightest
provocation. Selfishness shows Itself in
many ways. One unconsciously picks
out the biggest frog for ones own hook.
And on the chilly nights your enfeebled
constitution demands the heaviest blan-
ket. And so it is with the last piece of
bacon on the platter. You don't urge it
on the doctor.
Always heretofore this scribe has
wondered why it was that the Creator
allowed young and old women to flock
to the lakes. what In thunder were
they doing up there with their new
dresses their stunning hats and their
exquisite bathing suits?" Why didn't
they stay at home where they were
comfortable instead of rushing up to
Okoboj and costing the head of the
family $50 a week for their board and
lodging?" The writer sees it now It's
a part of the plan of creation. It's to
prevent man lapslng into barbarism
We were short on women and long on
men at our camp. Hence the neglected
finger nails. But listen. Our nice
young man with the increasing habit
of profanity received a letter from his
best girl one day with the astonishing
result that he went in shaved himself
took a bath and blacked his shoes Act
ually put on linen collar and four
in-hand. If one letter has all of that
influence on one young man. what
would the visit of half a dozen nice
schoolma ans have had on our party?
M~aAez9