Jolly Anglers

Three women sit and hold fishing poles in a row boat. One woman looks directly toward the viewer. The other two women face each other and appear to converse. An old, bearded man stands at one end of the boat, holding an oar in the water. In the foreground, grasses grow in the water and lily pads float on the surface. In the background, cows stand and graze in the shallow water. There are trees in the distance and birds fly in the sky. Full page. Jolly Anglers. Four of us went out fishing, Mary, Fairy, I, and the man : No use in grumble or wishing, People may catch who can. Mary was lucky that morning, Lucky almost, I think, as the man, And she laughed with her saucy scorning As the fishes they filled her can. The man was lucky in hooking : Off the perch with his trimmers ran, And he caught us a dish worth cooking, As your Maidenhead fisherman can. I caught nothing worth keeping, Things about the length of a span ; When a gentleman’s heart is leaping He may strike a fish, if he can. But Fairy, she made a capture, On her darling own original plan, And Fairy’s eyes looked rapture As her great soft violets can. With a single line she made it, O, such a line you’d have liked to scan ! One line, and the lady laid it Where loving young ladies can. In a gentleman’s hand she placed it Before our Maidenhead fishing began, How his chances of fish were wasted, Tell, lovers—who only can. Over-night an enraptured dancer Had handed a passionate note in a fan, And the line was this gracious answer— “ You may love me—if you can.” S.