| Vol. III.—No. 105. | Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. | price four cents. |
| Tuesday, November 1, 1881. | Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers. | $1.50 per Year, in Advance. |
THE SURPRISING EXPERIENCE OF BEN BUTTLES.
BY FRANK H. CONVERSE.
Part First.
Every boy realizes the fascination of fishing, even if he gets nothingbut bites—mosquito bites at that. It is the anticipation of what onemay catch which heightens the every charm of the sport itself.
But taking flounders from the wharf, or trout in the mill-stream, isquite a different thing from cod or pollock fishing in thirty fathoms ofgreen sea. The one may sometimes be the pursuit of pleasure underdifficulties; the other is generally the pursuit of business underdanger. So at least most of you would have said had you seen "the widowButtles's Ben" at the time when my story begins.
He was standing upright in a fourteen-foot dory, and I may add that thedory, generally speaking, was also standing upright, which is not sosurprising, for, in the first place, the wind was blowing half a gale;in the second place, Ben's boat was anchored, with fifty fathom of scopenear the "Breaking Shoals," and by ch