er 'n us'al, for I never seed a fishin' min'ster afore.
Elder Jacks'n, he said 't was a sinf'l waste o' time, an' ole
Parson Loomis, he 'd an idee it was cruel an' onmarciful; so I
thought I 'd jest see what this man 'd preach about, an' I settled
down to liss'n to the sarm'n.

"But there wa'n't no sarm'n; not what I 'd been raised to think was
the on'y true kind. There wa'n't no heads, no fustlys nor
sec'ndlys, nor fin'ly bruthrins, but the first thing I knowed I was
hearin' a story, an' 't was a fishin' story. 'T was about Some
One--I had n't the least idee then who 't was, an' how much it all
meant--Some One that was dreffle fond o' fishin' an' fishermen,
Some One that sot everythin' by the water, an' useter go along by
the lakes an' ponds, an' sail on 'em, an' talk with the men that
was fishin'. An' how the fishermen all liked him, 'nd asked his
'dvice, an' done jest 's he telled 'em about the likeliest places
to fish; an' how they allers ketched more for mindin' him; an' how
when he was a-preachin' he would n't go into a big meetin'-house
an' talk to rich folks all slicked up, but he 'd jest go out in a
fishin' boat, an' ask the men to shove out a mite, an' he 'd talk
to the folks on shore, the fishin' folks an' their wives an' the
boys an' gals playin' on the shore. An' then, best o' everythin',
he telled how when he was a-choosin' the men to go about with him
an' help him an' larn his ways so 's to come a'ter him, he fust o'
all picked out the men he 'd seen every day fishin', an' mebbe
fished with hisself; for he knowed 'em an' knowed he could trust
'em.

"An' then he telled us about the day when this preacher come along
by the lake--a dreffle sightly place, this min'ster said; he 'd
seed it hisself when he was trav'lin' in them countries--an' come
acrost two men he knowed well; they was brothers, an' they was
a-fishin'. An' he jest asked 'em in his pleasant-spoken, frien'ly
way--there wa'n't never sech a drawin', takin', lovin' way with any
one afore as this man had, the min'ster said--he jest asked 'em to
come along with him; an' they lay down their poles an' their lines
an' everythin', an' jined him. An' then he come along a spell
further, an' he sees two boys out with their ole father, an' they
was settin' in a boat an' fixin' up their tackle, an' he asked 'em
if they 'd jine him, too, an' they jest dropped all their things,
an' left the ole man with the boat an' the fish an' the bait an'
follered