The Republican journal., 1905-09-14

NCAe udy L GllOuSlG " Was SuOSt
when | met that same dog trotting
down Main street, Just the same as
ever except maybe little shamefaced.
That blamed fish had coughed him up
during the night"
| THE GOLDFISH THAT GOT DRUNK.
Bill Winthrop is one of Gloucester S
oldtime cod fishermen. He has been
at 1t since he was boy something like
ninety years ago, judging from his ex-
perlence. His pet story is told of an
old Goldfish he used to know off George S
Banks. He swears the cod was regu-
lar drunkard and used to cut up awful
on some of his sprees, but Bill has ten
der memories for that fish because it
saved his life
Bill says that one day he was fishing
Oft Georges when he noticed that some
thing like a whale was playing with
the lines. He didn't know what to
think of it till he saw big Goldfish sit
ting on his tail in the waves and look
ing at him. Bill swears the cod was
grinning at him, and had his mouth
wide open. He was about the biggest
and toughest looking cod Bill ever saw.
| The old fish acted like he was the dad
dy of all the other cod. He had a con-
tempt for hooks His mouth was all
Scared up by past experiences with
| them
One day Bill was eating his lunch i'll
his dory while the old cod was looking
on with deep interest Bill had some
canned tomatoes and just for fun he
threw some of the tomatoes out to the
cod. The fish Tapped it up in a iiffy
and wanted more.
Tho do Pill
can of tomatoes when he left the
schooner in his dory. Sure enough his
| friend the cod was not long in coming.
Bill waited until lunch time and then
divided the tomatoes with the cod,
| which he named Old George.
"Old George and me came to be
| mighty good friends" says Bill. 'He
got poW'ful fond of canned goods, and
would actually eat canned Goldfish. One
| day it was cold and took little brac
er along. 1t was agin the rules to carry
liquor, but | had struggled this on for
emergencies. ! was takln' nip when
| noticed Old George swishing around.
| He came alongside and | let him have
a swallow.
ut wasn't ten minutes before Old
George Was drunk as a Yarmouth fish
erman on shore. He was the funniest
fish ever saw. The next day he come
around and looked at me reproachful
| like l could see he had an awful head.
But it wasn't long before he wanted
more liquor He was clean crazy about
the stuff and would bother me to death
until l give him some.
"Me and George was friends for six
years. He always met me when | got to
the banks. 1t was mighty cold one Win
ter and the air was full of snow tiurries
One morning | went out i'll my dory
and it was clear as whistle, but before
| knowed what was up there was a
snow storm on. and | couldn't see ten
feet afore me. knowed [ must be a
mile from the Mother Ann, the schoon-
er on which | belonged.
Il rowed all around and couldn't see
the schooner The best could do was
to keep the dory head on against the
waves or | would have drowned. That
and it was the most awful time | ever
| had. l worked like hired man to keep
| from freezing. | knowed if | went to
sleep all would be over
| cat the end of the second night and
the beginning of the third day | was
giving up all hope. The storm was still
raging. Just then l noticed cOmmo-
| ton in the water straight ahead. L
looked around and could jest make out
Old George through the dark. He has
come to help me out, | says to myself,
| for knowed Old George would do any
thing for me.
''That blamed fish started off and
| towed after him. He kept about ten
| feet ahead and would flash his sides and
swish his tail so | had no trouble in fol-
lowin' him. We went along this way
about an hour when | heard voices.
Old George kept on. In five minutes
more was safe on board the Mother
Ann"
Bill paused moment lie seemed
overcome with the recital of his terri
Bile experience.
what happened to Old George
asked Bills single listener.
''Poor Old George" said Bill in
broken tones. 81 felt SO thankful to
him | give him all the liquor had left
He was mighty good fish, but he was
foolish about liquor. He swallowed
every drop and got drunk and was
drowned to DEATH"
TOO MUCH PROSPERITY DESTROYS Ro-
NANCE OF OLD GLOUCESTER.
| There is too much prosperity in
Gloucester 1t has destroyed all the
romance of the old place that Kipling
| and Longfellow helped make famous.
Some of its picturesqueness still cllngs,
along with its smell of fish, but it is
! just about as romantic as glue fac
| tory.
Once the name of Gloucester en-
bodied all the wild romance of the sea.
1t conjured visions of men going down
in sight of their wives and sweethearts
on the shore; it epitomiZed all the
terrors of the northern deep-the ships
that sailed out to sea and never came
back again, the dangers, hardships and
privations, heroic deeds, fierce storms
and great tragedies.
| Now, almost any ship that comes out
of the east to dock in Brooklyn brings
with it more romance than you will
find in Gloucester in a whole summer.
This is disappointing, but it is all too
true. Gloucester, renowned as the
greatest fishing port in the world is
not what it used to be.
The people here still trade on the
romantic fame of old-time Gloucester.
1t attracts summer boarders to fill the
big hotels, it helps advertise the sar-
dimes and picked mackerel that
Gloucester sells. The natives try to
make you think it is the Gloucester of
| Kinlinp's "CaptainS COURAGEOUS" but