A Fish Story

They all set round in Stokes’s store

     The Gung’y fishin’  club,

As they had done o’ nights afore,

     Each givin’ each a rub

On fishin’ yarns, waal, I should say

     If ev’ryone was true,

They wouldn’t be no fish today,

     Leastways a very few.

Hen Billin’s he had ketched a trout

     That weighed three pounds, or more,

Jed Martin he had pulled one out

     That tipped the scales at “four”.

An’ pickerel? Now Cap’n Joe

     Had ketched one weighing eight;

When Uncle Era says “O, show!

     I used that kind fur bait.”

An’ so it went round after round,

     Each yarn inclined to swell.

Tom Berry hadn’t made a sound,

     He was the drummer. “well,”

Said he, “I’ve fished for years” – they looked,

     An’ hemmed an’ hawed round –

“The biggest fish I ever caught

     Weighed nearly half a pound.”

May 29, 1908