silence the bitter, ringing reproach of conscience. Then, bid me not hope for the peace which for years I have vainly squght. Would you go to the fiends of hell, and picture heaven with all its joys to them, and say 'see; all this might have been yours, though now it is lost forever?' Would you stand upon the scaffold beside the condemned felon, and tell him that a bright heritage had been left him, and paint all the joys of life, saying-all these were his could he but live; and add, that there was no hope he must die? It were as merciful as to tell me of that for which I would freely give up all that I possess; nay, even life itself to win-yet dare not hope for." "Still," replied Barton, "you need not despair. There is no guilt, however black, that God will not wipe away. I fear you have never yet sought in the proper manner for the peace which you desire?" "And do you think I might indeed find it?" asked Weldon, eagerly. "O, if you can but teach me how to drive this restless fiend, Remorse, from my heart, I will be forever grateful!—but you must first know what has been my crime. The blood of two innocent, unoffending women rests upon my head; and one of them was my betrothed wife. She loved me -yes, loved me deeply, madly; and I-I betrayed her. She died by her own hand, and her mother of a broken heart. Knowing this, do you still think I might hope for pardon?" "Your crime was a fearful one; but surely your deep repentance, your great suffering have, in a measure, expatiated your guilt. But permit me to arrange your pillows, and then I will read to you for a short time." The pillows having been arranged, Barton produced a pocket Bible, and read such passages as he thought applicable to Weldon's case; pausing occasionally to comment upon them. This was continued as long as he thought Paul's strength would permit, and then he arose and took his leave, advising the sick man to sleep if possible. Weldon thanked him for his kind visit, and begged him to return soon again, which Barton readily promised to do. Thereafter Weldon found his new friend by his bedside daily, advising and soothing him. Under Barton's teachings his mind gradually became more calm, and he learned to look on the past without that agonizing remorse with which he once regarded it. He repented of his sin, and at last found hope that it might be forgiven. But his life was fast ebbing away, and scarcely had he rejoiced in the reality of his new-found peace, when he died. Calmly and hap pily did his spirit burst its bonds and fly to join the loved and lamented ones in a holier and happier home. ARIADNE: OR THE LOVE WATCH. BY MRS. E. J. EAMES. "Tis she of Crete." WHEREFORE, wherefore, dost thou stand By the sea-washed shore so lonely? Saw a vessel leave the strand! But its canvas glancing white, Long hath left thy straining sightSunset dies o'er sea and land: Yet across the waste of waters, Saddest of Earth's quivering daughters Stretcheth still each small white hand! Cretan girl, still art thou there? Luna her soft watch is keeping, Eve's first timid star is peeping Through the hushed and shining air: For that fair ship dost thou waitBeautiful, yet desolate? With thy long and jet black hair Wild and loose about thee falling- In thy heart's forlorn despair! Watching still beside the sea?- Leave thy seat beside the shore- Who for his sake crossed the ocean, And with deep, intense devotion Worshiped him, as Deity! Royal princess! morn again On thy weary watching breakethHope deferred thy heart sick makethStretch thy hand no more-'t is vain! Could that false Athenian king Know what desperate faith doth cling To thy heart, he would again Seek the bride so soon forsakenBut thy trust would then be shaken: Better dwell thou by the main ! THE GAME OF THE MONTH. BY HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT, AUTHOR OF "FRANK FORESTER'S FIELD SPORTS," "FISH AND FISHING," ETC. THE Yellow Perch; Perca flavescens. This fine fish, which belongs to the family Percoida, of the division Acanthopterygii, or thornyfinned, is the common perch of the waters of the United States; ranging from the extreme east to the extreme west of the continent; from the streams and pools of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, to the feeders of Lake Superior and the northern tributaries of the Canadian lakes. To the northward, it is not found in the rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean or Hudson's Bay, and its southern limit is ill-defined, and can scarcely be ascertained, except by personal inspection; since the denizens of the southern waters have been disfigured by appellations, local, provincial, and most unscientifical, so barbarous as to defy the most intelligent inquirer. The title of the division Acanthopterygii, or thorny-finned, is founded on the principle that every genus and sub-genus thereof has one or more of the fins supported on, or preceded by, strong, sharp spines, capable of inflicting a severe wound, and forming a very efficient weapon of defense, so that the boldest and most voracious of fishes rarely venture to seize them. All the genera have two dorsal fins-the first, or foremost, of which is invariably supported on spines, as opposed to soft branched rays; while the second, or hindmost, is of soft texture, preceded by one or more hard spines-two pectoral fins, both soft-rayed-one ventral, and one anal, each of which is often preceded by one or more spines-and one caudal, or tail fin, which is the main propelling power of the animal. On the number of the hard spines supplementary to the soft fins, are founded the different families; and on the number of spines in the first dorsal, the dental system, and some other parts of the bony structure, the lesser or individual | distinctions. On color, as distinctive of genera, or even varieties, little or no reliance can be placed, unless confirmed by distinct variations in the bony formation; since in all fishes there is observed to exist a great range of hues, shades, and even positive colors, arising sometimes from mere casual influences operating on individual specimens, sometimes from accidents of light or shade affecting peculiar situations, and most frequently of all from the soil and character of the feeding-grounds, and from the various mineral or earthy substances held in solution by the waters they frequent. These latter influences frequently modify the same fish in different streams, even of the same region and neighborhood, and flowing over soils apparently identical, to such an extent, that the casual observer not unnaturally believes them to be distinct varieties, if not species, and can be with difficulty convinced, on the immutable evidences of structural sameness. This fact has led, in a great measure, to the complicating and confounding the science of Natural History, by the undue multiplication of names, species, and genera, where no specific differences exist; rendering the science infinitely difficult to the beginner, and causing the unlearned to undervalue the lore of the naturalist, and to deny the reality of all scientific distinctions whatsoever. The truth appears to have been at length firmly established, and to be this-that there is but one clearly defined and distinct perch, perca flavescens, the yellow perch, found in the United States—that the perca fluviatilis, common river perch of Europe, does not exist at all in American waters, though it is so closely connected with our fish that a casual observer would pronounce them identical-that the supposed subgenera of perca granulata, or roughheaded perch, perca argentea, silver perch, perca acuta, or sharp-nosed perch, and perca gracilis, said to be peculiar to the small lake of Skaneateles, in the interior of New York, are not sufficiently made out as permanent varieties; and that the variations of color from dark green, and greenish brown, to bright yellow, silvery, and something nearly ap proaching to orange, are merely local, casual, and individual differences, and not general, permanent, specific distinctions. The following luminous description of this game and excellent fish is borrowed from Dr. Richardson's Taura-boreali-Americana, or natural history of the Northern Regions of America, including parts of the United States, and the British Provinces as far north as to the Arctic Ocean. The specimen from which it was compiled was caught at Penetanguishine, on the great Georgian bay of Lake Huron, but will answer for fish of this genus taken in any part of America which they may chance to frequent; so small is their variation in any respect but that of color, which On differences of structure, such as the situation appears to vary in obedience to no fixed law of loand texture of the fins, the number of spines or soft cality or latitude, except that it appears to me that rays in each, the form of the gill covers, the charac- of the fishes taken in estuaries and at the mouths of ter and position of the teeth, perfect reliance may be tidal rivers, the color is deeper and the tints fade placed, as indicating unchangeable specific charac- from cerulean black along the dorsal outline to olive teristics, by observation of which the educated natugreen on the flanks, with a silver belly; while in ralist will name at a glance the species, genus and clear lakes and fresh streams, they change from subgenus of any fish, unseen before; and will un-olive-green on the back to bright golden yellow on erringly determine his habits, his food, and in some degree his habitation. Thus of the Percoid family we distinguish the subgenera Perca, perch proper, from Gristes and Centrarchus, to which are referred the types black basse of the lakes, and the little rock basse of the St. Lawrence basin, by the fact that the Perce have one spine to the ventrals and two to the anal. The Gristes one to the ventrals and three to the anal. The Centrarchi one to the ventrals and six to the anal. And in like manner, by the number of spines supporting the first dorsal, we are enabled to pronounce on the truth or untruthfulness of the many subdivisions of the perch family, as predicated by the fishermen of various regions, and insisted on by credulous naturalists, such as Dr. Smith, of Massachusetts, whose book is rendered absolutely valueless by the readiness which he displays in adopting every local legend concerning new varieties, and classifying new species; until, if we believe him at all, we must believe that every several stream and pool from Maine to Minnesota has its own distinct variety of perch; nor of perch only, but of trout, and, more or less, of every finny tenant of the waters. the sides and belly. THE YELLOW PERCH. Color.-General tint of the back greenish-yellow; of the sides golden-yellow with minute black specks; and of the belly whitish. Nine or ten dark bands descend from the back to the sides, and taper away toward the belly; the alternate ones are shorter, and on the tail and shoulders they are less distinctly defined: the longest band is opposite to the posterior part of the first dorsal fin, on which there is a large black mark. Form.-The body is moderately compressed, its greatest thickness being somewhat more than one half of its depth. Its profile is oblong, tapering more toward the tail, which is nearly cylindrical: its greatest depth is at the ventrals, and rather exceeds one-fourth of the total length, caudal included. The head constitutes two-sevenths of the total length, and its height, at the eye, is equal to one-half its length from the tip of the snout to the point of the gill-cover. The forehead is flat, but appears depressed, owing to the convexity of the nape. The snout is a little convex. The orbits are lateral, distant more than one of their own diameters from the tip of the snout, and more than two diameters from the point of the gill-cover. The jaws are equal. The | the tip: the remaining rays are all divided at their mouth descends as it runs backward, its posterior angle being under the centre of the orbit. Teeth.-The intermaxillaries, lower-jaw, knob of the vomer, and edge of the palate-bones, are covered with very small, straight or slightly-curved, denselyCrowded teeth (en velours.) The vault of the palate, posterior part of the vomer, and the pointed tongue, are smooth. Gill-covers.-The preoperculum is narrow; its upper limb rising vertically forms a right-angle with the lower one; and its edge is armed with small spinous teeth, those on the lower limb being directed forward. The bony operculum terminates in a narrow sub-spinous point, beneath which there are three denticulations, with grooves running backward from them. An acute-pointed membranous flap prolonged from the margin of the suboperculum conceals these parts in the recent fish. The edge of the interoperculum and posterior part of the suboperculum are minutely denticulated. The edges of the humeral bones are slightly grooved and denticulated, the denticulations being more obvious in some individuals than in others. Scales.-There are sixty scales on the lateral line, and twenty-two in a vertical row between the first dorsal and centre of the belly. The scales are rather small, their bases truncated and furrowed to near the middle (striées en éventail) by six grooves corresponding to eight minute lobes of the margin. A narrow border of the outer rounded edge is very minutely streaked, producing teeth on the margin, visible under a lens. The length and breadth of a scale, taken from the side, are about equal, being two and a half lines. A linear inch measured on the sides or belly, longitudinally, contains twelve scales, the scales on the belly having, however, less vertical breadth. On the back an inch includes seventeen or eighteen. The asperity of the scales is perceptible to the finger, when it is drawn over them from the tail toward the head. The lateral-line is thrice as near to the back as to the belly, and is slightly arched till it passes the dorsal and anal fins, when it runs straight through the middle of the tail. It is marked on each scale by a tubular elevation, which is divided irregularly by an oblique depression. Fins.—Br. 7—7; D. 13—1 | 13; P. 14; V. 1|5; A. 28; C. 17 5-5.* The first dorsal commences a little posterior to the point of the gill-cover and to the pectorals: its fourth and fifth rays are the highest: the first ray is slender and not half the height of the second; the last ray is so short as to be detected only by a close examination. The second dorsal commences a quarter of an inch from the first, the space between them being occupied by two or three inter-spinous bones without rays: its first ray is spinous, and is elosely applied to the base of the second, which is thrice as long, distinctly articulated, and divided at *Br. represents the rays within the gill-covers, which form the breathing apparatus of the animal-D. the dorsals-P. pectorals-V. ventrals-A. anal-C. caudal. The notations 113, 25, and 2 | 8, respectively indicate one hard spine thirteen soft rays, etc. etc. summits, but at their bases the articulations are obsolete. The pectorals originate opposite to the spinous point of the operculum; they are somewhat longer than the ventrals, which are attached opposite to the second spine of the first dorsal. The anal is rounded: its first ray is one-fourth part shorter than the second, both being spinous: the succeeding rays are articulated and branched, the five anterior ones being longer than the second spine, the others becoming successively shorter: its termination is opposite to that of the second dorsal. The caudal is distinctly forked, its base is scaly, the scales advancing farther on the outer rays and covering one-third of their length. Such is the general description of the fish throughout the country at large, but great allowance must be made for accidental and local variations of color, some specimens being light-green, backed and barred with black, with silvery bellies, others exactly as portrayed above, others nearly orange, and approaching in some degree to the splendor of the goldfish. As I have observed, no fish is more general than this in every description of waters throughout his range in the United States. From the largest rivers, so low down their channels that the waters begin to be brackish, to the smallest mountain rivulets; from the mill-pond, and small, clear mountain tarn, to the vast expanses of Huron, Michigan and Superior, they are omnipresent and numerous. They spawn in March, each female excluding a vast quantity of spawn. So many as 992,000 ova having been taken, as it is stated by Mr. Brown in his "American Angler's Guide," though he does not annex his authority, from a single female. They may be taken during every month of the year with the hook, being bold biters and among the most voracious of all fishes, devouring the spawn and young fry of their own species with savage avidity, and being among the most deadly foes to the trout preserves, owing to the rapacity with which they ransack the spawning beds. They are in the main a lively and active fish, roving about in small bands or shoals, sometimes swimming high and near the surface, leaping merrily at the flies and smaller water insects, and sometimes, especially in clear, rapid scours of gravelbedded rivers, sweeping along the bottom gathering the small, red brandling worms, of which they are very fond, caddises, and other water reptiles, as well the spawn of such fish as use these localities. The larger fish will, however, often select stations, such as the lee of a large stone at the tail of a ripple, especially under the umbrage of trees growing on the bank, or among the piles and timbers of milldams or sluice-ways, whence they sally out like the pike or trout on any passing prey with great velocity and accuracy of aim. Still even these are decidedly gregarious, as one is never found singly in a hole, such places being invariably frequented by such band as it will liberally support, who rarely stray beyond its limits, and prey, for the most part over the same fishing-ground, and in the same course. This propensity is taken advantage of by the angler, since, when he has once struck upon a wellstocked haunt, while the fish are in the humor to bite, he will be very apt, if patient and skillful, to take the whole shoal without the loss of a single fish. The growth of the yellow perch is slow, and appears to be proportioned pretty accurately to the size and character of the waters which he frequents. In small, swift running brooks, or little spring-ponds or mill-dams, he rarely exceeds a few inches in length and a few ounces in weight, partaking generally of the green and silvery type of the fish. In estuaries and large rivers, in the pellucid tarns and lakelets, which are dotted so beautifully through all the uplands of the eastern and middle states from Maine to Pennsylvania, in the vast expanses of the great northern lakes of Canada, in the giant rivers of the west, they attain far more rapidly to a great size, three or four pounds being a run by no means unusual, and individuals being not unfrequently taken up to five, six and seven pounds, when they are very firm, fat, and in capital condition for the table. They may be caught in all months of the year. Mr. Brown considers that they "may be had in the largest quantities and in the finest condition from May to July;" but from my own experience, which has been limited principally to the lakelets of Maine, to Greenwood or Wawayanda lake, in Orange county, New York, to Lake Hopatkong, desecrated into Brooklyn pond, in Sussex county, New Jersey, and to some of the north-eastern streams and ponds of Pennsylvania, I should say that late in the autumn When the maple boughs are crimson, And the nights are frosty cold; They bite with greater freedom, show more sport, and are better on the table than at any other season of the year. The yellow perch is a bold, nay! a savage biter, and a greedy feeder; it is even recorded of him that he has been known to strike at his own eyè, casually torn out by the point of the hook, which is to me by no means incredible. Securely weaponed by the sharp palisade of arrowy spines bristling along his back, and by the stout jagged thorns protruding in advance of his ventral anal fins, when of any considerable size, he fears neither the tremendous rush and shark-like jaws of the savage mascalonge, nor the terrible agility and dauntless daring of the namaycush and siskawity, those vast lake trouts, but feeds himself, a lesser tyrant of the waters, on whatever crosses his path of havoc. A light, stiff, ten-foot rod, with a small reel, and twenty-five or thirty yards of line, with a small cork float, and a proper sinker for bottom fishing, is the best implement; and the best baits for this method are the common ground-worm or the little scarlet brandling. The latter particularly in rapid channels and scours. Cheese pastes are also used, and at times successfully, but I do not advocate their use, but the most certainly deadly of all baits is the paste made from the preserved roe of any fish which frequents the waters you are to fish. Troutroe, in lakes or rivers haunted by that gamest and best of all the inhabitants of the water, kills unerringly. In brackish water shrimp beats the world for perch, remembering that you fish near to or upon the bottom. Perch, especially when of large size, may be trolled for as pike, with the hind legs of a frog, or with any small fish on a gorge hook. But in my opinion the prettiest of all modes of catching them is to rove for them with the live minnow. For this purpose you take a fine, clear, gut leader, with a No. 9 Limerick hook whipped on at the tail, and an inch and a half above it, and back to back to the tail hook, a second one size smalier than the first. The upper should be hooked securely into the lower jaw of a moderate sized minnow, and the lower into his dorsal fin, care being taken not to pierce his back, when he will swim about naturally and gayly for many hours, if not taken by a fish, and if carefully released without laceration, will survive the operation. A small cork, or, what is betier, quill-float, is necessary to this method, and a few shot, sufficient to sink the bait to within three inches of the bottom. When a bite is felt, a little time should be given before striking; when struck, the perch is surely taken, for though he pulls hard for a short time he has neither the fierce courage nor the wily craft of the trout, but succumbs after a few brief struggles. A reel is necessary, and the float often dispensed with by veterans in the art. The following very graphic extracts, on pereh fishing in the watera of the Niagara river and Lake Erie, are from the pen of probably the best piscatorial writer of the United States, long an esteemed correspondent of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, from whose lucubrations I have borrowed largely in my larger works on "Fish and Fishing," and to whom I gladly record my obligation: "The Yellow Perch. This beautiful and active fish is almost ominipresent in the fresh waters of the Northern States. There are probably two distinct but similar species in our country, blended together under this common name. The perch of New England differs from ours principally in the shape of the head. In the Saratoga Lake, Owasco Lake, Cayuga Outlet, the Flats of Lake Huron, and many other localities, tke perch is larger than with us, frequently weighing three pounds. Among the perch of our streams and rivers, a half-pounder is a very portly citizen-though on a few particular bars they are sometimes taken in considerable numbers, averaging nearly a pound each. It is almost always to be had, from earliest spring to the commencement of winter; and when poor Piscator has had all his lobsters* *By lobsters the writer means the small fresh-water crayfish. |