Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1883 — Fishing with an American Statesman. [ARTICLE]

Fishing with an American Statesman.

“One day in July, 1834, not long" after the Fourth,” said an old fisherman of Brink Pond, Pa., “I was at the Falls tavern when one of the westbound coaches drove Up. »A spare, peculiar-looking man alighted and told the landlord he intended to remain a day or so, and his main object was to eat some of the trout he liad heard so. much about, and to see them caught, as he was no fisherman himself: This was toward night-fall, and, as I knew all the woods and ponds, the landlord engaged me to show the stranger the country. We came to this very Brink pond, the next morning, and the stranger insisted on rowing the boat from point to point while I fished. He enjoyed the sport immensely, and would become very much excited when I hooked an uhusually-blg fish. Finally, right over by that big rock yonder, where the water boils up cold and clear, I bad a strike that told me plain enough that tlie fish was a monster. I hooked him well, and when lie gave a leap from the water he turned a side toward me that was broader than I liad ever seen on a trout before. My companion was wild and I had all! could do to keep him from upsetting the the fish pretty well tired out, but when I pulled him close to the boat he began to show tight again. While I was pia\ - ing him again the stranger could no longer contain Himself* but seized one of the oars* just as I liad the fish ready to draw into the boat, and before I divined his intention, lie struck the trout a blow over the head that put all further danger of its escape out of the question. I lifted it in the boat notwithstanding the apologies of the stranger. I could not but feel put out at his interference, as it was rather a reflection on hiy skill. I quit fishing and we returned to the tavern. The trout weighed over six pounds, and the stranger had it cooked for his supper, and compelled me to share it with him. He went on his wav next day, and I never knew who he was until a week afterward. Then I got a letter with a $lO bill in it, and I found out that I had been fishing with Henry Clay!"— Cor. New York Times.