The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-25
EVENING STORY
Some Fall Fishing.

i III
Some Fall Fishing.
BY c. B. LEWIS.
The doctor in the city had told
Miss Gertie Ashford to stay in the
country long as she could, on ac-
count of the state of her throat. and
that was why she was yet at her
grandmother's when 'mid-September
came.
1t hadn't been a very lively summer
for the girl. She had taken long
walks. She had fused with the old
fashioned flowers; she had sought in
vain to win the confidence of the
chipmunks and rabbits which came
about, and she had hunted for quails
nests in the wheat fields. There was
one sport, however, she had not par
| ticipated in. There was a creek
meandering its way over the country
, and crossing the highway a few rods
| below the house, and in that creek
were fish at least as long her
finger. She knew it, because she had
| seen them. and because a neighbours
boy IL years old had told her:
why. of course, there are fish
slathers and slathers of 'em, and they
are aching to be cotched, jest as
cat aches for cream. Haven't hauled
out more'n a hundred this summer"
But 1 was taught in Sunday school
| that it was wicked to catch fish, was
protested.
/ ''Humphi Would we have Goldfish
cakes if folks didn't go a-fishin'?"
The boy rugged up line and pole
for her. and Miss Gertie went fishing.
He stood on the bank with her for n
| while to advise:
| Now, lower your hook!"
Now, stop webbing the pole!"
Now. don't you dare breathe"
Now shet your eyes and say your
prayers. for there's fish as long as a
rail comm for your hook!"
| When half an hour had passed and
the fisher hadn't had a nibble yet,
the boy wandered away in disgust. At
| the end of the second half hour Miss
Gertie said to herself:
II know why I don't have any luck.
| It's because the fish can see me- I'll
play a trick on Them
Thereupon she stuck the end of the
pole into the bank and left the hook
| to do its own fishing while she retired
to the house for a rest. Ferrers Yorke,
| the author and artist, was planning a
new story. The opening chapters
would tell of a meadow, brook, a
bridge and a pretty girl, and the girl
would be fishing in that brook. The
| author was great. on local color, and
he had come out into the country to
find the spot that another would have
to imagine. He was quite sure, that
he could find all but the girl with a
fishpole in her hands. and there was
one chance in a thousand that he
two or three brooks, bridges and
meadows when his search brought
him to the willows opposite to where
Gertie stood.
A rash young man would have
stalked out of the bushes with a hello
and a wave his hat, and waded the
brook and asked how many fish had
been caught. and how many had got
away. Mr.. Yorke was not rash. He did
not betray his presence among the
willows. Not that he was a spy by
nature, but that, having found his
| heroine. he must study her bit.
The heroine of a story must have
auburn hair which the sunshine turns
to gold.
She must have a neck like a swan
tho not as long.
{ She must have a Grecian nose-not
the sort you see around the Greek
restaurants of New York. but one
! made to order in Athens and sent on
packed in pink cotton.
Her eyes must be like stars. The
stars worn by constables are excluded
fromNthe contest.
Her form must be divine. which
means it must not be nodded on the
lines of a sack of flour.
She must have twinkling feet.
She should sing as she fished.
Did the girl across the creek from
the artist fill the bill? Yes, and more
She was a sylph-a houri-an angel
With her for heroine that story
would go like buckwheat cakes on a
winters morning. Even when she be.
come discouraged abut the fish and
turned away with a shrug of he1
shoulders. he was delighted with the
shrug.
souls as we all know. One is a
dream-soul and can hear the whispers
of the angels with every breeze tina,
blows thru a patch of bull-thistles-
the other gives him a proper appetite
for a boiled dinner
When Mr.. Yorke had looked upor
} Gertie with one soul he laid 1t aside
to look with the other. The girl went
away. but she would return. She
would confidently expect to find some
! thing on her hook If there was not
a victim she would be disappointed
| How a farmers CASTOR boot came
to be lying on the further bank in
plain sight is a mystery to be ex-
planned some other time. In days
gone by a bear might have overtaken
. him at that spot and devoured every
, thing but the boot. For the two
souled artist to leap the brook and
seize the boot and make 1t fast to the
fishhook and leap back among the
willows was the work of three min
. utes.
The angels cannot look down and
: witness such base tricks and punish
, them. but the re- is generally a small
boy around to see and to give things
away In this case it was the small
boy who had left the spot an hour be-
fore. He was returning to see what
luck Gertie had had. He came stealth
lily, and he saw all, and he said to
himself:
Gee, but don't I wish was as big
as a house, SO that 1 could give that
, chap a licking!"
He waited in hiding to see what the
girl would do when she returned. She
came slowly. She thought she saw
the fishpole CULVER. She seized it and
| flung the fish, on To the grass hahiud