PADUTCH-LIFE-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: 40-Girls Are Like Small Fish
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1998 13:21:53 -0400

GIRLS ARE LIKE SMALL FISH

The other day I was gone trout fishing when I saw something
that made me think hard. There were three trout in my fishing hole,
two small ones and an adult. I think the big one was the mother of
the smaller ones. Anyway, she took care of the small fry just as a
mother would. When I came to the hole they were darting around
like glimmers of lightning. I sat behind a small mound until they got
settled down again, and then cast my fly out into the hole. One of
the small fry rushed up to catch the fly but missed it.

Now a fly is nothing but a pair of chicken feathers tied to a
fish hook so as to resemble a fat old garbage fly--nothing
worthwhile for a fish to eat but it looks good. I cast my fly again.
Then the mother came up, looked at the fly, and darted away to sit
just next to her children. She not only saw that the whole thing was
a humbug, but she also knew that it would be dangerous business to
fool around with that fly, and I saw her give the children a lecture.
As I see it, she warned them to stay away from the fly, and she
explained the trouble they would come into if they couldn't stay
away from the fly. They listened so carefully to her that I thought
I'd never catch any of them.

I cast into the pond again, but they paid no attention to the fly.
Then I put a fly on my line that looked like a worm. This one
excited the children, and they tried like the devil to catch it, but the
mother was sure it was a hoax. Just in time she swam between
them and the fly, her fins quivering with worriment. I watched the
children as they argued with their mother as if they knew better for
it was a terrible shame to let such a big, fat worm, just filled with
honey, get away. Anyway, it couldn't hurt to try to catch it--nothing
ventured, nothing gained. After awhile the mother relaxed her
watch on them, and as quick as a lightning flash one of the small fry
shot up to the fly, and the next second I had it in my basket. The
old trout charged around like a mad bull dog, but I recast, and
instantly another young trout grabbed the hook. Its mouth tore out,
and it got away. The mother was pitiful. One child dead and
another crippled, just because they thought they knew better than
their mother.

And there is a lesson here. A young girl is like a trout. She
looks for flies. Her mother says, "Be careful, this man is no good.
His feathers are beautiful, but his heart is false. He just wants to
catch you. This is a warning, and he who heeds the warning, stays
out of trouble. So, listen up and let him go."

"Oh mother," cries the daughter. “He is as nice as an angel
and as sweet as honey. There couldn't be anything wrong in me
flirting with him a little bit on the street. You are too particular.”
And when mother is sleeping she'll take the hook. If she isn't caught
then she'll at least be crippled, and her life will pass with trouble
and
sorrow.

Beware of the man who wears beautiful feathers to hide a
false heart.

* * *

Note: This collection of Boonastiel stories was written by H. A.
Harter in the original Penna-Dutch dialect and were published in the
Keystone Gazette, Bellefonte, PA, between 1894 and 1904. They
were translated and transcribed by Bob James of Alaska and they
are being posted to this PADUTCH-LIFE mailing list with his
permission.

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• 40-Girls Are Like Small Fish by "Vee L. Housman" <>