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Not a Fish Story


You may think it’s all a fish story, not when the appetites of a school of trout actually retard the work of the mayor of a great city it becomes a stern reality and a matter of some seriousness.

The bothersome trout in this case inhabit the big fountain pond in the civic center plaza and it is through them that serious complications arose in the office of Mayor Rolph one day early this week.

It will be recalled that George Ford, the guardian of the fish and official gardener in the civic center, recently left for the East to visit his family. On the way Ford remembered that he had forgotten to leave instructions about feeding the fish. So he stopped off and telegraphed all of the details to Sergeant Tom Walsh, who is assigned to duty in the mayor’s office.

That made Sergeant Walsh custodian pro tem of all the fish in the civic center pond—a job not altogether to Walsh’s liking. He hurried out to feed the fish but to his chagrin they would not eat. Whether they pined for Ford is a matter of doubt but it took an hour of coaxing on Walsh’s part before the finny pets of the city were willing to eat the food he offered them. Meanwhile work was accumulating for Walsh. Yet no one dared to call him for to have interrupted the feeding of the fish would have meant serious consequences. So the work awaited Walsh’s return and now the members of the mayor’s staff are anxiously awaiting Ford’s return and it is rumored that he will not get another vacation in a hurry.



The Scout
By George Rutherford
The Wasp
December 7, 1918

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