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[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
text is surrounded by _underscores_.]



THE <DW29> BOOKS.



=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.50=

    Chautauqua Girls at Home.
    Christie's Christmas.
    Divers Women.
    Echoing and Re-Echoing.
    Eighty-Seven.
    Endless Chain (An).
    Ester Ried.
    Ester Ried Yet Speaking.
    Four Girls at Chautauqua.
    From Different Standpoints.
    Hall in the Grove (The).
    Household Puzzles.
    Interrupted.
    Judge Burnham's Daughters.
    Julia Ried.
    King's Daughter (The).
    Little Fishers and Their Nets.
    Links in Rebecca's Life.
    Mrs. Solomon Smith Looking On.
    Modern Prophets.
    Man of the house.
    New Graft on the Family Tree (A).
    One Commonplace Day.
    Pocket Measure (The).
    Profiles.
    Ruth Erskine's Crosses.
    Randolphs (The).
    Sevenfold Trouble (A).
    Sidney Martin's Christmas.
    Spun from Fact.
    Those Boys.
    Three People.
    Tip Lewis and His Lamp.
    Wise and Otherwise.


=Each volume 12mo, cloth. $1.25.=

    Cunning Workmen.
    Dr. Deane's Way.
    Grandpa's Darlings.
    Miss Priscilla Hunter.
    Mrs. Deane's Way.
    What She Said.


=Each volume 12mo, cloth, $1.00.=

    At Home and Abroad.
    Bobby's Wolf and other Stories.
    Five Friends.
    In the Woods and Out.
    Young Folks Worth Knowing.
    Mrs. Harry Harper's Awakening.
    New Years Tangles.
    Next Things.
    <DW29> Scrap Book.
    Some Young Heroines.


=Each volume 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.=

    Couldn't be Bought.
    Getting Ahead.
    Mary Burton Abroad.
    <DW29>s.
    Six Little Girls.
    Stories from the life of Jesus.
    That Boy Bob.
    Two Boys.


=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 75 cts.=

    Bernie's White Chicken.
    Docia's Journal.
    Helen Lester.
    Jessie Wells.
    Monteagle.


=Each volume 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.=

    Browning Boys.
    Dozen of Them (A).
    Gertrude's Diary.
    Hedge Fence (A).
    Side by Side.
    Six O'Clock in the Evening.
    Stories of Remarkable Women.
    Stories of Great Men.
    Story of Puff.
    "We Twelve girls."
    World of Little People (A).

[Illustration: NORMAN WAS A HANDSOME BOY WHEN SHE MARRIED MR. DECKER.]




Little Fishers: and Their Nets

    BY
    <DW29>
    AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIE'S CHRISTMAS," "A HEDGE FENCE," "GERTRUDE'S
    DIARY," "THE MAN OF THE HOUSE," "INTERRUPTED,"
    "THE HALL IN THE GROVE," "AN ENDLESS
    CHAIN," "MRS. SOLOMON SMITH LOOKING
    ON," "FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA,"
    "RUTH ERSKINE'S CROSSES,"
    "SPUN FROM FACT,"
    ETC., ETC.


    _ILLUSTRATED_

    BOSTON
    D LOTHROP COMPANY
    FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS




    COPYRIGHT 1887
    BY
    D LOTHROP COMPANY




CONTENTS.


    PAGE.

    CHAPTER I.
    THE DECKERS' HOME                     7

    CHAPTER II.
    BEGINNING HER LIFE                   24

    CHAPTER III.
    THE TRUTH IS TOLD                    43

    CHAPTER IV.
    NEW FRIENDS                          63

    CHAPTER V.
    A GREAT UNDERTAKING                  85

    CHAPTER VI.
    HOW IT SUCCEEDED                    106

    CHAPTER VII.
    LONG STORIES TO TELL                125

    CHAPTER VIII.
    A SABBATH TO REMEMBER               143

    CHAPTER IX.
    A BARGAIN AND A PROMISE             164

    CHAPTER X.
    PLEASURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT         179


    CHAPTER XI.
    A COMPLETE SUCCESS                  204

    CHAPTER XII.
    AN UNEXPECTED HELPER                226

    CHAPTER XIII.
    THE LITTLE PICTURE MAKERS           240

    CHAPTER XIV.
    THE CONCERT                         257

    CHAPTER XV.
    A WILL AND A WAY                    271

    CHAPTER XVI.
    AN ORDEAL                           288

    CHAPTER XVII.
    THE FLOWER PARTY                    304

    CHAPTER XVIII.
    A SATISFACTORY EVENING              320

    CHAPTER XIX.
    READY TO TRY                        334

    CHAPTER XX.
    THE WAY MADE PLAIN                  351

    CHAPTER XXI.
    THE NEW ENTERPRISE                  365

    CHAPTER XXII.
    TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE                 382

    CHAPTER XXIII.
    THE CROWNING WONDER                 400

    CHAPTER XXIV.
    THE PAST AND PRESENT                418




Little Fishers: and Their Nets.




CHAPTER I.

THE DECKERS' HOME.


JOE DECKER gave his chair a noisy shove backward from the table, over
the uneven floor, shambled across the space between it and the kitchen
door, a look of intense disgust on his face, then stopped for his
good-morning speech:

"You may as well know, first as last, that I've sent for Nan. I've
stood this kind of thing just exactly as long as I'm going to. There
ain't many men, I can tell you, who would have stood it so long. Such a
meal as that! Ain't fit for a decent dog!

