Thursday, July 18, 1926
Probably the oldest voter registered in Pocahontas County this year is Jacob Loudermilk, in the Swago Precinct. He is 98 years old, having been born in the year 1828. He lives with his son, David Loudermilk on Spruce Flat. Mr. Loudermilk enjoys good health, is active and straight. He is full six feet high and of slender build, weighing less than 150 pounds. Last fall, he got his share of the squirrels; his hand being firm and his shooting eye clear.
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The annual report on the conditions of bass fishing in Pocahontas County for the current year, together with certain spurs, dips, angles and digressions, as well as such adornment as may be expected with such a subject.
The time has come this angler said,
For us to have our say.
On lines and hooks and minnow nets,
And the bass that broke away
And wading boots and logger’s foot
And whether fishing’s play.
There was a certain prominent citizen many years ago who came away from a term of court at Huntersville, remarking sadly, “I inadvertently indicted one of the best friends I have in the world.”
On the first day of the season, I came very near inadvertently breaking the law. It seems that the last session of the legislature in its infinite wisdom placed a limit on the number of bass that may be taken in one day and that limit is 10 fish. That is not enough to make it worthwhile to get your feet wet.
When the time comes when they say to a fisherman in the Greenbrier River that he must cease when the tenth bass is in the basket, it is taking his occupation away. The season came in on the first day of July, with the water in Greenbrier River clear but high, and I got eight in a short time and but for a combination of circumstances, I would have caught me some more fish.
Knowing that there would not be standing room around the pools in this town, I went to the mouth of Locust Creek, about 20 miles down the river. The day was hot and sultry, but the road was good and gasoline annihilates time and distance. When we got to Trump Run on the old road to Greenbrier county, we halted long enough to get some minnows. This is a little stream that flows off of the end of Droop Mountain through the rich Callison lands and enters Locust Creek near its mouth. Just as we got there, some nice looking kids came down to see what the mail carrier had brought to the mailbox, and I asked them if I could borrow a few minnows and a little lady in knickerbockers said to get them above the fence on their land, and she knew what she was talking about, for we got some 50 or more minnows at one cast of the net, and soon provided a plentitude of bait. And that is the trouble with fishermen. They invariably put too many minnows in the bucket…
I remember several years ago when we had a big flood in the Greenbrier on the 4th of July. Some of us went fishing at Burnside down the river. It was not a very pronounced case of fishing either, for we took the women and children along. We had had no rain in the Levels to amount to anything, and we went to the river and found it clear and in good condition to fish. I excused myself by disappearing around the bend and struck a fine school of bass in a few minutes after I had started to look for them and in something like a half hour or less, I had taken 24 and had a basket pretty well filled up. I then went back to the rest of the party who were hanging around the deep water at the mouth of the run near the flag stop. The down train came along, and the gentleman in charge of it kindly stopped the train and told us that up the river a flood was coming.
No one has greater respect for the powers of the Greenbrier River than I have. I have seen her in all her moods. I swam across the river once in time of flood and if I had had as much as a fig leaf on, I would have returned by way of the county bridge or walked around the head of it. As it was, the rules of society compelled me to swim back for my clothes, but I have never tried it again…
PRACTICAL WAYS OF USING THE BIBLE
When in sorrow, read John 14.
When you have sinned, read Psalm 51.
Before church service, read Psalm 84.
When you have the blues, read Psalm 34 and Isiah 40.
When you are lonely or fearful read Psalm 23.
For Jesus’ idea of a Christian, read Matthew 5.
When you feel down and out, read Romans 8:31-39.
When you want courage for your task, read Joshua 1.
When you want rest and peace, read Matthew 11:25-30.
For Paul’s secret of happiness, read Col. 3:12-17.
For Paul’s rules on how to get along with men, read Romans12.
For Jesus’. Idea of prayer, read Luke 11:1-13. Matthew 6:5-15
Why not follow Psalm 119-11 and hide some of these in your memory.
