Poor Fish

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 153, 25 March 1937, Page 6

Poor Fish

Another tale of the deep concerns the man who took his small daughter with him to the Wellington wharves and there left iter to play while he cast his lines. Like all true fishermen, he hoped for a meal at the least, but this day e’ven the sprats ignored his advance's. Nearby, small boys were hauling in their catches with maddening regularity, and in the still water the baffled tempter could see the fish darting contemptuously past his succulent bait. An hour later lie discovered why. Blissfully absorbed, his small daughter was emptying his twopenny box of wax vestas into tlte harbour ami watching witli delight as swarms of hungry fish attacked each drifting match. Watches—and Watches! Sailors keep watches by the simple process of staying awake —though they will tell you there is more to it than that. Landlubbers, however, meet with all sorts of difficulties, from thieves to bathtubs, in keeping their watches. I tun reminded of a schoolboy who bought, a very cheap alarm clock on a one-year guarantee l , and for two years and a half woke to the sound of a pealing bell. But he did so only by making constant visits to exchange bis broken “ticker” for another, also guaranteed, which lie would keep for a few weeks and then either drop, wet or wrench. Only the refusal of the shop to issue any more guaranteed clocks stopped his activities and made him more careful. At the end of two years and a half a total of IT clocks had passed through bls hands.