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Show THE PRIZE FISH STORY ;- Fish stories were the piece de resistance out (at the Presidio Golf club the other evening. "Gathered about the club rooms, smoking the 'hours away in easy chairs, was a coterie of business busi-ness men, lawyers, and doctors. The trend of conversation had turned to fish stories and the golfers vied with each other in relating yarns they had heard with the impossible set down for truth. The prize if there was one went to Timothy hHealy, the attorney, and that there may be no doubt as to the justice of the award, here is the story, just as Healy told it: "I was trying a case last summer up in Ho-quiam, Ho-quiam, Wash. The second morning I got to court pretty early yes, before the court house opened. I was sitting on the front steps looking 'round when an old man came up in a friendly way and started talking. You could see he was a native and he was just brimful of information about the town and its people, too. "Suddenly he stopped short in what he was saying, and pointed out a grizzled old man, with ' white beard and stooped shoulders, walking by. " 'See him,' exclaimed my new found friend, 'that's old man Reid. Did y' ever heard 'bout i him and how his life was saved?' "I professed that I hadn't but would like to know about this old character, and so he continued con-tinued with his story: " 'Well, some years ago old Reid lived on the Willamette river. He had enough land to live on and made a little money with the fish he got out of the river. But somehow after a few .years the river got fished out and Reid was sure up agin it. " 'He thought it over awhile and then the idea got him to build a sort of a fish farm. He cut ,'out a good sized pond on his ground and made an inlet so that the pond was kept filled with 1 fresh water from the river. ! " 'Then he went to work, Reid did, and stock ed that pond with fish eggs. It wasn't long be-I be-I t fore that pond was full of good sized fish and of course they multiplied fast. And every morning k and night Reid rowed out into the middle of the pondand threw food out to his fish. " 'They got to know him they actually did l and came around the boat awaitin' to bo fed, The months passed and. the years rolled by, with this here Reid makin' good money out of his fish, for the ranchers all around was glad to buy from him. " 'But one day, three or four years later, an awful storm came up. The river rose and overflowed over-flowed its banks. It flooded the inlet and tore away Reid's little dams. The pond and river were all one and the water kept goin' higher. Soon it was up to Reid's house, a-floodin' everything. every-thing. " 'So in despair, Reid put out in a boat and the current carried liim to the river. He was having a hard time when, all of a sudden, the boat capsized. " 'But you can imagine Reid's surprise when he found himself a-floatin' and strange to say he was goin' toward the land instead of down the river with the current. Ho moved sloVly toward the shore, not a-knowin' what was doin' it. And suddenly he looked around him and what do you suppose he saw? Why, man, them fish ho had fed so faithfully for years4 had made like a great platform under him yes, sir; thousands, millions of 'em were swimmin' together, side by side, under un-der the old man. And they carried him a-shore, savin' his life.' " San Francisco Wasp. |