The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-04-19
The Euening Story
An Anticipated Fisherman.
(By Clara Inez Taylor.)


spirit. The games too fast FOR me
her, Ned"
Her brother looked thoughtful He
and his sister had boarded in adjoin-
ing hall rooms ever since they came
to the metropolis nine years ago from
the little fisher village where they
were brought up Ned had clerk
ship that gave him his own bread and
butter. and a little for his sister when
she had none of her own.
Roses salary in the office where
she pounded a typewriter, not very ex-
pertly, had been cut to n mere pit
lance. She was in an exhausted con-
dition at the end of the long winter.
and she longed desperately for a sight
of the old sandy beach and the tuJn-
bling waves of her native Connecticut
town.
IF I were a man I'd go back and
earn my living as fisherman. I'd
get health sand few pennies and
brain. Ned" she said.
That if is as big as all your
other ifs, Rose said Ned, not very
sympathetically.
Roses eyes sparkIed for an instant
as If with their last lingering bit of
fire There shan't be an if" she
cried. TIL do it, anyway. What
have I to lose? And-oh, 1 shall gain
so much"
Her brother thought she had taken
leave of her senses when she unfold
ed her newly conceived plan-lInfold-
ed it to him even as it took root in
her own mind.
I'll write to you, but you must not
write to me- she told Ned three days
later when she had resigned from her
badly paid position and was bidding
her brother farewell at the train:
''All right, sis. You can't get into
much trouble up in that motheaten
town. l won't worry if you keep me
posted. But-be careful of storms.
sis. Remember our dad" Ned kissed
her good-bv in Indifferent brotherly
fashion and the train pulled out.
When Rose Brent appeared in her
native village she arrived on foot
from the neighboring town and she
was dressed in the guise of an anti
quated fisherman. Always clever at
any sort of makeup, Rose had Sc
cured garments resembling those worr
by any old native fisherman along the
shore. She had successfully made a
hump in her back, disguised herself
completely by clever application of
brown grease paints and a large
dropping fiSherman'S hat.
II shall have to pose as an oddly,
however" she told herself as she ar
ranged details of her stay in the town.
Il dare not speak with folk or look at
them closely for fear they'll see un-
der my hat or detect some buoyancy
in my movements
She got possession of an old fishing
boat, got tackle, bait and everything
necessary She had been brought up
among the ola IlSnornn0n"IneN naQ
been her playmates as a child. There
fore, fishing and fisherfolk ways were
a second nature to her. She knew the
spots where the fish ran; she knew
where to market her goods, and she
was possessed of the spirit of adven-
ture The big blue trousers and the
enveloping yellow oilskin coat she
wore were old but they fitted into
her makeup wonderfully.
Day after day she came from the
little room she had rented from an
old woman whom she had known in
her childhood days. The old woman
senile, SO Rose felt secure in board
ing with her. Her sons had all been
fishermen and had all been lost at
sea. Now the eccentric little old
woman lived alone and was glad to
take in the strange fisherman who
would pay her a few pennies for the
room.
Summer boarders occasionally came
to the beach where the fisherfolk held
sway, and Rose always heard herself
spoken of as the antiquated fisher
man. She pretended to be deaf and
led an absolutely quiet life.
But in her bit of mirror in her
room under the caves Rose could see !
the color creeping into her cheeks
her grizzled transforms ton and stood |
in her own guise of a young woman |
of comely appearance. The only time |
she could laugh and act as she was |
beginning to feel was in the quiet of |
this tiny. bare room, and yet she was |
happier than she had been for years. |
One day as she sat in her old boat, |
while she prepared her tackle for |
days fishing, she observed "a moving |
picture man casting his eye about for T
New England scenes of fisherfolk- At |
least, SO she gathered from the way in
which he SEEMED to be observing the
types.
The camera man placed his camera,
got his film ready and began to turn
his crank on the beach scene. To
give the action Rose deliberately
showed off her boat before 1T was
ready and equipped. Her little hump
backed figure sat itself in the seat and
Rose began to row out steadily, realiz-
ing all the time that the camera was
focused on her.
ITO make it good 1 should capsize.
but I can't on sea like this and in
this tub" she laughed herself since
no one was close enough to hear the
chuckles from under her srizzled
makeup. II
Martin. I think his
name was-now that 1 see him here
in natures own country" Rose could
see that the girl in her was waking
up. For weeks she had had no senti-
ments except those fitted to inhabit
the being of an old fisherman
That night, for the first time since
her arrival in the village she fetched
out her little bundle of Rose Brents
and donned the garments.
Then, the old lady below being either
asleep or too deaf to hear, she found
her way out to the moonlit beach and
along to the hotel nearly a mile dis
tant. She walked erect and stood erect