reviled the bow, and said it
would make talk. But I held firm and told him I wuzn't goin' to tear
my veil tiein' it in a hard knot. And he soon forgot his discomposure
in wearin' braize veils, in his happiness at the idee of ketchin'
fish, so's to tell the different deacons on't when he got home.

[Illustration: "_'I won't wear a veil,' sez he stoutly. But the next
time a gale come from the sou'west I laid the brim back
and tied the veil in a big bow knot under his chin._"
(_See page 82_)]

Men do love to tell fish stories. Men who are truthful on every other
pint of the law, will, when they measure off with their hands how long
the fish is that they ketched, stretch out that measure more'n
considerable.

Well, as I say, as our boat glided on between the green islands, anon
in shadder and then agin out in sunny stretches of glassy seas, I
looked off on the glorified distance and thought of things even furder
away than that. Tirzah Ann wuz engaged in tryin' to keep the sun out
of her face; she said anxiously she wuz afraid she would git a few
frecks on her nose in spite of all she could do. Whitfield wuz amusin'
Delight, and Josiah ever and anon speakin' of Coney Island and askin'
if it wuzn't time to eat our lunch. So the play of life goes on.

We didn't ketch much of anything, only I ketched considerable of a
headache. Tirzah Ann ketched quite a number of frecks; she complained
that she had burnt her nose. Delight did, I guess, ketch quite an
amount of happiness, for the experience wuz new to her, and children
can't bag any better or more agreeable game than Novelty. And
Whitfield did seem to ketch considerable enjoyment; he loves to be out
on the water.

My pardner drew up one tiny, tiny fish out of the depths; it looked
lonesome and exceedingly fragile, but oh how that man brooded over
that triumph! And by the time we reached Jonesville and he related
that experience to the awe-struck neighbors it wuz a thrillin' and
excitin' seen he depictered, and that tiny fishlet had growed, in the
fertile sile of his warm imagination, to such a length, that I told
him in confidence out to one side, that if I ever hearn him go on so
agin about it, and if that fish kep' a growin' to that alarmin'
extent, I should have to tell its exact length; it wuz jest as long as
my middle finger, for I measured it on the boat, foreseein' trouble
with him in this direction.

It made him dretful huffy, and he sez, "I can't help it if yo