January 10. 1017 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 





Capt. Dan Quinn has been a veritable father to the Marie 

 during her many years of wanderings about on the broad 



Ail dressed up 

 lor the picture 



Wlien patience is 

 more than a virtue 



waters of the big stream. Pilot Tom, his son, genial, happy- 

 go-lucky Tom, is considered one of the best river men in the 

 district. If the trip had offered nothing more, it would have 

 been well worth the while for the privilege of associating with 

 the old captain. Born and bred on the river (he has fol- 

 lowed its ramblings for sixty years). Capt. Dan has ab- 

 sorbed all that is truest and best in southern hospitality. 

 He typifies the true meaning of that phrase, which in some 

 places is more a myth than a reality. His unadulterated cor- 

 diality was the final touch that stamped the trip as being 

 completely successful. 



Then there is big George Osgood — one would never think 

 of calling him Mr. Osgood after a half day of knowing him. 

 There are two impressions that stand out most distinctly in 

 ray recollection of George. One is of the tender, impas- 

 sioned tone in which he addressed those doubtful geese which 

 circled hesitatingly before deciding whether to "come in" 

 cr pass on. The other is the mind picture of him hovering 

 in anticipation (and little else) of the frigid temperature of 

 sheets between which he was about to insert himself. 



It would never do for a goose-hunting party to be minus 

 a goose-hunter. Xo one in the ranks had graduated from 

 the duck class except Wilbur Thistlewood, a brother-in-law 

 of George Osgood's. Wilbur, in addition to being the cham- 

 pion goose-hunter of southern Illinois (he could make a 

 goose come right in' and sit on the end of your gun barrel — 

 almost), is one of the best chaps in the world; an ideal pal 

 on a hunting excursion. 



I think one of the most pleasurable reflections of the whole 

 trip is that of the complete abandon with which Frank May - 

 went about the business of enjoying himself. Frank gave 



They look satisfied 



himself over body and soul to enjoyment not only of the 

 hunt, but of every foot of the vast landscape. He was every- 

 where at once. He served in both of the parties into which 

 the expedition split and in various and sundry parties of 

 his own, and earned the reputation of being the best goose 

 retriever on the Mississippi river. He also established a 

 considerable reputation as a hunter of big game. I have 

 had one of his friends picture an exciting moment in a 

 bear hunt which Frank pulled off all by himself, the artist 

 having been able to show the entire operation, inclusive of 

 the prey. He got one "bear," which, to do justice, should 

 have been roasted whole on Christmas day with an apple in 

 its mouth. But it served an equally useful purpose on the 

 boat that evening. The valiant hunter was strangely elu- 

 sive when a colored native of the "flats" came around just 

 before dusk that evening to enlist help in rounding up his 

 razor-backs, which for some reason had developed a remark- 

 able wildness. 



Of the hosts, there is nothing I could say that would pic- 

 ture or begin to show my appreciative conception of them 

 and what they did for us. Unassuming Bart Tully, the big- 

 hearted, the genuine good fellow (I don't mean it in the con- 

 vivial sense), the man whom everybody likes, offered the last 

 stroke of a perfect host with the blow that drove home the 

 bung in a quarter barrel, which on the last day of the trip 

 gave a mellowing glow of contentment after three strenuous 

 days in the dry, sandy river barrens. 



As a period stops the sentence, so "Little Nemo" will end 

 my sketch of the hunters. "Little Nemo" is Sam Thompson, 



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