86 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



husband had taken a journey to the north on business. 

 Three stout, blooming youths came in one after the 

 other from shooting, bringing four wild turkeys. 



I was already far enough advanced in English to be 

 able to take part in the conversation, the educated 

 American being very indulgent to foreigners in this 

 respect. We sat talking together till about ten 

 o'clock. The young wife had just received a letter 

 from her husband, Avhich she read through and 

 through ten times over. She had been very unfor- 

 tunate in Arkansas. The doctors had killed three of 

 her children, and she herself was suffering from in- 

 flamed eyes through their ignorance. The fact is, that 

 there is no sufficient authority to control their practice 

 in these new States, and every quack who chooses may 

 call himself doctor. They prescribe calomel for every 

 disorder, and decayed teeth, inflamed eyes, spongy 

 gums, and shattered health are the universal conse- 

 quences. 



My next night was passed at a Kentucky-man's, who 

 had settled here. He had about a dozen dogs in his 

 house, and he willingly made one over to me, which, 

 according to his account, was a capital dog for hunting 

 wild turkeys, running them to a- tree, so that they 

 could be more easily shot. 



Lounging along the road, I saw, at a good distance 

 in front of me, a buck quietly feeding right in the path, 

 and, rather distrusting the good education of my dog, 

 I fastened him to a tree with my pocket-handkerchief 

 and the string of my powder-horn. The buck con- 

 tinued feeding unsuspiciously, till I came within about 

 eighty-five paces from him, when, as 1 had the wind at 



