Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-10-05
He Followed
His Bent
By P. A. Mitchell

When l was a boy l remember hear
ing a conversation between my school
teacher and my mother. He had called
to say to her that my scholarship was
so poor that she might as well take me
out of school and put me to work.
Mother was SO discouraged at this that
the teacher, who was a kind hearted
man. undertook to comfort her.
TIC tell the truth" he said, you can
never tell what kind of a man a boy Is
going to make. For my part l believe
In following ones bent What WI do.
well we usually do easily. Has Tommy
ever shown especial adaptability for
any particular work
mo"
well, l would advise you to let him
do what he likes to do. Perhaps he
will some day find out what he is fitted
for"
"If l let him do that he will go fish
ing all the while"
1t seemed to me that the teacher CAV
up trying to be optimistic for me. for
he left my mother to console herself as
best she could. | consoled myself for
mJ WI thiCSSuCSS NY uhli6 NY lOu
and going to the brook. 1t was-full of
trout. and | thought that l might as
well get some for supper. l could at
least do that aver If l were a no ac-
count boy. | brought home a fine
string of fish.
Mother took me out of school and
called on me to help her al the house..
l was a very poor helper and hated the
work. AS soon as | could get my
chores done l made off with my rod,
and mother saw no more of me till l
came home. always with a string of
fish. That was the only way that l
was really useful,
l could catch fish where all others
failed. The reason for this was that l
noted the habits of the fish and knew
just when and where to look for them.
] noticed that there was a certain kind
of hy that trout would always take. l
had no fly in my case that they would
take with the same avidity. caught
one of these live flies and, taking 1t
home, made one as near like it as l
could. l had a box of paints, which
served me very well. My artificial fly
would not have pleased an entomolo-
gist, but 1t fooled the fish.
Some boy friends of mine spread the
story of my making my own fly, and 1t
got to the ears of the manager of a fish
ing tackle mandatory in the neigh
borhood. He came to see me one day
and asked me about it. l showed him
my artificial fly and how successful |
bod haon uvifh u HA tolI p,a fbot if I
would catch one Of the live flies of
that species for him he would give me
SIS for it. did so and got the money.
1t seemed to me a large sum, and I
felt very proud Of it.
Several times on the way home I
took it out of my pocket to have IN
other good look at it.
When | took the bill to my mother
and explained how l had got it she
said that it was probably the only SIS l
would ever make.
/ Used to talk about fish to other
fishermen. They never tired of listen
ing to me. One day when | was about
nineteen years old one of them asked
me to write out for him some points
that | had told him. I did so, and he
seemed very much pleased with what
l gave him. He was IN author and
told me that If l would write an in
struction book on angling he would put
it in proper shape for me and submit
it to his publisher. l put down a lot
of things in a tumble; he arranged
them all in good grammatical English,
and the book was published with my
name on the title page.
A couple of years after this l took a
lot of notes | had made on the habits,
the breeding and other information
about fish, and with a little revision by
my literary friend it was issued by the
firm which had published my first book.
1t was not long after this that a
state fishery was established. and the
government was looking for a superin-
tendent. The governor had used my
books O angling. and one day l was
astonished to receive a letter from him
asking if l would accept the position
of superintendent of the state fishery
with a fine salary.
! took the letter to my mother, and
when she read it she threw her arms
around me and Rugged me.
who'd have thought" she said, that
a boy who wouldn't work and was
bound to waste his time all day tied to
a fish pole would ever come to any
good?"
My position as superintendent of the
state fishery at once gave me a wide
reputation, and | was constantly called
upon for information in matters per-
tanning to fish culture. A ~neighboring
state offered me a better salary than l
was being paid and rather than lose
me my own state offered me a large ad-
vance. which | accepted and remained
where ! was.
By this time | was married, but l
did not forget my old mother who had