5 a rs- i5/llN'JiinMy ^NNlE-TRU/v\BULL-SLOSS ^ r CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by Microsoft® PS 2859.S2F5 ""'"""" '""'"^ ..RS.W"' Jimmy 3 1924 021 475 011 Digitized by Microsoft® This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation with Corneii University Libraries, 2007. You may use and print this copy in iimited quantity for your personai purposes, but may not distribute or provide access to it (or modified or partiai versions of it) for revenue-generating or other commerciai purposes. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® * I 'm gettin' on now, 1 'm nigh seventy/ Digitized by Microsoft® FISHIN' JIMMY BY ANNIE TRUMBULL SLOSSON ajEiti) Ellusttations By G. F-R. and a. F. B. NEW YORK ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 182 Fifth Avenue Digitized by Microsoft® Cofyright, 1889, By Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. Digitized by Microsoft® ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE " I 'm gettin' on now, I 'm nigh seventy " . . Frontispiece. " There 's a dreffle lot o' that peppergrass out in deep water there " 13 Bluebird 18 The Deer 20 " 'T was the ole Union Meetin'-house " . . 23 " A little French Canadian Girl " 34 Tailpiece . . 36 The dog Dash 38 " At the foot of a mass of rock . the old man was lying, and Dash was with him " 43 " Flickering lights, thrown by (he lanterns of the guides, came through the woods " . . 49 Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® FISHIN' JIMMY. I. TT was on the margin of Pond Brook, -■- just back of Uncle Eben's, that I first saw Fishin' Jimmy. It was early June, and we were again at Franconia, that peaceful little village among the northern hills. The boys, as usual, were tempting the trout with false fly or real worm, and I was roaming along the bank, seeking spring flowers, and hunting early butterflies and moths. Suddenly there was a little plash in the water at the spot where Ralph was fishing, the slender tip of his rod bent, I heard a voice cry out, " Strike him, sonny, strike him ! " and an old man came quickly but noiselessly through the bushes, just as Digitized by Microsoft® 8 Fishin' Jimmy. Ralph's line flew up into space, with, alas ! no shining, spotted trout upon the hook. The newcomer was a spare, wiry man of ■.niddle height, with a slight stoop in his shoulders, a thin brown face, and scanty gray hair. He carried a fishing-rod, and had some small trout strung on a forked stick in one hand. A simple, homely figure, yet he stands out in memory just as I saw him then, no more to be forgotten than the granite hills, the rushing streams, the cascades of that north country I love so well. We fell into talk at once, Ralph and Waldo rushing eagerly into questions about the fish, the bait, the best spots in the stream, advancing their own small the- ories, and asking advice from their new friend. For friend he seemed even in that first hour, as he began simply, but so wise- ly, to teach my boys the art he loved. They are older now, and are no mean anglers, I believe; but they look back gratefully to those brookside lessons, and Digitized by Microsoft® _ Fishin Jimmy. g acknowledge gladly their obligations to Fishin' Jimmy. But it is not of these prac- tical teachings I would now speak ; rather of the lessons of simple faith, of unwearied patience, of self-denial and cheerful endur- ance which the old man himself seemed to have learned, strangely enough, from the very sport so often called cruel and mur- derous. Incomprehensible as it may seem, to his simple intellect the fisherman's art was a whole system of morality, a guide for every-day life, an education, a gospel. It was all any poor mortal man, woman, or child needed in this world to make him or her happy, useful, good. At first we scarcely realized this, and wondered greatly at certain things he said, and the tone in which he said them. I remember at that first meeting I asked him, rather carelessly, " Do you like fish- ing? " He did not reply at first; then he looked at me with those odd, limpid, green- gray eyes of his which always seemed to reflect the clear waters of mountain Digitized by Microsoft® lo Fishin' Jimmy. streams, and said very quietly : " You wouldn't ask me if I liked my mother — or my wife." And he always spoke of his pursuit as one speaks of something very dear, very sacred. Part of his story I learned from others, but most of it from himself, bit by bit, as we wandered to- gether day by day in that lovely hill-coun- try. As I tell it over again I seem to hear the rush of mountain streams, the " sound of a going in the tops of the trees," the sweet, pensive strain of white-throat spar- row, and the plash of leaping trout; to see the crystal-clear waters pouring oyer gran- ite rock, the wonderful purple light upon the mountains, the flash and glint of dart- ing fish, the tender green of early summer in the north country. Fishin' Jimmy's real name was James VVhitcher. He was born in the Franconia Valley, and his whole life had been passed there. He had always fished ; he could not remember when or how he learned the art. From the days when, a tiny, bare- Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. ii legged urchin in ragged frock, he had dropped his piece of string with its bent pin* at the end into the narrow, shallow brooklet behind his father's house, through early boyhood's season of roaming along Gale River, wading Black Brook, rowing a leaky boat on Streeter's or Mink Pond, through youth, through manhood, on and on into old age, his life had apparently been one long day's fishing — an angler's holiday. Had it been only that? He had not cared for books, or school, and all efforts to tie him down to study were un- availing. But he knew well the books of running brooks. No dry botanical text- book or manual could have taught him all he now knew of plants and flowers and trees. He did not call the yellow spatterdock Nuphar advena, but he knew its large leaves of rich green, where the black bass or pickerel sheltered themselves from the summer sun, and its yellow balls on stout stems, around which his line so often Digitized by Microsoft® 12 Fishin' Jimmy. twined and twisted, or in which the hook caught, not to be jerked out till the long, green, juicy stalk itself, topped with globe of greenish gold, came up from its wet bed. He knew the sedges along the bank with their nodding tassels and stiff lance-like leaves, the feathery grasses, the velvet moss upon the wet stones, the sea-green lichen on bowlder or tree-trunk. There, in that corner of Echo Lake, grew the thick- est patch of pipewort,with its small, round, grayish-white, mushroom-shaped tops on long, slender stems. If he had styled it Eriocaulon septangulare, would it have shown a closer knowledge of its habits than did his careful avoidance of its vicin- ity, his keeping line and flies at a safe dis- tance, as he muttered to himself, " Them pesky butt'ns agin ! " He knew by sight the bur-reed of mountain ponds, with its round, prickly balls strung like big beads on the stiff, erect stalks ; the little water- lobelia, with tiny purple blossoms, spring- ing from the waters of lake and pond. He Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 75 knew, too, all the strange, beautiful under- water growth : bladderwort in long, feath- ery garlands, pellucid water-weed, quill- wort in stiff little bunches with sharp- pointed leaves of olive green, — all so sel- dom seen save by the angler whose hooks draw up from time to time the wet, lovely tangle. I remember the amusement with which a certain well-known botanist, who had journeyed to the mountains in search of a little plant, found many years ago near Echo Lake, but not since seen, heard me propose to consult Fishin' Jimmy on the subject. But I was wiser than he knew. Jimmy looked at the specimen brought as an aid to identification. It was dry and flattened, and as unlike a liv- ing, growing plant as are generally the specimens from an herbarium. But it showed the awl-shaped leaves, and thread- like stalk with its tiny round seed-vessels, like those of our common shepherd's- purse, and Jimmy knew it at once. " There 's a dreffle lot o' that peppergrass Digitized by Microsoft® i6 Fishin Jimmy. out in deep water there, jest where I ketched the big pick'ril," he said quietly. " I seen it nigh a foot high, an' it 's jucier and livin'er than them dead sticks in your book." At our request he accompanied the unbeheving botanist and myself to the spot ; and there, looking down through the sunlit water, we saw great patches of that rare and long-lost plant of the Cruciferse known to science as Subularia aquatica. For forty years it had hidden itself away, growing and blossoming and casting abroad its tiny seeds in its watery home, unseen, or at least unnoticed, by living soul, save by the keen, soft, limpid eyes of Fishin' Jimmy. And he knew the trees and shrubs so well: the alder and birch from which as a boy he cut his simple, pliant pole ; the shad-blow and iron-wood (he called them, respectively, sugarplum and hard-hack) which he used for the more ambitious rods of maturer years; the mooseberry, wayfaring-tree, hobble- bush, or triptoe — it has all these names — ■ Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. ly with stout, trailing branches, over which he stumbled as he hurried through the woods and underbrush in the darkening twilight. He had never heard of entomology. Guen^e, HUbner, and Fabricius were un- known names ; but he could have told these worthies many new things. Did they know just at what hour the trout ceased leaping at dark fly or moth, and could see only in the dim light the ghostly white miller ? Did they know the comparative merits, as a tempting bait, of grasshopper, cricket, spider, or wasp ; and could they, with bits of wood, tinsel, and feather, copy the real dipterous, hymenopterous, or orthopterous insect? And the birds: he knew them as do few ornithologists, by sight, by sound, by little ways and tricks of their own, known only to themselves and him. The white-throat sparrow with its sweet, far- reaching chant; the hermit-thrush with its chime of bells in the calm summer twi- light; the vesper-sparrow that ran before Digitized by Microsoft® 1 8 Fishin' Jimmy. him as he crossed the meadow, or sang for hours, as he fished the stream, its unvary- ing, but scarcely monoto- nous little strain; the cedar-bird, with its smooth brown coat of Quaker simplicity, and speech as brief and simple as Quaker yea or nay; the winter- wren sending out his strange, lovely, liquid war- ble from the high, rocky side of Cannon Mountain ; the bluebird of that early spring, so wel- come to the winter-weary dwellers in that land of ice and snow, as he " from the bluer deeps Lets fall a quick, prophetic strain," of summer, of streams freed and flowing again, of waking, darting, eager fish, — all these were friends, familiar, tried, and true to Fishin' Jimmy. The cluck and coo of the cuckoo, the bubbling song of bobolink in buff and black, the watery trill of the Digitized by Microsoft® Fisbin' Jimmy. ig stream-loving swamp-sparrow, the whis- pered whistle of the stealthy, darkness- haunting whippoorwill, the gurgle and gargle of the cow-bunting, — he knew each and all, better than did Audubon, Nuttall, or Wilson. But he never dreamed that even the tiniest of his little favorites bore, in the scientific world, far away from that quiet mountain nest, such names as Trog- lodytes hyemalis or Melospiza palustris. He could tell you, too, of strange, shy creatures rarely seen except by the early- rising, late-fishing angler, in quiet, lone- some places: the otter, muskrat, and mink of ponds and lakes, — rival fishers, who bore off prey sometimes from under his very eyes, — field-mice in meadow and pasture, blind, burrowing moles, prickly hedge-hogs, brown hares, and social, curi- ous squirrels. Sometimes he saw deer, in the early morning or in the dusk of the evening, as they came to drink at the lake shore, and looked at him with big, soft eyes not un- Digitized by Microsoft® 20 Fishin' Jimmy. like his own. Sometimes a shaggy bear trotted across his path and hid himself in the forest, or a sharp-eared fox ran bark- ing through the bushes. He loved to tell of these things to us who cared to listen, and I still seem to hear his voice saying in hushed tones, after a story of woodland sight or sound: "Nobody don't see 'em but fishermen. Nobody don't hear 'em but fishermen." Digitized by Microsoft® II. T)UT it was of another kind of knowl- -*-^ edge he oftenest spoke, and of which I shall try to tell you, in his own words as nearly as possible. First let me say that if there should seem to be the faintest tinge of irreverence in aught I write, I tell my story badly. There was no irreverence in Fishin' Jimmy. He possessed a deep and profound vener- ation for all things spiritual and heavenly; but it was the veneration of a little child, mingled as is that child's with perfect con- fidence and utter frankness. And he used the dialect of the country in which he lived. " As I was tellin' ye," he said, " I allers loved fishin' an' knowed 'twas the best thing " 1 the hull airth. I knowed it larnt ye more about creeters an' yarbs an' stuns an' water than books could tell ye. I Digitized by Microsoft® 22 Fishin' Jimmy. knowed it made folks patienter an' com monsenser an' weather-wiser an' cuter gen'ally ; gin 'em more fac'lty than all the school larnin' in creation. I knowed it was more fillin' than vittles, more rousin' than whiskey, more soothin' than lodlum. I knowed it cooled ye off when ye was het, an' het ye when ye was cold. I knowed all that, o' course — any fool knows it. But — will ye b'l'eve it? — I was more'n twenty-one year old, a man growed, 'fore I foun' out why 'twas that away. Father an' mother was Christian folks, good out-an'- out Calv'nist Baptists from over East'n way. They fetched me up right, made me go to meetin' an' read a chapter every Sunday, an' say a hymn Sat'day night a'ter washin' ; an' I useter say my prayers mos' nights. I wa' n't a bad boy as boys go. But nobody thought o' tellin' me the one thing, jest the one single thing, that 'd ha" made all the diffunce. I knowed about God, an' how he made me an' made the airth, an' everythin', an' once I got thinkin' Digitized by Microsoft® 'T was the ole Union Meetin' -house.' Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. a^ about that, an' I asked my father if God made the fishes. He said 'course he did, the sea an' all that in 'em is ; but somehow that did n't seem to mean nothin' much to me, an' I lost my int'rist agin. An' I read the Scripter account o' Jonah an' the big fish, an' all that in Job about pullin' out levi'thing with a hook an' stickin' fish spears in his head, an' some parts in them queer books nigh the end o' the ole Test'- ment about fish-ponds an' fish-gates an' fish-pools, an' how the fishers shall I'ment — everything I could pick out about fishin' an' sech ; but it did n't come home to me ; 'twa'n't my kind o' fishin' an' I didn't seem ter sense it. "But one day — it's more 'n forty year ago now, but I rec'lect it same 's 'twas yes- t'day, an' I shall rec'lect it forty thousand year from now if I 'm 'round, an' I guess I shall be — I heerd — suthin' — diffunt. I was down in the village one Sunday; it wa' n't very good fishin' — the streams was too full ; an' I thought I 'd jest look into Digitized by Microsoft® 26 FisUn' Jimmy. the meetin'-house 's I went by. 'T was the ole union meetin'-house, ye know, an' they had n't got no reg'lar s'pply, an' ye never knowed what kind ye 'd hear, so 'twas kind o' excitin'. " 'T was late, 'most 'leven o'clock, an' the sarm'n had begun. There was a strange man a-preachin', some one from over to the hotel. I never heerd his name, I never seed him from that day to this ; but I knowed his face. Queer enough I 'd seed him a-fishin'. I never knowed he was a min'ster ; he did n't look like one. He went about like a real fisherman, with ole clo'es an' an ole hat with hooks stuck in it, an' big rubber boots, an' he fished, reely fished, I mean — ketched 'em. I guess 'twas that made me liss'n a leetle sharper 'n us'al, for I never seed a fishin' min'ster afore. Elder Jacks'n, he said 'twas a sinf'l waste o' time, an' ole Parson Loomis, he 'd an idee it was cruel an' onmarciful ; so I thought I 'd jest see what this man 'd preach about, an' I settled down to liss'n to the sarm'n. Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin Jimmy. 2y "But there wa'n't no sarm'n; not what I 'd been raised to think was the on'y true kind. There wa'n't no heads, no fustlys nor sec'ndlys, nor fin'ly bruthrins, but the first thing I knowed I was hearin' a story, an' 't was a fishin' story. 'T was about Some One — I had n't the least idee then who 'twas, an' how much it all meant — Some One that was dreffle fond o' fishin' an' fishermen, Some One that sot everythin' by the water, and useter go along by the lakes an' ponds, an' sail on 'em, an' talk with the men that was fishin'. An' how the fishermen all liked him, 'nd asked his 'dvice, an' done jest 's he telled 'em about the likeliest places to fish ; an' how they allers ketched more for mindin' him ; an' how when he was a-preachin' he would n't go into a big meetin'-house an' talk to rich folks all slicked up, but he'd jest go out in a fishin' boat, an' ask the men to shove out a mite, an' he 'd talk to the folks on shore, the fishin' folks an' their wives an' the boys an' gals playin' on the shore. An' then, Digitized by Microsoft® 28 Fishin' Jimmy. best o' everythin', he telled how when he was a-choosin' the men to go about with him an' help him an' larn his ways so 's to come a'ter him, he fust o' all picked out the men he 'd seen every day fishin', an' mebbe fished with hisself ; for he knowed 'em an' knowed he could trust 'em. " An' then he telled us about the day when this preacher come along by the lake — a dreffle sightly place, this min'ster said ; he 'd seed it hisself when he was trav'lin' in them countries — an' come acrost two men he knowed well; they was brothers, an' they was a-fishin'. An' he jest asked 'em in his pleasant-spoken, frien'ly way — there wa'n't never sech a drawin', takin', lovin' way with any one afore as this man had, the min'ster said — he jest asked 'em to come along with him ; an' they lay down their poles an' their lines an' everythin', an' jined him. An' then he come along a spell further, an' he sees two boys out with their ole father, an' they was settin ' in a boat an' fixin' up their tackle, an' he asked Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 2g 'em if they 'd jine him, too, an' they jest dropped all their things, an' left the ole man with the boat an' the fish an' the bait an' follered the preacher. I don't tell it very good. I Ve read it an' read it sence that; but I want to make ye see how it sounded to me, how I took it, as the min'- ster telled it that summer day in Francony meetin'. Ye see I 'd no idee who the story was about, the man put it so plain, in com- mon kind o' talk, without any come-to- passes an' whuffers an' thuffers, an' I never conceited 'twas a Bible narr'tive. " An' so fust thing I knowed I says to myself, ' That 's the kind o' teacher I want. If I could come acrost a man like that, I 'd jest foller him, too, through thick an' thin.' Well, I can't put the rest on it into talk very good ; 't aint jest the kind o' thing to speak on 'fore folks, even sech good friends as you. I aint the sort to go back on my word, — fishermen aint, ye know, — an' what I 'd said to myself 'fore I knowed who I was bindin' myself to, I stuck to Digitized by Microsoft® ^o Fishin' Jimmy, a'terwards when I knowed all about him. For 't aint for me to tell ye, who 've got so much more larnin' than me, that there was a dreffle lot more to that story than the fishin' part. That lovin', givin' up, suff'rin', dyin' part, ye know it all yerself, an' I can't kinder say much on it, 'cept when I 'm jest all by myself, or — 'long o' him. " That a'ternoon I took my ole Bible that I had n't read much sence I growed up, an' I went out into the woods 'long the river, an' 'stid o' fishin' I jest sot down an' read that hull story. Now ye know it yer- self by heart, an' ye 've knowed it all yer born days, so ye can't begin to tell how new an' 'stonishin' 't was to me, an' how findin' so much fishin' in it kinder helped me unnerstan' an' b'l'eve it every mite, an' take it right hum to me to foller an' live up to's long's I live an' breathe. Did j'ever think on it, reely? I tell ye, his r'liging 's a fishin' r'Hging all through. His friends was fishin' folks ; his pulpit was a fishin' boat, or the shore o' the lake ; he loved the Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 31 ponds an' streams ; an' when his d'sciples went out fishin', if he did n't go hisself with 'em, he 'd go a'ter 'em, walkin' on the water, to cheer 'em up an' comfort 'em. " An' he was allers 'round the water ; for the story '11 say, ' he come to the sea- shore,' or ' he begun to teach by the sea- side,' or agin, ' he entered into a boat,' an' ' he was in the stern o' the boat, asleep.' " An' he used fish in his mir'cles. He fed that crowd o' folks on fish when they was hungry, bought 'em from a little chap on the shore. I 've oft'n thought how drefifle tickled that boy must 'a' been to have him take them fish. Mebbe they wa'n't nothin' but shiners, but the fust the little feller 'd ever ketched ; an' boys set a heap on their fust ketch. He was dreffle good to child'en, ye know. An' who 'd he come to a 'ter he 'd died, an' ris agin? Why, he come down to the shore 'fore daylight, an' looked off over the pond to where his ole frien's was a-fishin'. Ye see they 'd gone out jest to quiet their minds an' keep Digitized by Microsoft® ^2 FisUn' Jimmy, up their sperrits ; ther 's nothin' like fishin' for that, ye know, an' they 'd ben in a heap o' trubble. When they was settin' up the night afore, worryin' an' wond'rin' an' s'misin' what was goin' ter become on 'em without their master, Peter 'd got kinder desprit, an' he up an' says in his quick way, says he, ' Anyway, I'm. goin' a-fish- in'.' An' they all see the sense on it, — any fisherman would, — an'theysays, says they, 'We'll go 'long too.' But they didn't ketch anythin'. I suppose they could n't fix their minds on it, an' everythin' went wrong like. But when mornin' come creepin' up over the mountings, fust thin' they knowed they see him on the bank, an' he called out to 'em to know if they 'd ketched anythin'. The water jest run down my cheeks when I heerd the min'- ster tell that, an' it kinder makes my eyes wet every time I think on 't. For 't seems 's if it might 'a' been me in that boat, who heern that v'ice I loved so dreffle well speak up agin so nat'ral from the bank Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. }) there. An' he eat some o' their fish ! O' course he done it to sot their minds easy, to show 'em he wa' n't quite a sperrit yit, but jest their own ole frien' who 'd been out in the boat with 'em so many, many times. But seems to me, jest the fac' he done it kinder makes fish an' fishin' diffunt from any other thing in the hull airth. I tell ye them four books that gin his story is chock full o' things that go right to the heart o' fishermen, — nets, an' hooks, an' boats, an' the shores, an' the sea, an' the mountings, Peter's fishin'-coat, lilies, an' sparrers, an' grass o' the fields, an' all about the evenin' sky bein' red or lowerin', an' fair or foul weather. " It 's an out-doors, woodsy, country story, 'sides bein' the heav'nliest one that was ever telled. I read the hull Bible, as a duty ye know. I read the epis'les, but somehow they don't come home to me. Paul was a great man, a dreffle smart scholar, but he was raised in the city, I guess, an' when I go from the gospils into Digitized by Microsoft® ^4 Fishin' Jimmy. Paul's writin's, it's like goin' from the woods an' hills an' streams o' Francony into the streets of a big city like Concord or Man- ch'ster." The old man did not say much of his after life and the fruits of this strange con- version, but his neighbors told us a great deal. They spoke of his unselfishness, his charity, his kindly deeds ; told of his visit- ing the poor and unhappy, nursing the sick. They said the little children loved him, and every one in the village and for miles around trusted and leaned upon Fishin' Jimmy. He taught the boys to fish, sometimes the girls too ; and while learning to cast and strike, to whip the stream, they drank in knowledge of higher things, and came to know and love Jimmy's "fishin r'liging." I remember they told me of a little French Canadian girl, a poor, wretched waif, whose mother, Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. ^^ an unknown tramp, had fallen dead in the road near the village. The child, an un- tamed little heathen, was found clinging to her mother's body in an agony of grief and rage, and fought like a tiger when they tried to take her away. A boy in the little group attracted to the spot, ran away, with a child's faith in his old friend, to summon Fishin' Jimmy. He came quickly, lifted the little savage tenderly, and carried her away. No one witnessed the taming process, but in a day or two the pair were seen to- gether on the margin of Black Brook, each with a fish pole. Her dark face was bright with interest and excitement as she took her first lesson in the art of angling. She jabbered and chattered in her odd patois, he answered in broadest New England dia- lect, but the two quite understood each other, and though Jimmy said afterward that it was " dreffle to hear her call the fish pois'n," they were soon great friends and comrades. For weeks he kept and cared Digitized by Microsoft® 36 Fishin' Jimmy. for the child, and when she left him for a good home in Bethlehem, one would scarcely have recognized in the gentle, affectionate girl the wild creature of the past. Though often questioned as to the means used to effect this change, Jimmy's explanation seemed rather vague and un- satisfactory. " 'T was fishin' done it," he said ; " on'y fishin' ; it allers works. The Christian r'liging itself had to begin with fishin', ye know." Digitized by Microsoft® III. DUT one thing troubled Fishin' Jimmy. He wanted to be a " fislier of men." That was what the Great Teacher had promised he would make the fishermen who left their boats to follow him. What strange, literal meaning he attached to the terms, we could not tell. In vain we — especially the boys, whose young hearts had gone out in warm affection to the old man — tried to show him that he was, by his efforts to do good and make others better and happier, fulfilling the Lord's directions. He could not understand it so. " I allers try to think," he said, " that 'twas me in that boat when he come along. I make b'l'eve that it was out on Streeter's Pond, an' I was settin' in the boat, fixin' my lan'in' net, when I see him on the shore. I think mebbe I 'm that James — for that 's my given name, ye Digitized by Microsoft® ^8 Fishin' Jimmy. know, though they allers call me Jimmy — an' then I hear him callin' me 'James, James.' I can hear him jest 's plain some- times, when the wind 's blowin' in the trees, an' I jest ache to up an' foller him. But says he, ' I '11 make ye a fisher o' men,' an' he aint done it. I 'm waitin' ; mebbe he '11 larn me some day." He was fond of all living creatures, mer- ciful to all. But his love for our dog Dash became a passion, for Dash was an angler. Who that ever saw him sitting in the boat beside his master, watching with eager eye and whole body trembling with excitement the line as it was cast, the flies as they touched the surface — who can forget old Dash? His fierce excite- ment at rise of trout, the efforts at self- restraint, the disappointment if the prey escaped, the wild exultation if it was cap- tured, how plainly — he who runs might ■?*fetfe- Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. ^g read — were shown these emotions in eye, in ear, in tail, in whole quivering body ! What wonder that it all went straight to the fisher's heart of Jimmy ! " I never knowed afore they could be Christians," he said, looking, with tears in his soft, keen eyes, at the every-day scene, and with no faintest thought of irreverence. " I never knowed it, but I 'd give a stif- fikit o' membership in the orthodoxest church goin' to that dog there." It is almost needless to say that as years went on Jimmy came to know many " fish- in' min'sters ; " for there are many of that ilk who love our mountain country, and seek it yearly. All these knew and loved the old man. And there were others who had wandered by that sea of Galilee, and fished in the waters of the Holy Land, and with them Fishin' Jimmy dearly loved to talk. But his wonder was never-ending that, in the scheme of evangelizing the world, more use was not made of the " fish- in' side " of the story. " Haint they ever Digitized by Microsoft® ^o FisUn' Jimmy. tried it on them poor heathen?" he would ask earnestly of some clerical angler cast- ing a fly upon the clear water of pond or brook. " I should think 't would 'a' ben the fust thing they 'd done. Fishin' fust, an' r'liging 's sure to foller. An' it's so easy ; fur heath'n mostly r'sides on islands, don't they? So ther 's plenty o' water, an' o' course ther's fishin' ; an' oncet gin 'em poles an' git 'em to work, an' they 're out o' mischief fur that day. They'd like it better 'n cannib'ling, or cuttin' out idles, or scratchin' picters all over theirselves, an' bimeby — not too suddent, ye know, to scare 'em — ye could begin on that story, an' they could n't stan' that, not a heath'n on 'em. Won't ye speak to the 'Merican Board about it, an' sen' out a few fishin' mishneries, with poles an' lines an' tackle gen'ally? I 've tried it on dreffle bad folks, an' it allers done 'em good. But'' — so almost all his simple talk ended — "I wish I could begin to be a fisher o' men. I 'm gettin' on now, I 'm nigh seventy, an' I aint got much time, ye see.'' Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 41 One afternoon in July there came over Franconia Notch one of those strangely- sudden tempests which sometimes visit that mountain country. It had been warm that day, unusually warm for that refresh- ingly cool spot; but suddenly the sky grew dark and darker, almost to blackness, there was roll of thunder and flash of light- ning, and then poured down the rain — rain at first, but soon hail in large frozen bullets, which fiercely pelted any who ven- tured out-doors, rattled against the win- dows of the Profile House with sharp cracks like sounds of musketry, and lay upon the piazza in heaps like snow. And in the midst of the wild storm it was re- membered that two boys, guests at our hotel, had gone up Mount Lafayette alone that day. They were young boys, unused to mountain climbing, and their friends were anxious. It was found that Dash had followed them ; and just as some one was to be sent in search of them, a boy from the stables brought the informa- Digitized by Microsoft® ^2 Fishin' Jimmy. tion that Fishin' Jimmy had started up the mountain after them as the storm broke. " Said if he could n't be a fisher o' men, mebbe he knowed nuff to ketch boys," went on our informant, seeing noth- ing more in the speech, full of pathetic meaning to us who knew him, than the idle talk of one whom many considered " lackin'." Jimmy was old now, and had of late grown very feeble, and we did not like to think of him out in that wild storm. And now suddenly the lost boys them- selves appeared through the opening in the woods opposite the house, and ran in through the hail, now falling more quietly. They were wet, but no worse apparently for their adventure, though full of contri- tion and distress at having lost sight of the dog. He had rushed off into the woods some hours before, after a rabbit or hedge- hog, and had never returned. Nor had they seen Fishin' Jimmy. As hours went by and the old man did not return, a search party was sent out, Digitized by Microsoft® ' At the foot of a mass of rock . . the old man was lying, and Dash was with him." Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fisbin' Jimmy. ^5 and guides familiar with all the mountain paths went up Lafayette to seek for him. It was nearly night when they at last found him, and the grand old mountains had put on those robes of royal purple which they sometimes assume at eventide. At the foot of a mass of rock, which looked like amethyst or wine-red agate in that marvel- lous evening light, the old man was lying, and Dash was with him. From the few faint words Jimmy could then gasp out, the truth was gathered. He had missed the boys, leaving the path by which they had returned, and while stumbling along in search of them, feeble and weary, he had heard far below a sound of distress. Looking down over a steep, rocky ledge, he had seen his friend and fishing com- rade, old Dash, in sore trouble. Poor Dash ! He never dreamed of harming his old friend, for he had a kind heart. But he was a sad coward in some matters, and a very baby when frightened and away from master and friends. So I fear he Digitized by Microsoft® 46 Fishin' Jimmy. may have assumed the r61e of wounded sufferer when in reahty he was but scared and lonesome. He never owned this after- ward, and you may be sure we never let him know by word or look the evil he had done. Jimmy saw him holding up one paw helplessly and looking at him with wistful, imploring brown eyes, heard his pitiful, whimpering cry for aid, and never doubted his great distress and peril. Was Dash not a fisherman? And fishermen, in Fishin' Jimmy's category, were always true and trusty. So the old man without a second's hesitation started down the steep, smooth decline to the rescue of his friend. We do not know just how or where in that terrible descent he fell. To us who afterward saw the spot, and thought of the weak old man, chilled by the storm, ex- hausted by his exertions, and yet clamber- ing down that precipitous cliff, made more slippery and treacherous by the sleet and hail still falling, it seemed impossible that he could have kept a foothold for an in- Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. ^7 stant. Nor am I sure that he expected to save himself, and Dash too. But he tried. He was sadly hurt. I will not tell you of that. Looking out from the hotel windows through the gathering darkness, we who loved him — it was not a small group — saw a sorrowful sight. Flickering lights thrown by the lanterns of the guides came through the woods. Across the road, slowly, carefully, came strong men, bear- ing on a rough hastily made litter of boughs the dear old man. All that could have been done for the most distinguished guest, for the dearest, best-beloved friend, was done for the gentle fisherman. We, his friends, and proud to style ourselves thus, were of different, widely separated lands, greatly varying creeds. Some were nearly as old as the dying man, some in the prime of manhood. There were youths and maidens and little children. But through the night we watched together. The old Roman bishop, whose calm, be- Digitized by Microsoft® 48 Fishin' Jimmy. nign face we all know and love ; the Churchman, ascetic in faith, but with the kindest, most indulgent heart when one finds it ; the gentle old Quakeress with placid, unwrinkled brow and silvery hair; Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist, — we were all one that night. The old angler did not suffer — we were so glad of that ! But he did not appear to know us, and his talk seemed strange. It rambled on quietly, softly, like one of his own mountain brooks, babbling of green fields, of sunny summer days, of his favorite sport, and ah ! of other things. But he was not speaking to us. A sudden, awed hush and thrill came over us as, bending to catch the low words, we all at once understood what only the bishop put into words as he said, half to himself, in a sudden, quick, broken whisper, " God bless the man, he 's talking to his Mas- ter ! " " Yes, sir, that 's so," went on the quiet voice; "'twas on'y a dog sure nuff; 'twa' n't even a boy, as ye say, an' ye ast Digitized by Microsoft® ' Flickering lights, thrown by the lanterns of the guides, came through the woods.'' Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 5/ me to be a fisher o' men. But I haint had no chance for that, somehow; mebbe I wa' n't fit for 't. I 'm on'y jest a poor old fisherman, Fishin' Jimmy, ye know, sir. Ye useter call me James — no one else ever done it. On'y a dog? But he wa' n't jest a common dog, sir ; he was a fishin' dog. I never seed a man love fishin' mor 'n Dash." The dog was in the room, and heard his name. Stealing to the bed- side, he put a cold nose into the cold hand of his old friend, and no one had the heart to take him away. The touch turned the current of the old man's talk for a moment, and he was fishing again with his dog friend. " See 'em break, Dashy ! See 'em break ! Lots on 'em to-day, aint they? Keep still, there 's a good dog, while I put on a dififunt fly. Don't ye see they 're jumpin' at them gnats? Aint the water jest 'live with 'em? Aint it shinin' an' clear an' — " The voice faltered an instant, then went on : " Yes, sir, I 'm comin' — I 'm glad, dreffle glad to come. Don't mind 'bout my leav- Digitized by Microsoft® ^2 Fishin' Jimmy. in' my fishin' ; do ye think I care 'bout that? I '11 jest lay down my pole ahin' the alders here, an' put my lan'in' net on the stuns, with my flies an' tackle — the boys '11 like 'em, ye know — an' I '11 be right along. " I mos' knowed ye was on'y a-tryin' me when ye said that 'bout how I had n't been a fisher o' men, nor even boys, on'y a dog. 'T was a — fishin' dog — ye know — an' ye was allers dreffle good to fishermen, — dreffle good to — everybody ; died — for 'em, did n't ye ? — " Please wait — on — the bank there, a minnit ; I 'm comin' 'crost. Water 's pretty — cold this — spring — an' the stream 's risin' — but — I — can — do it ; — don't ye mind — 'bout me, sir. I '11 get acrost." Once more the voice ceased, and we thought we should not hear it again this side that stream. But suddenly a strange light came over the thin face, the soft gray eyes opened wide, and he cried out, with the strong Digitized by Microsoft® Fishin' Jimmy. 5^ voice we had so often heard come ringing out to us across the mountain streams above the sound of their rushing: '' Here I be, sir! It's Fishin' Jimmy, ye know, from Francony way; him ye useter call James when ye come 'long the shore o' the pond an' I was a-fishin'. I heern ye agin, jest now — an' I — straightway — f'sook — my — nets — an' — follered — " Had the voice ceased utterly? No, we could catch faint, low murmurs and the lips still moved. But the words were not for us ; and we did not know when he reached the other bank. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® A SERIES OF Character Sketches. BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. i6mo, bound in blue cloth, with silver stamping, and illustrated, 60 cents each. By Annie Trumbull Slosson. With Illustrations by G. F.-R. and A. F. B. One of the most delicious, pathetic little bits of character painting that have been issued for many a day. It is beautifully printed and illustrated. — Public Opinion. An Old Virginia Plantation Story. By Margaret J. Preston. With Illustrations by G. F.-R. A simple, touching, gracefully told story of life on an old Virginia plantation. Charming pictures of character, of young and old, white and black. On the whole, a very clever speci- men of the difficult art of telling a short story, complete in form and artistic in finish. — The Times. Digitized by Microsoft® i^atte : a SPaugliter of tlie Jling. By Mary A. Gilmore. With Frontispiece. This sweet story is very beautifully told. It is a practically Christian story, wholly devoid of any cant, and directly and indirectly touches deeply upon many Christian truths. — The Churchman. Cientleman 91im. By Mrs. E. Prentiss, author of " Stepping Heaven- ward." With Frontispiece. The story is well told, full of incident, and expressing more in its brief compass than is always found in writings of far greater pretension. • — New York Tribune. aniti^ ^crip anD ^taff. A Tale of the Children's Crusade. By Ellu W. Peattie. Illustrated by Grace F.-Randolph and Edith Mitchell. The author with great sliill has wrought into a romance the tale of the children's crusade. The character .sketches are drawn with a clever hand, and the story from beginning to end cannot fail to win the interest and charm the reader. aunt Ltef^, By Annie Trumbull Slosson, author of " Fishin' Jimmy," etc. Illustrated by Grace F.-Randolph. Aunt Liefy is one of those rare characters which, under the author's happy faculty, is made to teach many lessons of for- bearance, patience, and love. The story is simple enough, but back of it all lies the motive which appeals strongly to all hearts willing to accept its lesson. Digitized by Microsoft® Ci^e Lass' ^av. At the Old Gray House. By Mary A. Gilmore. With Frontispiece. This sweet story is very beautifully told, and is in every way the best boolc of its kind. It may heartily be commended for its interest, pure tone, and evident understanding of charac- ter on the part of an author who also possesses the power of giving her ideas an effective literary form. — Sunday School Times. Ci^e fliiji^t of tl^e "^twallotx)." By Emily Malbone Morgan, author of " A Poppy Garden," etc. With numerous Illustrations. "The 'Swallow,' so called by some of the people, was a French refugee who had made himself a home in an old New England village. The story is designed to teach that if men would add a little common kindness to their uncommon graces, they would convert ten where they now only abate the prejudice of one. This is done in a series of character sketches, admirably drawn, of the social and religious life of a half century ago." By Emily Malbone Morgan. With numerous Illustrations. " Mrs. Ewing has given us many charming and pathetic little stories of English life ; and Miss Morgan bids fair to follow in her footsteps as regards New England. There surely can be nothing more charming than ' A Poppy Garden,' nor characters more true to life than Miss Lucinda Hardhack and her cousin David in their Beulah-land. It is a simple little story, but a great truth pervades it, — that from a small begin- ning great good can grow." Digitized by Microsoft® By Elizabeth Olmis. With Frontispiece. A very sweet story of a little boy, who, being hurt in a rail- way accident, lost all his memory of his preceding life. He was taken to a hospital, where he slowly recovered. His memory was fully restored by hearing an Kaster hymn which he had used to sing. The story is very prettily told, and wiil be attractive to both young and old. Each volume bound tastefully in blue cloth, with silvet stamping, 60 cents. ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 182 Fifth Avenue, New York. Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® mmmmmmtmmiL.