The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-12-31

one of dem fishes is mine and dat's de
Gawd's truth. I amt tryin' to fool
you."
"Do you own this landlv l asked.
Amt said nothing bout no old land.
rs talking bout dis yere fshin' hole
and you all bad better scatter fore I
git my habits on, 'cause I'm gwine to
fix to bust up dis yers jamboree right
now," said our sable friend.
just then the all-wise and diplomatic
Bill Diggs bought stack of chips and
got in the game. s
II guess your off your trolley old lady,
you don't own this water and I'm going
to keep on fishing" said Bill.
"l's often my trolley is =" With
that she commenced to carry on scan
dalous, such screeching and yelling! 4
was afraid we'd have the coiored popu-
lation on the warpath so said:
"Say, auntie, will you rent the fishing
place to us today r"
She calmed down.
snow you done said somethin', you's
[a gemmen, you is! Yes, sir, you is
shuah. Cose Til rent the place, yes in
deed" said she..
"HOw much for all day ?"
SWELL, if you can afford it, I'll charge
you all five cents, but dere's one thing,
and dat's dis yere gemmen's got to stop
splitting tobacco juice in de water"
@Why Z" asked Mr.. Diggs' brother.
"Cause you make all dem fish drunk,
yes indeed"
And the proud possessor of the Eve
cents walked gently away. All of which
goes to prove that as q diplomat Pm
no si0uch, believe me.
By p. m. we had fish of all kinds,
trout, bass and even sun fish. Got SO
bold we threw small ones back. We
quit jubilant, and exultingly we strobe
up to the town. Bill and his brother
had come by train, 1, by boat, so it
looked as il We must separate for the
home trip, but Mr.. Diggs' brother said:
"Not so, maybe we can sell your boat
ticket" And we did, at q reduction, so
we boarded the train at 4 o'clock and
by $50 we're in the city. We took a
street car and the passengers on the
hack platform were lost in admiration.
Bill Diggs and wore swelied heads,
all right. all right. One man said that
even the money value of the fish was
considerable and volunteered the in
formation that at Fulton market one
would have to pay over so cents a
bunch for such fine fish. Bill and I
paid no heed to any remarks but posed
es modest heroes should. Mr.. Diggs'
brother answered all questions and in
deed had quite an interested audience
as he told Of his excitement when he
caught that big one down the end of
This bunch. y
We had to transfer to another car
Land while waiting for it Bill said we
would have time to get glass of beer
across the way. So 1t was us for the
gilded cafe. Another crowd surrounded
us and handled the fish and made COM
ments. Bill and left Mr.. Diggs'
brother to guard the fish while we went
into the room in the rear to enjoy our
amber fluid in quiet. As we sat there
we could hear the crowd around Mr..
Diggs' brother, asking questions which
he gracefully answered. We took a
second glass Of beer and Mr.. Diggs'
brother was on his third glass Of brown
pop, when we decided to leave. As we
4 came Quito the bar, Mr.. Diggs' brother
came to as and said, "Don't say word,
till we're out of here"
where's the fish ?" we asked.
Hushp' said Mr.. Diggs' brother.
"Come out and I'll tell you"
In bewilderment we followed him.
j On the pavement he said: aJust caught
three suckers who wanted fish and
sold them all for 75 cents bnnchr'
|"You sold them!' yelled Bill Diggs.
i "Yes," faltered Mr.. Diggs' brother;
athst man on the car said they were
j; worth about SO cents 8 bunch and / got