hink she cannot
help very much? What kind of a boat is it? What else do you see in the
boat? in the picture? Why is it called "A Helping Hand"?

=The story of the picture.= When we go fishing for a few hours or half a
day we think it great fun, but a real fisherman, who earns his living
that way, has to work very hard. Fishermen usually start out at four or
five o'clock in the morning, and do not come home again until late at
night. Sometimes they go away for several days, fishing night and day.

Very probably this little girl is not awake mornings when her father
eats his breakfast and starts out. He wears a rain-proof hat and heavy
coat, for one never can tell what the weather will be out on the
water. He must take a good lunch with him, too, for he is sure to get
hungry. The mother will see that the lunch is ready.

When the wind is blowing in the right direction he puts up the heavy
pole you see in the center of the boat, lets out the sail, and
tightens the rope. Then, with a good wind, how fast he can go! He
knows just where each kind of fish likes to stay, and goes straight to
the very best place. Here he drops his heavy iron anchor into the
water. This anchor is fastened to the boat and keeps it from drifting.
Sometimes the fish do not bite at all, and he has very few to carry
home after his hard day's work. Then again his great boat is filled
full of shiny fish. "Fisherman's luck," that is called.

He probably uses that net with the long wooden handle to help him
catch the big fish. He may have used it also to catch his minnows for
bait. No doubt he catches all the minnows he needs before he starts,
because they live in the shallow water near the shore and it is easier
to catch them there.

Some fishermen use very long nets, something like those you see on a
tennis court, only wider and stronger. It takes several men to manage
them. The fish get tangled up in the net, and then it is very easy to
catch them.

[Illustration: From a Thistle Print, Copyright Detroit Publishing Co.

_A Helping Hand_]

A flat-bottomed boat is the best for fishing, they say. You can move
about in it without much danger of tipping over, and it holds more.
The fish often think it is a wharf or a good cool place under which to
hide, and you can catch them easily.

Very likely this little girl has never been out with her father on one
of his long trips, for it would be much too tiresome for so small a
girl. It would seem, rath