The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1903-11-05

the current WOulO carly Incul w LES
mond. We got forty pounds of trout
that day, but it wasn't what you'd call
sportsmanlike fishing" j.,
Tom Haley bears out the account OF
Restigouche trout as a ravenous ana
omniverous breed by his story OF Far
mer Adams cows.
CHOSE cows" says Tom, used to
come home every night about milking
time without enough milk to fill 6aby 8
bottle among the whole herd. They'd
come in from pasture across the 1ord,
where the water was just belly-deep 70
them. On the further side they'd LOOK
to be carrying plenty OF milk ana
they'd be talking like it, too; but when
they got over they were dry.
Zone day just after the COWS came
home Farmer Adams boy caught a
five-pound trout in the pool Just below w
the ford. The trout put up a hard
fight. When he was finally landed and
cut open there was Il big lump of butter
in his stomach.
"'That settles it, says Farmer Adams
when he saw the butter. That was
cream when the fish was hooked and
he churned it into butter, while he was
being landed. Them trout have been
milking my cows
CATER figuring how to get even with
the trout he got notion. He tried
gang hooks baited with worms on the
cows tails, and didn't they bring in
enough trout to supply the whole Ad-
ans outfit every night, till all the fish
were cleaned out of that pool"
SIT was one of these cows" said Tom
Pratt, chat the big bear ate when he
came down from the mountain. They
never found hide nor hair of the cow,
but they used to hear the bell she wore,
ringing up on the mountain and the
Muctaws ii. e. Micmac lndians) thought
it was the cows ghost.
''The bear was shot finally and they
found the bell inside him. He'd been
CARRYING it, tolling away for six weeks.
''He was one of the fishing bears, that
fellow was.'' continued Pratt. ''Bears
are mighty partial to salmon, and this
fellow and two or three others used to
fish in the wide pool up the Paddama-
jaw.
'"Two other men and were camping
up there, and when we moved camp we
left some molasses in key. A bear
will lose his hide to get molasses, you
know. l remember" said Pratt,
branching off into another reminis
cence, zone summer | was here with a
party of men from Boston, in the
United States. They had big barrel
of molasses and a lot of boxes OF dried
Goldfish, and didn't they eat the molas
ses on the Goldfish!
"There must have been party of
bears on the mountain watching the
performance, for one day, when we
were all on the river the bears rushed
the camp, broke open the molasses bar
rel, got into the Goldfish, and when we
came back they were stutfing them
selves with the mixture just like the
Boston, United States, men. One of
'em was so full he couldn't get away,
and we built pen for him, but he
broke out and licked up all the molas-
ses that was left before he took to the
mountain. That broke up the party.
"Oh, about the bears that got our
molaSSes. Three of them made up the
party. They were so busy that we
sighted them first on our return to
camp, and sneaked up to them. Two
of them were sitting there just smear
ing their faces and licking it off.
But the other fellow was smarter.
He had gone down to the river, where
the bank overhung a steep pool, and
tlltlt lit SUUOu Will illS paws ollCeSilSo
out.
THAT fellow sees us coming, and he's
saying his prayers, said one of my COM
panlons.
"He's up to something queer, said
|. But | don't believe it's piety. |
never saw bear vet that wasn't relat-
ed to the devil. Wen just watch.
Little by little we crept up and pref
ty soon we saw the bear clap his paws
together hard, then lean out over the
pool. The next minute he made a
swift scoop with his paw, and didn't he
have big salmon out on the bank.
''Do you see what he'd been up to?
He'd smeared his paws with molasses.
| Then he went to the river and held
them out till they were covered with
flies. When lie clapped his paws to-
gether, the flies dropped into the pool,
the salmon rose to the flies, and the
bear had a fish dinner with molasses.
They're smart, those PaddamaJaW
bears
One is not required to believe all the
stories told by the Restigouche guides,
but the penalty of scepticism is severe.
The sceptic, once he declares himself,