The Springfield herald., 1912-03-22

lUuustTy Vi COu HeulHs tHsle 10 a
fascination for the inlander that
takes him back year after year.
And most interesting of all Is the
fisherman himself. l am not certain.
writes w. Lacey Amy in the Toronto
Globe, but it really seems to be his
supreme Indifference to everything
but the fish that makes him SO at
tractive.
have wandered In and out among
them where they do not see visitor
In a month; l have seen them empty
a boatload of shiny cod that equaled
fortnight's ordinary catch: ] have
watched them lift large horse into
tiny skin where nothing save prayer
appeared to offer any hope of its
reaching it's destination; l have helped
them carry into the steamers hospital
men sick unto death. and have bade
good luck" to patient returning
from the hospital legless and helpless
in life's fight; have handed out food
to the starving from the steamers
stores, and have heard them refuse to
accept well paid work until the cod
ran again. But have never seen
cod fisherman excited
The nature of the flsherman's life Is
strenuous enough to relieve him of
the necessity of overexertion to pre-
vent falling asleep at inopportune mo-
ments. Although 1t requires but
small cloud and tiny clap OF thun-
der to keep him from the fishing
grounds. scarcely a week passes that
he is not forced to meet the terrible
Vaccinations o: storm and wave to
compass his destruction. In his diz-
lilly bobbing little boat he fights the
sea. the most apathetic OF men against
the most relentless of natures forces
: Open Waters In June.
The fact that he cannot swim seems
not to throw into his struggle any
sign of fear; SO long as plank holds
between him and water he can weath-
err anything that blows. In the early
spring, long before the cod begin to
run, he risks his life thousand times
across the treachcerous ice foes in
chase of the seal. In May. while the
winds are still Icy. he makes few
extra cents in herring of the Magda-
lens. A month later the Labrador
fisherman may succeed in catching a
few salmon II the ice is open. But
when the cod run there Is nothing
but cod, except of late years. when the
Magdaleners have taken a liking for
mackerel, however scarce they be.
Around the Magdalen islands and at
Gaspe there is an interval of lobster
catching that means money, but along
the Labrador coast there Is nothing
from July until the ice forms again
in October but cod. or, as they call 1t.
fish" The Magdalener is a motley
fisherman-herring, cod, mackerel,
haddock-but the Labrador fisherman
lives, sleeps and smells of cod.
His home is in Newfoundland, the
many quaint towns of the east coast
sending out almost all of their men to
the north country just as soon as the
Ice opens little in June. Early In
that month the fishing schooners start
on their long run down the coast,
lodging through the ice fields. run
ming into port in face of storm or
threatening ice foe, and trusting
more to Providence than to aught else
for their safety.
II is a fearsome run, that first trek
northward, stalking wooden bottom
against grinding. inexorable ice, and
many a Newfoundland home is empty
from losing risk. But the seeming
ly indolent, passive fisherman is will
ling to take the chances to secure an
early choice of fishing ground. All
summer through he spends his days
on the water, his evenings splitting
the days catch, and his nights in the
makeshift shacks that are deemed suf-
iicient covering for the three OF four
months season in that northland.
AS few women now venture north,
the fishermen must perform all their
own work in the treatment OF the hsh.
They are unable to leave the fishing
TO attend to the drying, with the result
that many of them tempt the fate OF
winter sail along an inhospitable,
deserted coast by remaining north
until the middle of November. spend
Ing the last few weeks in carefully
utilizing every ray of sunshine to
make the best sale for their wares.
And then the fight back through the
ever thickening ice and increasing
storms is worse than the spring run.
Oddities of Fishing Villages.
fishing village is the quaintest.
raggedest spot on earth. City pan
ming does not even reach the location
of the house or the road rights. In
the Magdalen Islands. where the land
is more level and there is soil enough
to make 1t a consideration. the fish
houses are placed with some common
regard for roadway. The bait and
tackle and other odoriferous material
are kept in the lower story, and the
family sleeps, dimes and sits in the
single room above.
In Labrador there is no such thing
as road to consider. There has
never been a horse nor an OK to use
1t, nor has a traveller attempted to
make one settlement from another
by any other method of transportation
than boat There is practically no
soil. the bare, uneven, mountainous
rock sinking abruptly into deep water.
The fish houses are built wherever a
ledge of rock offers a foothold, and
staging of rough poles projects from
the water By = rickety ladder work