{"id":175,"date":"2020-03-28T20:46:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T20:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/?page_id=175"},"modified":"2021-07-12T19:32:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T19:32:07","slug":"charles-dickens-the-life-of-a-salmon-609","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/household-words-2\/charles-dickens-the-life-of-a-salmon-609\/","title":{"rendered":"Pg. 609"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Household<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charles Dickens.] THE LIFE OF A SALMON. 609<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the drawing on Saturday morning\nand the opening of the traps that night, are turned into a special little\ndungeon, railed off on one side, there to pass their Sunday. For all others,\nthe way is completely clear from Saturday night to six o\u2019clock on Monday\nmorning. Whether our young fish went up by the Queen\u2019s Gap, or on the Sunday,\nit got through, and without knowing anything of the perils it had escaped. How\nsweet the lapse of the fresh waters was, after the inces\u00adsant roll and crash of\nthe surge on the iron-bound coast of the Atlantic; how the autumnal woods\ncontrasted with the black basaltic precipices above the main; how the\nwildflowers on the banks appeared after so many miles of tangled and floating\nseaweeds; which looked best, the little column of blue peat-smoke from the\npeasant\u2019s cabin under the woods, or the brown smoke-clouds from the kelp-fires\nin the stony amphitheatres of the coast?\u2014which was the most loveable, the\nswallow skimming the meadows, and brushing the blue waters with the tip of its\nwing, or the red-legged crow throwing the drops about in the little salt-pools\nin the rock, poking its red bill into salt crevices; or, again, the cormorant\nperched on its solitary basaltic pillar amidst the translucent green waters:\nnow rearing its head to survey the whole land and sea, and then intent once\nmore on its fishing? Which of these varieties may be most charming to a salmon,\nwe will not undertake to decide. We only assert that the salmon has the\nopportunity of judging, as it lives and moves among them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having found the tranquil cove\nit hoped for, and deposited its spawn where itself first began to move in the\nuniverse; having done that great duty of the year, and somewhat replenished its\nstrength with alternate repose under the banks, and pleasure excursions among\nthe windings and inlets of the great river, the salmon set about its descent.\nThere was no fear of molestation now. The descending salmon are too poor in\nflesh and condition to be a desirable prize. So, once more, in the midst of\nspring, it found itself again with its comrades in the deep. Perhaps it is because\nthe eastern coast is somewhat too sombre, that our fish now turns its head\nwestward. Ah! there are perils there, too. Wherever there is a cluster of black\nrocks near the shore, and therefore in the path of the salmon, there may the\nwhite cottage of the fisherman be seen, niched into some recess. There may one\ngreat net be drying on poles or gibbet on the rocks, while the buoy out yonder,\nand the line of corks, show where the other is. Everywhere in the path of\nsalmon, may the drawing of the net on Saturdays be seen, from May Day till the\n20th of August. But it is certainly only by experience, if even so, that our\nyoung salmon, or any young salmon, can learn how dangerous the path of life is,\nthrough its whole course. So, on it went, merrily, in its first cruise along\nthat cheerful shore; past the arches of limestone through which the railway is\nto run; past that won\u00addrous verdant slope, from the white beach up and up for\n1000 feet to the crest of rocks which crown the Coleraine heights; that slope where\nfrost and snow and blight and tempest never come; where fairies resorted to\ntheir very latest day, as everybody remem\u00adbers; where miles of trailing roses,\nand blue bells and periwinkles and heaths, with sweet berries enough to feed\nthe whole fairy race, might tempt them back to their flowery tents, if the\nmyriads of rabbits were not too formidable, and if, alas! the fairies were not\ndead, cold, and gone; where the few dwellings peep out from thickets of\nblossoms, and gardens are so many little wildernesses of sweets; where turfy\npaths girdle the steeps, that watchers may sit on a heather cushion, and look\nout for the silvery spangling of the sea where the salmon are at play;\u2014by this\ncheerful shore went our young fish ; and it swept by the turning of the great\nplain which spreads from those heights to Lough Foyle; and into Lough Foyle it\nwent, and up and down in it\u2014up to where old Derry stands on its hill; and where\non a high pillar stands her hero-pastor, Walker, with the Bible in one hand,\nwhile the other points to the Lough where the ships are passing the boom, and\nbringing food to the starving citizens to whose fortitude Queen Victoria owes\nher crown. Up to the woods near the town, and down and away among the labyrinth\nof stake- nets, roves our young salmon; but not to stay, for it is a salmon of\nthe Bann, and there\u00adfore without any intention of becoming an immigrant of\nLough Foyle. As a salmon of the Bann, it will live and die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when and how did the dying happen? As to the when, there is no saying. How should there be, while salmon are so resolute against telling their ages? Whether our fish made many voyages or few, whether years or generations passed, whether watchers, poachers, and lessees remained the same, or were superannuated and buried away, while our salmon\u2019s eye was still clear, and its flesh firm and flaky, and its scales brilliant and flexible,\u2014its day of doom came at last. The victim came up the Bann\u2014not on a Sunday; and it entered the wrong gap. Neither was it on a Saturday that it came; for it certainly did not pine and waste in a state of panic during a long Sabbath day. It was spared that. Its pain was short. One wild attempt to leap\u2014one frantic rush round the place\u2014 and it was fished out, and presently flapped its last in the scale where its value was sure to be duly estimated. For its shroud, it had ample folds of the purest powdered ice, gathered in far lands, by foreign hands, for the purpose. Its burial service was the grace said by the chaplain of a great London company; and its tomb was one which was not devoid of outward ornament of some richness\u2014since over it was hung a massive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Dickens.] THE LIFE OF A SALMON. 609 the drawing on Saturday morning and the opening of the traps that night, are turned into a special little dungeon, railed off on one side, there to pass their Sunday. For all others, the way is completely clear from Saturday night to six o\u2019clock on Monday morning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":664,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-175","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":735,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175\/revisions\/735"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1853archive.com\/wp_annotation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}