Christian life -- Fiction; Fishers -- Fiction; New Hampshire -- Fiction; Short stories
It is almost needless to say that as years went on Jimmy came to
know many "fishin' min'sters;" for there are many of that school
who know our mountain country, and seek it yearly. All these knew
and loved the old man. And there were others who had wandered by
that sea of Galilee, and fished in the waters of the Holy Land, and
with them Fishin' Jimmy dearly loved to talk. But his wonder was
never-ending that, in the scheme of evangelizing the world, more
use was not made of the "fishin' side" of the story. "Haint they
ever tried it on them poor heathen?" he would ask earnestly of some
clerical angler casting a fly upon the clear water of pond or
brook. "I should think 't would 'a' ben the fust thing they 'd
done. Fishin' fust, an' r'liging 's sure to foller. An' it 's so
easy; fur heath'n mostly r'sides on islands, don't they? So ther
's plenty o' water, an' o' course ther 's fishin'; an' oncet gin
'em poles an' git 'em to work, an' they 're out o' mischief fur
that day. They 'd like it better 'n cannib'ling, or cuttin' out
idles, or scratchin' picters all over theirselves, an' bimeby--not
too suddent, ye know, to scare 'em--ye could begin on that story,
an' they could n't stan' that, not a heath'n on 'em. Won't ye
speak to the 'Merican Board about it, an' sen' out a few fishin'
mishneries, with poles an' lines an' tackle gen'ally? I 've tried
it on dreffle bad folks, an' it alters done 'em good. But"--so
almost all his simple talk ended--"I wish I could begin to be a
fisher o' men. I 'm gettin' on now, I 'm nigh seventy, an' I aint
got much time, ye see."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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