AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



261 



As you have never partaken of a day's sport with the 

 Club, I will give you a brief sketch of their usual excur- 

 sions. 



Some four or five of the members, as leisure or conve- 

 nience permits, (for they never suffer this amusement to 

 interfere with business avocations,) select, with the best 

 skill, a good day, and an early hour is fixed for starting 

 on the day chosen, say 3 o'clock in the morning. Precisely 

 at the time and place appointed, (for it is made a point of 

 honour to be punctual) the members assemble, " furnished 

 and equipped" as their by-laws direct, and set out in their 

 fishing dearborns, for the great Miami, about sixteen 

 miles distant. After a " Jehu-like" drive of three or four 

 hours, in the greatest glee, they arrive at the fishing 

 grounds, and prepare for the day's sport. 



In the first place, the minnow bait must be caught; a 

 net is produced; two of the members bounce into the water 

 up to the middle, and soon procure bait enough for the 

 whole party, of the "real shiners" and "leather-mouths." 

 Then, about sun rise, the fishing commences. The place 

 selected for Bass is generally in the swift water under mill 

 dams, or in deep rocky holes near them. The angler wades 

 into the water, or sits on a rock or log, (the first is gene- 

 rally preferred, for no " real Bass Angler" feels like fish- 

 ing, unless wet to the waist-band. ) There is great emula- 

 tion to take the first fish, it being considered a good 

 omen. The sport commenced, the party continue with 

 untiring patience until about 10 o'clock, when they par- 

 take of a frugal breakfast of bread and ham, or something 

 in that way, moistened with a little good wine, for which 

 all good anglers have a relish. The meal partaken with 

 cheerfulness, and an appetite which active exei'cise never 

 fails to create, is enlivened by a recital of the exploits of 

 the morning, which, with good luck, may amount to twen- 

 ty or thirty fish. 



The sport is resumed with redoubled energy, until three, 

 o'clock when the party dine, much in the same manner as 

 they breakfast. About five in the afternoon, after putting 

 on dog-cloths, they start for home, and arrive near nine, 

 with generally one hundred to one hundred and eighty fine 

 Bass, weighing each from an half to three pounds, the great- 

 est number of middle size, having travelled upwards of 

 thirty miles, and fished faithfully for nine or ten hours. 

 Now, if there is any thing "feminine" in all this, I have 

 mistaken the term. 



Some of the members take excursions of two or three 

 days at a time, and lodge in the neighbouring farm houses 

 at night, or encamp on the banks of the river, as the hardy 

 " hunters of the West" have often done before them. Surely 

 this is not '■^feminine.'''' 



The Bass is a beautiful fish, with its dark olive back and 

 3U 



golden sides; none, for the table, can be more delicious. It 

 bites readily at the minnow bait, and is considered by 

 " the fancy" to be an "exceeding game fish," frequently 

 springing two or three feet out of the water when hooked, 

 and affording the most delightful sport to the angler. He 

 who is fortunate enough to hook a four or five pound Bass, 

 has to exert his utmost skill to secure the fish and save his 

 tackle from destruction. It runs off with the line like a 

 young whale, and without the reel, it would be im- 

 possible for the angler to tire his fish sufficiently to 

 land him. But when he is taken, what rejoicing it 

 excites in the Club, and with what pleasure does the secre- 

 tary record, "a five pound Bass landed by President H. or 

 Counsellor G. after a most arduous though skilful and inter- 

 esting struggle of thirty-five and an half minutes. " 



Our principal and best fishing is in the fall season, 

 after the first early frosts, and during the Indian sum- 

 mer, that pride and boast of our western autumns; then 

 it is indeed a delightful and healthy recreation. 



A complete record of the proceedings of the Club is kept, 

 and the taste for angling, which is continually increasing 

 among the members, together with the strictest propriety 

 of conduct, which, even without their rules, would always 

 be observed, give promise that this association will endure 

 with the lives of the members, and be continued by their 

 descendants for ages, while the Bass inhabit the waters, or 



a taste for angling is cherished. 



PISCATOR. 



NEWLY INVENTED RIFLE. 



This Rifle was invented, and a patent taken out for the 

 same, in the year 1829, by Mr. J. Millar of Rochester, N. 

 Y. The patentee, who is not a Rifle manufacturer by trade, 

 (but has adopted it as his business only within a short 

 period, and has now in his employ, several excellent work- 

 men,) is an experienced hunter, and his experience fre- 

 quently pointed out to him, the necessity of an improve- 

 ment in the common Rifle, in order to be more successful 

 after game; consequently, this laid the foundation of the 

 improvement, or invention of the gun of which we are now 

 about to speak. This Rifle, in the neighbourhood of the 

 inventor, is designated by the name of the " Seven Shot 

 Rifle," and differs from the ordinary gun, by having a re- 

 volving breech, capable of containing seven distinct charges, 

 and which by touching a small spring, revolves successively 

 as the gun is discharged, until the whole are fired off. 



As each chamber in the breech is of the exact bore of the 

 calibre of the gun, and is brought in the revolution with 



