A Sportsman 69 



In later years I have experienced the intensity of 

 admiration and regard for the acting of the elder 

 Salvini, whom I account the peer in natural presenta- 

 tion and reserved power of any other actor. In 

 whatever play I have seen him, I have followed him 

 with great interest, and I can hardly believe that 

 Talma or Garrick could have been his equal. 



LET us return to the sporting line. In the early 

 history of Maine, game of the character now 

 existing there was plentiful, and wolves were abund- 

 ant, although they are now quite unknown except 

 occasionally in the extreme northeastern part, and 

 have not been known about the Rangeley Lakes for 

 fifty years, which is rather singular, considering that 

 such expansive forests abound, where the conditions 

 are comparatively similar to those before existing. 



Owing to the absence of protecting-game laws, and 

 the ease with which moose and deer were killed in 

 the deep snow in February and March, becoming 

 crusted over by slight day thawings and night freez- 

 ings, the slaughter was simple enough, and such 

 killing was extensively pursued by the inhabitants, 

 with a consequent diminution of both animals, and 

 between the years 1850 and 1860 moose and deer 

 became pretty scarce about the frontier settlements 

 of the State. 



This condition aroused public attention and game 

 laws more stringent than before existing were enacted, 

 and from 1860 deer became more plentiful, although 

 slaughtering in the crusted snow was still continued 

 to a limited extent in the outlying districts and by 

 the winter loggers, but the laws became more drastic 



