Year: 1860

SIX dollars day tor the use of tn


steamer-the crew and everything OF


board, and under our command to e


anywhere we wished. Just think Of tina


ye expensive young meu, who 60 yach


ting our lakes at the rate of five dollar,


for little sail! A full steamboat ant


tie service of the crew for six dollar!


day.. Thel other objections could b.


settled by practical experiment. Sc


the bargain was made,-the charter


agreed to,-and the Governor Ramsey


started on the broad and beantifu


lake under our control, and we adjusted


our lines and threw them out for trolling
I The experiment proved brilliant sue


cess. Our lines, with spoon bait =


small silvers spoons so arranged as tc


whirl and play in the, water, initiating


small fish,--were thrown out some fifty


or sixty feet astern of the steamer. Il


was not long before one Of the party


caught and hauled on board a splendid


pickerel weighing four or five pounds


Similar efforts, with like results, rewar.


ded the others, and we were all soon


engaged in busily hauling in pickerel,


bass and sunfish ofthe largest size,-al


remarkably beautiful. fat fish. The


bas are of the same species as our green


trout, but are much larger, most OF


them being from two to three and hall


pounds. Away we went across the


Lake, our little athmatic steamer cough


ing and whizzing away mostvigoroustly,


and we trolling in such quantities Of fish
as never before saw so rapidly and SO
easily caught In less than an hour we
had more fish than we could have ca
ten in a week. Then we got tired OF
trolling, which soon becomes dull sport j,
admitting of little play, skill or manen-
verIng, and so our steamer was hanIed
to in quiet little cove, where we
baited our lines and threw out for still
fishing. This was far more agreeable
sport than trolling. The fish bit very
eagerly, and the way we hauled up the
most beautiful sunfsh, white perch, spot
ted perch, bass, would have astonished
and delighted friend Yeatman, crazed
Tow Placide, and made even Bob Ad-
ans vivacious and demonstrative. And
so the sport continued until late in the
day, with various interruptions for re-
and small excursions ashore
for rare pebbles.


But as an honest Journalist, feel
bound to record one exception to the
general hilarity and good luck This
was our eotemporary, the most famous
sportsman Of the press, to whom we all
looked as the veteran Nlmrod of all our
sports. to guide and direct us in all the
various wiles and arts for the circum-
vention of the feathered and fnny tribe
Now, it happined on this occasion, this
veteran had at the commencement of
his sport, con6ding in his good skill and
fortune, made rash VOW. 1t was no
less than a solemn pledge not to take
drop of certain very attractive liquids,
which we had provided, to repair the
fatigue and enliven the pleasures of the
sport, until he had caught fish, 1t
did not seem at the time so dangerous
a vow, but as i'll luck would have it our
veteran cotemporary, either from some
interposition Of he Deity of Tetotalsm
or from some arrangement of his line
and reel. did not for very long time
receive a nibble, and when it became a
full bite, did not, from some mysterious
cause or other, succeed in hooking his
fish.


Thus hours and hours passed and the
day waxed late; and many were the
fierce oaths and imprecations Of the
veteran-frequent the resorts Of the
others of the party, to the comfort which
he had denied himself, with invitations
to him, provocative of intense wrath, to
Join US. The vow was kept-faithfully
kept-under a boiling sun, for fully a
quarter of a day; but it nearly killed our
cotemporary. Never was there thirst
ier individual-never one placed in a
position more analogous to that Of Tan
whisky within reach-but the
sacred VOW waving off the outstreched
hand, even as the flaming sword waved
over the gates of Paradise. Then, too,
fishing in the hot sun is the most thirsty
oc all employments; and to see three fair
drinkers tugging away at one bottle,
was not pleasant sight for a thirsty
man, who has only reversionary inter-
est in the same. The shades Of evening
began to descend upon the quiet lake,
and the trees on the knolls and sliffs be-
gan to extend their shadows far oyer the
water and our steamer had raised steam
and pointed towards the supposititions
village Of Wayzata. where we proposed
10 take up cur quarters for the night.
Still our friend was enduring his Tantal-
AN fate. Grim as was his aspect and
fierce his wrath, he persevered in his
abstinent vow, and at last, when the
boat was within few feet ofthe landing
place loud and joyous cry uprose from
he solitary firherman-the others were
Ill resting from their labors-a cry
which was as thrilling as that of "land''
% the crew of Columbus on the l4th
October, 1892. "Got h.m, by the
eternal" Then there was heard the
noise offs line drawn quickly through