Newspaper Page Text
W
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Louisiana’s
»n Leper Colony,
For the Pitiful “Living-Dead”
Sfce King' of the Trout Stream
Eighth of the Outdoor Series
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.
lands of Madagascar and Trinidad. There
is one in New' Brunswick, and one near
Whitecastle, in Louisiana, the only hos
pital for lepers in the United States.
THE LOUISIANA HOME.
The Louisiana State Leper home is on
the lovely “golden coast’’ of the Mis
sissippi river, about 75 miles by rail from
New Orleans. Steamers stop there twice
a week to leave supplies for the lepers.
The main building, which Is occupied by
the sisters of charity, who have charge
of the nursing and domestic departments
of the home, was originally a planta
tion house.
The building in shape is cruciform.
Its front arm has a. wide gallery support
ed by six slender columns that show
Corinthian capitals of exquisite workman
ship. These columns reach tin to the root.
On each side of the beautiful entrance
are two French windows. Wings reacn
out from the sides of the main portion.
Inside is equally as attractive. The man
tels, those that are left, are beautifully
• chiseled marble, and the part of the
celling around the crystal chandeliers are
also of exquisite workmanship. Every
thing about the mansion shows perfect
refinement of taste; and seeing it makes
one realize the horrible degeneracy in
architectural taste of the new south.
The view from the upper gallery of the
mansion, looking out upon the river, is
charming. Behind a clump of trees to
the right of the house, some quarter of
a mile away, is the old Indian camp bury -
ing ground for the slaves. The leper cem
etery Is in the rear of the settlement.
Among the things most needed at the
home is a crematory.
There are eleven hundred acres^ In the
property of the Louisiana State Leper
home, which was originally a sugar and
rice plantation. It was in 1894 that the
* place was selected for a leper home, the
people of Louisiana having become thor
oughly alarmed at the spread of the
disease in the state. A number of lepers
previous to that time had found a
wretched shelter in the pest house. They
were allowed full liberty to beg on the
streets, handle, money, and eat In the
restaurants, etc., hence the spread of the
disease. It was learned, also, that there
were numbers of lepers at large in the
state. Medical authorities gave the warn
ing and after considerable hammering,
a v. aliened the people to a realization
that the situation was alarming. No
one wanted the lqy prs among them, so
it was a hard matter to find for them
a resting place. It was even difficult 'to
get a craft that would transport them
to the home when one was found. At
last a coal barge was secured upon which
mattresses were placed, and a tarpaulin
cover to be used fn case of bad weather.
Pome of 'the lepers were afraid to go, ,
knowing that it meant that they would
never return; but most of them were
glad to get away from the horrible pest
house. A good Samaritan who owned a
package wagon offered it to transport
'them to the barge.
Even though their new home. Indian
Camp plantation, was in a dilapidated
state, it must have been a beautiful
haven to these poor creatures: and when
two years later the good Sisters of
Charity, of the Order of St. Vincent de
Paul. came, what a glorious change took
place in their lives! Never nobler souls
lived than the goad Sisters of Charity.
On the evening that the “Paul Tulane”
was to break from her moorings, and
carry them away with her to Leper
Land, there were many people down on
the wharf 'to pee them off. Some one
asked the leader of the little band, at
the moment of departure, if she felt any
hesitancy. “yvhy should a Sister of
Charity hesitate?" she answered. "Are
we not pledged to a life of self-sacrifice
and devotion to humanity? And asso
ciations? Dearer ties were broken long
ago to follow the voice that called from
within to higher tilings.”
The main budding where the sisters re
side stands back about half a block
from the levee of the river. The struc
ture, as has been said, is not in good
condition, for the board of control of the
Jiome is limited as to means. They hope
soon to have all the buildings in good
order. Three new cottages, spotlessly
white, in which reside the female pa
tients, have recently been erected. They
are complete in every respect with sani
tary plumbing, steam heat, lavatories,
bath rooms, etc. They have attics to store
away trunks and clothing. The rooms
have rounded corners to prevent the col
lection of dust, ar.d the ceilings and walls
are of acme cement, which can be easily
disinfected. The bed rooms are particu
larly attractive, having steel beds, steel
tables with glass tops, easy rocking
chairs, and everything in hospital style.
These rooms were furnished as memo
rials by charitable friends, who came
to the aid of Sister Benedicta, when she
was troubled as to how the new cottages
were to he furnished, the board having
\ery little money. The men are housed
in the old slave cabins which have been
renovated. New homes for them aie
r.ow under consideration.
The houses of the patients are within
a pressed steel ineloeure which covers
15 acres of ground. The dining hall is
separate. There is an operating room,
and. a laboratory for microscopic study.
GOOD CHEER PRESENT,
is the pretty cottage of Father La foil,
where, also, the visiting physician stops
when he makes his weekly visits. Grand
old live oaks, with hanging moss, charm
the visitor to this lovely spot, which
looks anything but a place of sadness.
I spent a lovely May day at the home.
The first Thing that attracted my attc-n-
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°ere Lafan in Front of Chapel.
tiou al':,T I passed into the inner inclos-
vre with the sisters was an old tabby
lying stretched out on one of the porches,
ss it it owned the leper settlement. Oi
another porch a canary bird was singing
in its gilded cage. About the cottages
were rose bushes and other plants. One
of the chief employments of those who
are able to go about "is gardening. IJoors
and windows were open, and I could sec
into these neatly kept homes. A plane
graced one of the halls. It was a gift
from some warm heal t. Several patients
with comely faces were to be seen. The
first cottage contained those afflicted
with the anesthetic, or mildest form of
tile disease. In the second were the tu
bercular and those in the last stages, to
whom death proves a blessing. The third
cottage was inhabited by three negro
women.
the habit of coming out into the room,
1 lie doctors in charge of the home be
lieve in the possible cure of leprosy if
taken in time. One young boy who came
to the home in 1902. with his body cov
ered with ulcers; a coffee-colored face,
eyebrows and eyelashes gone, and tiiat
leonine expression peculiar to the leper,
is now entirely cured. For ten other pa
tients the door of hope is open.
Occasionally a patient will abscond.
One young man who "departed one night
sent a letter from San Francisco, say
ing he was bound for the Sandwich
islands.
Leprosy has hitherto been considered
an incurable disease. The best of care,
treatment persevered in; good food, pure
country air, everything conducive to the
betterment of the patient's condition, is
working wonders for them. A dozen
cures have been reported within the last
ten years at the Louisiana home, and all
have more or less improved except those
ip the last stages. The Louisiana home is
under splendid management. Letters
from Cuba. Mexico and other states
have recently been received from lepers
asking for admission.
Lepers once in hiding now voluntarily
come to the home, knowing that there
only they can hope for amelioration of
their condition. In time there is no doubt
the disease will be crushed out front the
state.
Leprosy came to the United States dur
ing the revolution. It was brought to
Louisiana from the West Indies, though
at one lime it was thought the Acadians
introduced it. There was a leper home
in New Orleans during the colony days
of that city which was founded by Don
Andres Almonester, whose tomb may be
found in the old St. Louis cathedral. By
degrees the disease was stamped cut.
Regarding the contagiousness • of
leprosy, the authorities here believe that
it is only by inhaling the breath of tha
leprous patient, or by coming in con
tact with him through some abrasion of
the skin, that the disease can be con
tracted. When the sisters dress the
sores of the lepers they wear long white
medicated gloves.
The anesthetic type of leprosy is said
to differ from the tubercular, in that tha
bones are. absorbed. Some of the symp
toms of leprosy are brownish spots on
the skin; an insensibility to feeling,
especially of the feet and hands; eve-
brows and eyelashes falling; hoarseness
of voice. As the. disease advances,
ulcers appear, and the hands and feet are
often crippled, and sometimes “slough
off," as some one. has expressed it. As
a rule, lepers have good appetites. The
bacillus leproe was discovered by Dr.
Hansen, of Norway, in 1873.
CAUSE A MYSTERY.
Th? cause of leprosy js yet enshrouded
in mystery. The eating of putrid fish is
a theory held by many. New Zealanders
are, of the opinion that improved agri
culture, and diet of fresh vegetables, did
as much as anything else to wipe the
scourge out of their country
Life at the home goes on peacefully.
The plantation bell rings at 6 a. m. At
7 is the breakfast hour for those who
are able to go about. The sisters are
angels of mercy and the good chaplain
helps them to brighten the lives of these
outcasts.
The lepers I saw had cheerful counte
nances and showed that they were well
cared for. They lived, not in a pest house,
but in a comfortable hospital. The wom
en. of course 1 mean those who are able,
employ their time in caring for their
rooms and flowers. They play croquet,
have a piano and read. The sisters give
daily readings to ail the patients who
wish it. There are three young boys at
the home. aged, respectively, 14. 15 and
16. who have school hours every day.
The men have a chicken yard. One of
the New Orleans clubs sent them a com
bination billiard and pool table. They
have organized an orchestra, kind friends
having donated musical instruments.
They have a little pavilion which they
built themselves, standing high, so that
boats can be seen passing up and down
the river, which otherwise would be bid
den by the levee. Here they often meet
for practice. A bicycle track is a piece ot
their work, a donation of seven bicycles
being among their gifts. When a young
lad who had been longing for one heard
that they had arrived, he was so happy
he said he felt as if he were out in the
world again.
A talking machine is a source of great
amusement. The lepers have many kind
friends who wish them well, and remem
ber them generously on Christmas and
Easter. No warmer friend have they
than Father r.iever. of the Jesuit college,
who sometimes gives them a magic lan
tern evening or entertains them in other
ways. .He is one of the most interested
workers for the home. At Christmas the
sisters give the lepers a Christmas tree,
and fill their stockings with gifts flowing
over. The institution is non-sectarian and
noble friends of different denominations
remember them at Yui e tide.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
Sot- of tlie gifts are along'these lines:
AH kinds of jellies, preserves, pickles,
fruits, hams, evaporated apricots, prunes'
assorted groceries, fans, fancy baskets!
pictures, fancy table cloths. rocking
chairs and easy chairs, books, candies'!
handsome lamps, pretty cups and sauc
ers, cologne, stationery, soap and sponges,
violinceello, finite, tambuorine, autohurp!
zither, banjo, mandolin, accordion, har
monica. sheet music, lounge, firecrackers
fireworks, etc. So grateful are the lepers
to those who help to brighten their lives.
Why not send a box from Georgia occa
sionally—celebrate the birthday of one of
Georgia’s great men. General Gordon’s,
for example, by remembering the lepers.
Some one has written a little poem
entitled “The Singing Lf'per," which is
worth repeating:
“Deep in the heart of a solitude, *
A huntsman, straying, found
A dying leper in a wood.
Stretched singing on the ground.
“Yea. singing on a bed of ferns.
In strains so sweet and strong.
That never had the huntsman heard
So ravishing a song.
“ ’I see a glory in the air.
And in the midst thereof.
A radiant face. O grave and fair!
How full of pitying love!’
“So ran 'the words. The strong man
stooped
Above the leprous thing;
’God save thee, brother of the worms.
How canst. forsaken, sing?'
“Of% of the pallid lips, the sweet
Unearthy whisper stole:
‘There’s nothing save this wall of fles'n
’Twixt heaven and my soul.
“ ’This foul, corrupted wall of flesh
Behold! it drops away.
Should not 'the ransomed captive sing?
I shall be free today!’
“And even as the huntsman gazed, *
Loosed was the singer's sbul;
A shower of lilies hid the corse—
The leper was made whole.”
more graceful, but in him there wa.
something besides beauty—something
that told of power and speed and dogger-
ness He was like a man-o’-war dressed
out in all her bunting for some great gala
occasion, but still showing 'her grim,
heavy outlines beneath her decorations.
His broad mouth opened clear back under
his eyes and was armed with rows or
backward-pointing teeth, so sharp ar.d
strong that when they once fastened
themselves upon a smaller fish they nev
er let him go again. The only way out
from between those jaws was down his
throat. His eyes were large and bright
and were set well apart; and the bulge
of his forehead between them hinted at
more brains than are allotted to some of
the people of the stream. Altogether, he
was a most gallant and knightly little
fisih and it would certainly have been a
pity If he hadn’t found a mate.
And now he started the third time for
the gravelly shallow, and traveled as he
had never traveled before in all his life.
Streams are made to swim against—every
brook trout knows that—and the faster
they run, the greater is the joy of breast
ing them.
As before, .he and the other males ar
rived at the nesting grounds some days in
advance of their mates, and spent the in
tervening time in scooping hollows in the
gravel and quarreling among themselves.
Two or three times he was driven from a
choice location by some one who was big
ger than he, but he always managed in
some way to regain it. or else stole an
other from a' smaller fish; and when the
women finally appeared he had a fine
large nest in a pleasant situation a little
apart from those of hi3 rivals. But for
some reason the first candidates who
came to look at it declined to stay. Per
haps they were not quite ready to settle
down, or perhaps they were merely dis
posed to insist on the feminine privilege
of changing their minds. But finally there
came one who seemed to be quite satis
fied, and with whom the trout himself
had every reason to be pleased.
As she and our friend swam side by side,
her nose and the end of her tail were ex
actly even with his. Her colors were the
same that he had worn before he put on
his wedding garments, and if you had
seen them together in the early summer I
don’t believe you could ever have told
them apart. They were a well-matched
pair, more evenly mated, probably, than
Is usual in fish marriages.
But they were not to be allowed to set
up housekeeping together without fight
ing for the privilege. Hardly had she
finished inspecting the nest, and made up
her mind that it would answer, and
that he was, on the whole, quite eligible
as a husband, when a third trout ap
peared and attempted to do as the big
bully had done the year before.
This time, however, our young friend's
blood was up, and, though the enemy
was considerably larger than he, he was
ready to strike for his altars and his
fires. He made a quick rush, like a
torpedo boat attacking a man-of-war,
and hit the intruder amidships, ram
ming him with all his might. Then the
enemy made as sudden a turn, and gave
our trout a poke in the ribs, and for a
few minutes they dodged back and forth,
and round and round, and over and un
der each other, each getting ir. a punch
whenever he had a chance. So far it
seemed only a trial of strength and speed
and dexterity, and if our trout was not
quite as large and powerful as the other,
yet he proved himself the quicker and
the more agile and lively. But before
it was over he did more than that, for,
suddenly ranging up on the enemy's
starboard quarter, he opened his mouth,
and the sharp teech of his lower jaw
tore a row of bright scales from his ad
versary's side, and left a long, deep gash
behind. That settled it. The big fel
low lit out as fast as he could so. and
our trout was left in undisputed posses
sion.
One of the trout's most remarkable
adventures, and the one which probably
taught him »sore than any other, came
during the hot weather of the following
summer. The stream had grown rather
too warm for comfort, and lately he had
got into the habit of frequenting certain .
deep, quiet pools where icy springs bub
bled put of the banks and imparted a
very grateful coolness to the slow cur
rent. It was delightful to spend a long
July afternoon in the wash below one
of these fountains, having a lazy, pleas
ant time, and enjoying the touch of the
cold water as it went sliding along his
body from nose to tail. One sunshiny
day, as he lay in his favorite spring hole,
thinking about nothing in particular, and
just, working his fins enough to keep
from drifting down stream, a fly lit on
the surface just over his head—a bright,,
gayly colored fly of a species which was
entirely new to him. hut which looked
as if it must be very finely flavored.
He made a dash at the fly and seized
it, but he had not sooner got it betiveon
his lips than he spat it out again. There
was something wrong with it. Instead
of being soft and juicy and luscious, as
nil flies ought to be. it was stiff and dry
and hard, and it had a long, crooked
stinger that was different from anything
belonging to any other fly that he had
ever tasted. It disappeared as suddenly
as it had come, and the trout sank back
to the bottom of the pool.
But presently three more flies came
down together, and lighted in a row. on:
Lehind another. They were different lio.n
the first, and he decided to try again.
He chose the foremost of the three, and
found it quite as ill tasting as the other
had been; but this time he didn't spit it
out, for the stinger was a little too quicg
for him, and before he could let go it
was fast !n his lip. For the next few
minutes he tore around the pool as if he
was crazy, frightening some of the small
er fishes almost out of their wits and
sending them rushing upstream in a pan
ic. He himself had more than once been
hadlv scared by seeing otliei trout Jo
just what he was doing, but he had novel
realized what it all meant. Now he un
derstood.
The first thing he did was to go shoot
ing along the surface for several feet,
throwing his head from side to side as he
went, and doing his best to shake that
horrible fly out of his mouth. But it
wouldn’t shake; so he tried jumping out
of the water and striking at the line with
his tail. That wasn't any better, and
next he rushed off up the stream as hard
ns he could go. But the line kept pulling
him round to the left with gentle but
Irresistible force, and before he knew it
he was back in the pool again. Wher
ever he went, and whatever he did, it
was alwa.v« pulling, pulling, pulling—not
hard enough to tear the hook away, bat
Just enough to keep him from getting an
inch of slack. If there had been ayy
chance to jerk he would probably have
got loose in short order. He rusht J
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.
around the pool so hard that he soon
grew weary, and presently ne sank to
the bottom, hoping to lie still for a lew
minutes end rest, and perhaps think of
seme new way of escape. But even there
that steady tugging never ceased. ft
seemed as If it would pull his jaw out
of his head if he didn’t yield, and be-
AjteAordEAJP mjrtxe&siAD jpawDivAi/rrzzzDDr
fore long he let himself be drawn up
again to the surface. Once he was so
close to the shore that the angler made
n thrust at him with the landing-net, and
lust grazed his side. It frightened him
worse than ever, and he raced away again
so t'a-t thai the reel sang and the 1:l:■ ■
swished through the water like a knife.
Th< other two flics were trailing be
hind, and the short line that held them
was constantly catching on his fins and
twisting itself around hts tail in a way
that annoyed him greatly. He almost
thought he coiilld get away if they wcie
not there to hinder him. And yet, as if
firolly turned out. it was one of those
flies that saved his life. Ho was coming
slowly back from that last unsuccessful
rush for liberty, fighting for every inch,
end only yielding to n strength a thou
sand times greater than his own, when
the traifer caught on a sunken log ami
Jeifl fast. Instantly the strain on his
mouth relaxed. The angler was r.o long
er pulling on him. but on the log. He
could jerk now. and he immediately be
gan to twitch his head this way and that,
backward and forward, right and left,
tearing the hole in his lip a little laigtr
at every yank, until the hook came away
and lie free.
It was a painful experience, and he
carried the scar as long as he lived, but
ihe lesson he learned was worth all it
eost. T won’t say that he never touched
bait again, but Jje was much more cau
tious, and no other artificial fly ever
stung him as badly as that one.
The years went by. and the trout in
creased in size and strength and wisdom,
as a trout should. One after another
his rivals went away to the happy hunt
ing grounds, most of them losing' their
lives because they could not resist the
temptation to taste a made-up fly, or
to swallow a luscious angleworm fes
tooned on a dainty little steel hook; and
the number of fish who dared dispute his
right to do whatever he pleased grew
beautifully less. And at last there was
only one trout left In all the stream who
was larger and stronger than he. That
was tlie same big fellow who had come
so near swallowing him on the occasion
of his first visit to the nesting grounds;
and the way the fierce, solemn old brute
finally departed this life deserves a par
agraph all to itself.
It happened one morning in early
spring, just after the ice had gone out.
Our friend was still a trifle sleepy and
lazy after the long, dull winter, though
he had an eye open, as always, for any
thing particularly good to eat. I doubt
if he would have jumped at any kind of
a fly*, for it was not the right tijne of
year for flies, and he did not believe in
eating them out of season; but almost
anything else was welcome. He was
faring very well that morning, as it
chanced, for the stream was running
high, and many a delicious gTub and
earthworm had been swept into it by
the netting snow. And presently, what
should come drifting down with the cur
rent hut a poor little field mouse, strug
gling desperately in a vain effort to swim
back to the shore. Once before our
friend had swallowed a mouse whole,
just as you would take an oyster from
the half shell, and he know that they
wore very nice, indeed. He made a
rush for the unlucky little animal, and in
another second he would have had him;
but just then the big bully came swag
gering up with an air which seemed to
say: "That’s my meat. You get out of
this!"
Otir friend obeyed, the big fellow gave
a leap and seized the mouse, and then—
his time had come. He fought bravely,
but he was fairly hooked, and in a few
minutes he lay out on the bank, gasp
ing for breath, flopping wildly about, and
fouling his beautiful sides with sand and
drit. If he had understood English he
might have overheard an argument which
immediately took place between the
angler and a girl, and which began some
thing like this:
"Tnere!" In a triumphant tone; “who
says mice aren’t good bait? This is the
biggest trout that's been caught in this
stream for years.’’
"Oh. George, don't kill him! He's so
pretty!. Put him back in the water.”
"Put him back in the water? Well. 1
should say not! What do you take me
for?”
Evidently the girl took him for one
who could be easily influenced by the
right person, for she kept up the argu
ment, and in the end she won her case.
The trout was tossed back into the
stream, where he gave himself a shako
or two, to get rid of the sand, and then
swam away, apparently as well as ever.
Bim girls don’t always know what is
good for trout. It would really have-
been kinder if the angler had hit him
over the head with the butt of his fish
ing rod. and then carried him orrte and
put him in the frying pan. In Ills strug
gles a part of the mucus had been rubbed
from his body, and that always means
trouble for a fish. A few days later our
friend met him again, and noticed that
a curious growth had appeared on his
back and sides—a growth which bore a
i'a'nt resemblance to the bloom on a
peach, and which had taken the exact
shape of the prints of the angler's fin
gers. The fungus had got him. He
was dying, slowly but surely, and with
in a week he turned over on his back
and drifted away down the stream. A
black bear found bim wnirllng round
and round in a little eddy under the
bank, and that was the end of him.
And so our friend became the king of
the trout stream.
You are not to suppose, however, that
he paid very much attention to his sub
jects. or that he was particularly fond
of having them about him and giving
them orders. On the contrary, he nan
become very hermit-like in his habits.
In his youth he had been fond of society,
and he and his companions had often
roamed the stream in little schools and
bands, bu*t of late years his tastes seeme.t
to have undergone a change, and he
kept to himself and lurkea m me shady,
sunless places till his skin grew dancer
and darker, and he more and more re
sembled the shadows in which he lived.
His great delight was to watch from
the depths of some cave-like hollow un
der an overhanging bank until a star
gazer, or a herring, or a minnow, or-
some other baby-eater came in sight,
and then to rush out and swanow mm
head first. He took ample revenge on
all those pesky little fishes for all that
they had done and tried to do to him and
his brethren in the early days. Trie
truth is that every brook '!rnut is an
Ishmaelite. The hand of every creature
is against him. from that of the dragon
fly iarva to that of the man with tne
latest invention in the way of piAtent
fishing tackle.
Yet, in spite of our friend's moroseness
and solitary habits, there were certain
times and seasons when he did come more
or less in contact with his inferiors. In
late spring and early summer he liked
to sport for a while in the swift rapids—
perhaps to stretch his muscles after the
dull, quiet life of the winter time, or
possibly to free himself from certain lit-
tio insects which sometimes fastened
themselves to his body, and which, for
lack of hands, it was rather difficu!t«to
get rid of. Here he often met some of
his subjects, and later, when the hot
weather came on. they all went to the
spring holes which formed their sum
mer resorts. And at such times he never
hesitated to take advantage of his su
perior size and strength. He always
picked out the coolest and most com
fortable places in the pools and helped,
himself to the choicest morsels of food,
and the others took,.what was left with
out question. And when the summer was
gone and the water grew cold and invig
orating. and once more he put on his
wedding garment and hurried away to
the gravelly shallows, how different was
his eonuuct from what it had been when
he was a yearling! Then he was only a
hanger-on; now he selected his nest and
his mate to suit himself, and nobody
ever dared to interfere.
The trout had altered in many ways
beside his relations to his fellows. Tne
curving lines of his body were not quilt,
as graceful as they had once been, and
sometimes he wore a rather lean and di
lapidated look, especially in the six
months from November to May He
tail was not as handsomely forked a.-
when he was young, but was neainy
square across the end and was begin
ning to be a little frayed at the cornets
His lower jaw had grown out beyond
the upper, and its extremity was turned
up in a wicked-looking hook which he
often found very useful in hustling
vounger trout out of the way.
his complexion had grown darker as Wc.
have already seen. Altogether lu "'1
lesc prepossessing than ot old, h t
a much more formidable appearance, and
the verv look of him was enough
scare a minnow out of a year s growtn.
But notwithstanding all changes, the
two great Interests of his every-day h-e
continued to be just what they had ..1-
ways been—namely, to get ^
and to keep out of the wav of ! > 1S P
mies. for enemies he still had and would
have as long as he lived. 'he fly-fishei
men. with their feather-weight rods and
their scentific tackle came every sprint
and summer, and only the wisdom born of
Evf a
experience kept him from falling inir
tfiei- hands. Several times he met with an
niter and had to run for his lue.
Once a black bear, fishing for suckers,
came near catching a brook trout. And
perhaps the very closest of all his close
calls came one day when some river driv
ers exploded a stick of dynamite in the
water to break up a log jam. Tne trout
was some distance up the stream at the
time but the concussion stunned lam so
that he floated at the surface, wrong
side up for several minutes before his
senses gradually came back. That is a
fish’s way of fainting.
His luck stayed with him. .however, and
none, of these things ever did him any
serious harm. His reign proved a long
one, find as the years went by he came to
exercise a more and more autocratic way-
over the small fry. For, in spite of his
age, he was still growing. A trout lias
an advantage over a land animal in this,
that he is not obliged to use any of his
food as fuel for keeping himself warm.
He can’t keep warm anyhow—not as long
as he ivies In the water—and so he doesn’t
try, but devotes everything he eats to
enlarging his body and repairing wear
and tear.
The last act of the drama was so in
glorious, that I am almost ashamed to tell
it .lie was the King of the Trout
Stream; over and over he had run fate’s
gantlet, and escaped with his body- un
harmed and his wits sharper than ever;
he knew the wiles of the fly fishermen hot
ter than any other trout in the river;
and yet, alas! ho fell a victim to a little
Indian boy with a piece t>f edging for a
rod. coarse string for a line and salt
pork for bait.
I’m sure it wouldn’t have happened if
he had stayed at home: hut one spring
he took it into his head to go on an ex
ploring expedition. In the course of his
wanderings lie came to whore a school of
Perch were loafing in the shadow of a
wharf; and just as he pushed his way-
in among them, that little white piece of
fat pork sank slowly down through the
green water. it was something new in
the trout; he didnlt quite know" wtyit to
make of it. But the perch seemed to
think It was good, and they would be
sure to eat It If he didn’t: and s u H '-
Uiougb the string was in plain sight" and
ought to have been a sufficient warnin'-
he exercised his royal prerogative, shoid-
dered those yellow barred plebeians out
of the way and took the tid-bit for iiim-
»olf. It is-too humiliating; let us draw a
veil over that closing scene
The King of the Trout Stream had gone
the way ot his fatferg, and another rei-n
ed in his stead. el " n
U
iU
•*!
—-sad