Hunting Lore. 455 



hand. In a succession of wonderfully drawn characters, 

 ranging from " Aaron Thousandacres " to " Ishmael 

 Bush," Fenimore Cooper has preserved for always the 

 likenesses of these stark pioneer settlers and backwoods 

 hunters ; uncouth, narrow, hard, suspicious, but with all 

 the virile virtues of a young and masterful race, a race of 

 mighty breeders, mighty fighters, mighty commonwealth 

 builders. As for Leatherstocking, he is one of the undy- 

 ing men of story ; grand, simple, kindly, pure-minded, 

 staunchly loyal, the type of the steel-thewed and iron- 

 willed hunter-warrior. 



Turning from the men of fiction to the men of real life, 

 it is worth noting how many of the leaders among our 

 statesmen and soldiers have sought strength and pleasure 

 in the chase, or in kindred vigorous pastimes. Of course 

 field sports, or at least the wilder kinds, which entail the 

 exercise of daring, and the endurance of toil and hardship, 

 and which lead men afar into the forests and mountains, 

 stand above athletic exercises ; exactly as among the lat- 

 ter, rugged outdoor games, like football and lacrosse, are 

 much superior to mere gymnastics and calisthenics. 



With a few exceptions the men among us who have 

 stood foremost in political leadership, like their fellows who 

 have led our* armies, have been of stalwart frame and sound 

 bodily health. When they sprang from the frontier folk, 

 as did Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, they usually hunted 

 much in their youth, if only as an incident in the prolonged 

 warfare waged by themselves and their kinsmen against 

 the wild forces of nature. Old Israel Putnam's famous 

 wolf-killing feat comes strictly under this head. Doubtless 



