The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-08-12


Brooklyn Times: There are two
subjects on which the conscience does
not act-~fish and horses. IA man may
be honest and truthful In everything
else, but fisherman cannot help lying
about his fish any more than d Jockey
can tell the truth about his horse.
In fact, there has been recent de-
cision BY a court OF inferior 3urisdic-
ton, that man has q right to lie
about horse. the justice who rem
dered the oracle probably being the
same magistrate who decreed that
every dog was entitled to one bite
without liability.
Even as reputable q man as ST..
Peter, the patron saint Of fishermen,
has black mark against him In the
matter OF veracity, and so Is the world
used to this venia1 fault of the fishing
fraternity that their lies about their
fish are recognized as simply an
amiable weakness When the railway
presidents were assembled in confer
enee, one OF their number said: Cen
tlemen, as business men I would be-
lieye implicitly every one OF you, but
as railway presidents ! wouldn't be-
lieve one Of you on OATH
With this single moral derssictioa
the fishermen are a Jovial, hearty,
good tempered and fairly reputable
brotherhood. They pay their debts
when they have money, are reasonably
considerate OF their wives, are good
providers and are not regarded with
suspicion by their neighbors. We miss
them when they are in camp, and on
their return home, IL their banks gave
the same discount to their notes that
we give to their stories, the bank
examiners would close the institutions
and make levy on the stockholders
The writer is a philosopher and not
q fisherman and some interrogations
are in his mind on this subject OF
catching fish. Going into the psych-
ology of fishing. he would like 10 ask
what Is the peculiar twist in an other
wise normal brain that makes man
willing to give up a well ventilated,
well furnished home and at ruinous
expense, go to Portland or Old Forge
or Timbuctoo, take ramshackie rail-
way at a ten cent camille fare. to the
end OF the two streaks Of iron rust
that form the road. get into a spring
less blackboard and be Joggled over
ten miles Of corduroy, through barr
barrie clearing of half-burned, second
growth tamaracks to log house,
called a camp. to sleep on a vermin-
infested bunk and be eaten with mos
quitoes, devoured by black flies and
tortured with gnats, to sleep to the
music OF other mems shores and the
symphonies Of frogs in the marshes,
and be turned out at daybreak by
an unwashed guide, to make his alb
lutions in q tin basin with yellow
soap, to eat on greasy pine table
saleratus biscuits as yellow as a forty
editioned metropolitan paper, with dirt
for seasoning and at a cost that would
by comparison make the Holland
House seem like a Mills Hctelg
II the Russian procurator should de-
cree such an exile for him there would
be mass meetings in Cooper institute
and the minister plenipotentiary would
be cabled to wait on the duma with
protest.
If the pleasant inuuisitors OF that
blithesome monarch. Phillip III, had
added the Rangely camp to the other
pleasantries OF his torture chamber,
Motley would have been able to make
his star chapter and the moving pic
ture shows would have o film that
would be a thriller.
But these men go not in handouts
and under guard to the dilapidated
shanties that they call their camp.
They are not conscripts. but volun-
teers. They are not driven by demen-
tia or despotism. They love 1t and
they pay for It.
If it Is out doors they want have
they no back yards to their houses?
Are there no stars above their own
clothes poles? If It is flies and bugs
they want are there not unscreened
piazzas in some Of the suburban resi-
dences Of their friends2 II they love
dirt are there no cellars TO their
houses and il 1t is the gossip Of the
camp they hunger for whore Is the
smoking room of their club and the
revelations of their wives after their
return from their pink teas?
If they would only be honest and
call their camp q retreat" and say
they went there for penance and ex-
piation, we should be hushed to silence
and look for the evidence of mended
morals, but there is no outward social
or moral amelioration, their language
has not acquired classic touch. the
god OF probity is not installed as q
plaster statuette upon their shaving
cases, while the household expenses
must be cut down to fill up the de-