Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 21 June to November 1860 (1860) (14803235403)

Identifier: harpersnew21harper (find matches)
Title: Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 21 June to November 1860
Year: 1860 (1860s)
Authors:
Subjects:
Publisher: New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers
Contributing Library: Brigham Young University-Idaho, David O. McKay Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University-Idaho



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uring these three days we saw and heard manythings worthy of note, which shall be treated ofin due time. But we were here in a land ofheroes. The men who jostled us in the streets, who sat next to us at table, who squared theirburly shoulders about the hotel stove, were allrenowned captains—men of mighty deeds. Un-der each cold and quiet exterior there burned aheart of fire. Sparing and somewhat unskillfulin words, each mans experience was a volumeof bold and dashing adventure—a glorious andsoul-stirring book—unwritten and, for the mostpart, unspoken. We had tipped fins with thesesons of the Vikings, and talked with them faceto face until we scorned the inactivity in whichwe had so long mouldered, and once deemedhappiness. So when the fourth morning broke bright andclear, and the news came that the bluefish hadstruck in to Buzzards Bay, you may imaginethat the sail-boat was not kept long in waitingfor us. Away we flew, like birds let loose. Pass- 12 HAKPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
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ing the light-house and Old Battery Point, wewere presently out upon the bay, Avith a stiffbreeze that kept our boat careering, and dashedthe salt spray over us in sparkling showers. Thetackle used here for taking bluefish is a largehook, from three-quarters to an inch across thebend, with a shank from eight to ten inches long,cased, with shining metal, fish shaped, and thewhole sometimes covered with a bit of fresh eel-skin, supposed to make the bait more tempting.This formidable mouthful is attached to a stoutline a hundred and fifty or two hundred feet inlength, and trailed over the stern of the boat,whose rapid motion keeps it afloat near the sur-face. The end of the line is tied to the boat to prevent accident, while the fisherman sits ex-pectant, feeling the drift of his tackle with a coiJaround his forefinger. If he is soft-handed hemust wear thick gloA-es or gutta percha finger-stalls, for, to the landsman, this is no boys playin which he is about to engage. This he findsout p