CELEBRATE THE SEASON:
Lady in Waiting
by Wayne Kelley

Thoughts of Mom
by Mike Williams

The Common Stinging Nettle
by Euell Gibbons

Looking for that Hot
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by Daryle Thomas

DO IT YOURSELF HOME IMPROVEMENTS:
Flower Boxes
to Brighten the Homestead

VERMONT VERSES
Shoulder to the Plow
by Wayne Kelley

Fishing & the Moral Law in Vermont
by Daniel Cady

GARDENING:
Aquatic Landscaping
by Leonard Perry

Lady Tulip
by Anna Bostford Comstock

May Gardening Tips
by Leonard Perry

INTO THE OUTDOORS:
Fishing the 'Kill
by John Merwin

Spring Derbies Hook Kids on Fishing

VERMONT WEATHERVANE BOOK NEWS:
Find Beauty in Breakage
Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics

Collecting Shards
Excerpted from Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics

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Fishing and the
Moral Law in Vermont

WHY is it them whose morals slant
Can do so much the decent can't?
Jest let a chap his conscience chuck
And generally he plays to luck;
Erase the line 'twixt right and wrong
And every sob becomes a song -
I s'pose that's why a worthless scout
Can ketch jest twice as many trout.

But still I wouldn't want it spread
That I'm convinced of what I've said;
I offer it for what it's worth
To them that salt and save the earth,
As some excuse and reason why
The fish refuse their worm or fly -
I'd kinder like to ferret out
Why honest folks can ketch no trout.

In earlier days I had a wish
To Waltonize amongst the fish;
On lowery Summer morns I rose
And donned my nifty rubber clothes;
To mountain streams I slipped away,
But night fell, fishless, on my day,
While jest behind me that old scout,
Joe Nason, got a string of trout.

I had a boughten bamboo pole,
While Joe had one I'm sure he stole;
I used some scented "acetate,"
While Joe jest spit upon his bait;
I had a fair repute to keep,
While Joe was charged with stealing sheep,
And yet, that sinful roustabout
Would always get his string of trout.

He lost a hand and then an eye,
But still could fish the county dry;
He never thought the times was tight
Unless the fish refused to bite;
I've set in church where I could look
And see him start for Purse's brook -
The worthless, wicked, lazy lout,
Yet somehow he could charm the trout.

Except as stated, I can give
No reason why sech folks should live;
No man, because he fools the fish,
The ordered scheme of things should dish;
No man without a frock or friend,
Should stand the "moral world" on end,
And, least of all, no worthless scout
Should eat my mess of speckled trout.

- Daniel Cady