194 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



.as a system, and in regard to its application. "We are told 



that 



"In the elder days of art, 

 Builders wrought with greatest care," 



but in our times of hurry and struggle, thoroughness does 

 not appear to bo considered an essential. The work of 

 months is crowded into days, and that of years into months. 

 How then can we expect a work like a Standard as it ought 

 to be, which should take years of study and reflection to 

 perfect, to be hurried through a three days' Convention, 

 and reflect the highest type of American judging? Of the 

 Standard itself we are not permitted to speak, for it has not 

 yet seen the light; but whatever it may be, it is evident 

 that its authors did not fully comprehend the situation, or 

 appreciate their opportunity, or they would never have 

 hung such a millstone about its neck as their instructions to 

 the judges will prove to be, for it will most assuredly de- 

 stroy any vitality which it may possess, and as assuredly con- 

 sign it to the fate of its predecessors. That the Convention 

 should have been so thoughtless as to incumber their work 

 with such a dead weight, seems to us a mystery. In taking 

 this ground, they have fairly turned their backs upon all 

 the experience of the past six years, as well as upon all the 

 information which has accumulated upon the subject. That 

 any body of highly intelligent men could for a moment sup- 

 pose that judges worthy the name could be obtained, after 

 the experience we have had of such a system, who would 

 undertake such arduous work, is past our comprehension; 

 but we are certain that if any of them had passed through 

 the experience we have had in obtaining judges and assign- 

 ing their duties, and have heard, as we have repeatedly 

 heard, from them, the most thorough condemnation of such 

 a system, they would have paused before they had committed 

 themselves or their Convention to such a measure. If we 

 have accurately weighed the testimony given in the pub- 

 lished reports of the Convention, we confess ourselves un- 

 able to see any good which will result to the poultry interest 

 of America from its actions. Had the Convention, instead 

 of going over the too oft-repeated formulas, and the out- 

 grown systems, risen to the occasion and made a new depar- 

 ture, they might, and undoubtedly would, have given a new 

 impetus to the whole poultry interest ; but they have chosen 

 otherwise, and we must patiently wait and 



"By ceaseless study learn; by actions teach," 



until our fanciers are brought to understand and appreciate 

 the needs and demands of the time. 



Looking then at the work of the Convention from what 

 ever point we may, we do not see anything to give encour- 

 agement, but rather a feeling of dissappointment that no 

 progress has been made ; that so far as this subject of a 

 Standard is concerned, we stand just where we did before, 

 with a little more emphasis upon our conservatism, and that 

 a splendid opportunity for American fanciers to take the 

 lead in the needed reforms in poultry matters has been most 

 heedlessly thrown away. "W. 



February 25, 1874. 



J)©"" A lady asked a pupil at a public examination, of a 

 Sunday-school: — "What was the sin of the Pharisees?" 

 "Eating camels, marm," quickly replied the child. She 

 had read that the Pharisees "strained at gnats and swal- 

 lowed camels." 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



ADVENTURE WITH A SHARK. 



During the late war, when a regiment of Confederate 

 soldiers were encamped at Virginia Point, opposite the city 

 of Galveston, on Galveston Bay, a number of soldiers were 

 bathing, when a huge shark made his appearance among 

 them. The keen eyes of the " liebs " were not long in 

 taking in the situation, and they seized pieces of drift wood 

 and, by beating upon the water and shouting vociferously, 

 the finny monster was driven into water so shallow as to be 

 unable to turn on his back to defend himself. Spades, axes, 

 and tent-poles were then freely used in dispatching the un- 

 welcome visitor. When drawn ashore he measured twelve 

 feet in length, and was of the variety known as the blue 

 shark. The soldiers neatly stripped off his rough and 

 shining skin, and used it in polishing their muskets and 

 swords. The joints of the vertebra, after bleaching in the 

 sun on the sand, were appropriated by the regiment for salt- 

 cellars. 



Not long since I somewhere read of the perilous adven- 

 tures of a seafaring man who by some accident fell over- 

 board from a vessel sailing from Manilla to San Francisco. 

 The sea being very rough, his whole strength was seemingly 

 required to keep on the surface. Imagine his dismay when 

 he saw that he was besieged by hungry sharks, who made 

 determined efforts to dismember his limbs. Being an ex- 

 pert swimmer, by dexterous diving he managed to keep the 

 sharks at bay and himself afloat for an hour, when a boat 

 from the ship picked him up. 



The jaws of the shark sometimes measure several feet, and 

 are studded with several rows of lance-like teeth, which cut 

 with the keenness of a knife. Instances are recorded where 

 the limbs of men have been dismembered by a single closure 

 of the jaws, as if they had been as brittle as a reed. The 

 writer has in his possession a petrified tooth of a shark, 

 found in a bed of marl near the coast, which measures two 

 inches in length and one inch across its base. It is lance- 

 shaped and exceedingly sharp, and is by no means of the 

 average size. 



It is a source of great amusement in sailing across the 

 ocean, when becalmed, to observe the sailors fishing for 

 sharks, which always follow in the wake of a vessel to 

 devour anything that may be thrown overboard. ■ A hook 

 made for this purpose is secured to a chain at least one foot 

 long (the shark being capable of biting through a rope with 

 ease) ; the other end of the chain is fastened to a stout rope, 

 which is secured to the vessel. A severe plunge of a cap- 

 tured shark would be quite sufficient to draw overboard 

 several men. A large piece of pork is used in baiting the 

 hook, and allowed to tow alongside. Sharks are generally 

 eager to catch it, and have been known to leap several feet 

 out of water to seize the bait before it reaches the surface. 

 When once caught its mighty struggles create great excite- 

 ment, for it exerts its whole strength to tear away from the 

 hook; but the skilled seamen delight in using a harpoon, 

 the handle of which is heavily loaded with lead, which gives 

 force when dropped upon the struggling fish. When landed 

 on deck its ponderous jaws open widely and close with great 

 force ; its tail twirls with wonderful agility, dealing heavy 

 blows upon the deck, until the sailors render him senseless 

 with an axe. The stomach is often the receptacle of treas- 

 ures. As they are known to devour anything thrown over- 

 board, the sailors consider this the curiosity shop, and ex- 

 amine it with a deal of care. One having enjoyed the 

 enlivening sport of shark-fishing can well realize the relief 

 it affords the dull monotony of a sea voyage. Even ladies 

 regard it as very pleasant pastime, while on land they would 

 think of it as horrible. Jambs S. Bailey, M.D. 



