FOREST AND STREAM. 



467 



features and combining a)! those inducements which render 

 our select summer resorts so popular and agreeable, Every- 

 thing which could contribute to the amusement and com- 

 fort of families, as well as mere sportsmen, was included in 

 the plan. If not then actually carried out at the beginning, 

 it was because the endeavor was not warmly supported. 

 Candor compels us to state what the public already knows, 

 that the enterprise did not meet with that immediate suc- 

 cess which its too sanguine promoters anticipated. Lack 

 of confidence, a misunderstanding as to its objects, jealous 

 interference and misrepresentation, the ensuiug panic and 

 five years business depression, a failure to realize those 

 convictions of the necessity for propagating and preserving 

 our game which others more prescient and provident pro- 

 claimed, all combined to defeat the prompt fulfillment of 

 an enthusiastic sportsman's dream of full bags and full 

 preserves. Where the association hoped to discover Arcadia 

 they found only a mirage. A very considerable outlay for 

 outfit and appointments was utterly wasted and wiped out 

 dues were not paid ; shares were incontinently forfeited ; 

 in vain the board of management proffered most liberal terms ; 

 memberships could scarcely be sold at any price ; there- 

 fore, the allotted annual income for maintenance not being 

 forthcoming, the Association languished, and was only 

 saved by the devotion of an undismayed handful of stead- 

 fast members. 



This was the true condition of affairs up to the spring of 

 1878, when a .new hope dawned. After seven years of 

 tough experience the clouds rolled off, and we have now 

 merely to exhibit the list of members appended below, (and 

 all obtained within a few short months,) to convince the 

 most incredulous that the Association is now in a position 

 to go on with the work which it long ago assigned to itself. 

 It is a guaranty, readily accepted, of its financial integrity 

 and high social standing. Such an array, of prominent busi- 

 ness names was never before attached to any non-political 

 organization in this country. All have paid their fees and 

 dues, and the balance in the treasurer's hands is far in ex- 

 cess of immediate requirements. We have before us the re- 

 ports of several standing committees and sub-committees 

 made at the December monthly meeting of the Association, 

 of which we had purposed to publish a full abstract, but our 

 space will hardly justify it. Certainly no necessities of the 

 Association require it. Special pleas in its behalf arc no 

 longer needed. Its objects and merits alone, backed by its 

 cohorts, and led by success, are all the recommendations it 

 require . Suffice it to say, that the Association has now a 

 reorganized and efficient Board of Management, a superin- 

 tendent, and gamekeepers at remunerative salaries, and all 

 club appointments at present required for the entertainment 

 of visitors to its grounds. A competent committee has care- 

 fully examined the Park territory to ascertain what meas- 

 ures are necessary to replenish the depleted game; and such 

 aseerlai tied measures have already been taken to erect suHuble 

 paddocks for deer and coverts for birds, and to .purchase 

 whatever live game is necessary to abundantly stock the 

 preserves. If circumstances demand, several thousand 

 grown quail and several hundred grouse can be turned 

 loose into the grounds at short notice. A large number of 

 wild turkeys are also available. As soon as the ice breaks 

 up in the early spring, the whole tract will be astir with an- 

 imated life. Of course all necessary palice protection 

 against poachers will be afforded. The new Superintendent 

 is John M. BtellerrwerJP) late of the Lake House, at Islip, 

 Long Island. 



The following is a list of members of the Blooming Grove 

 Park Association, elected during the year 1878 : 



Hon. De W. C. (Vneeler, I J rof. S. H. Day, H. H. Wolfe, W. L. Jen- 

 felns,Jr.,N.T. CH'ty; R. A. Packer, Pena; Ronald Thomas, Charles 

 lsbell, L. W. Johnson, N. Y. City; Isaac S. Gartner, UUea, N; Y.; J_ 

 De Rivera, Col. E. S. Bowen, J. JET.; Beard, C. Alfred Grymes, A. a! 

 Drake, Joan SicKiea, N. Y. City ; J. E. Meaoham, Nevada; A. Patter- 

 son, Geo. H. B. Hill, Dr. Morris J. Asch, Major S. B. Eaton, Jno. Mc- 

 Glnnia, Jr., Geo. W. Towuley, D. B. BabooeB, H. Dorand, F. L. Eatnes, 

 Wayland Trask, W. P. Jonea, 8. J. Harriott, N. T. City; Horace 

 White, Chicago, III.; Dr. T. A. McBrMe, Dr. S. M. Nash, N. Y. city ; 

 Win. Larnpeon, Le Roy. N. Y.; Conut D. B. Da MoazUly, T. E. H. Car- 

 tU, N. Y. City; John H. Swoyer, VVilkesbarre, Penu.; B.F. Brady, 

 Geneva, Switzerland; Alfred Beoar, E. A. Johnson, R. N. 

 Hazird, W. S. Andrews, Geo. H. McLean, J. Kearney AVarren, 

 N. Y. City; G. D. Clark, Jr., Baltimore, Md.; E. Sanford, N. Y. City ; 

 J. L. Stlaoee, Syracuse, N. Y ; Tnos. A. Vyse, N. Y. City ; Dr. E. Dodd, 

 Brooklyn, L. I ; B. A. Corey, A. Darling, Jame3 Benkard, Chaa. F. 

 Fearing, John W.Balfour, Herman R.Le Hoy, Genl. Danl. Butterttehl, 

 Roland Redmond, E. E. Chaso, John Benjamin, Christopher K. Robert, 

 Arnold Marcus, N. Y. City , Willy Bumatead, Boston, Mass.; G. G. 

 Culeiuin, W. B. Williams, Montefonl Isaics, Walter B. Lawrence', Leon 

 rjor iiinuey, Win. I;. Birr, Genl. Jno. ,J. Anderson, Dr. F. 

 J. BuuiBtead, H. T. Carey, Gen. 7, A). flea.-, R. 8. Elliott, W. If. bear- 

 ing, O. W. Joalyn, 0. iteJivern, Fran-: Rftynolfis, Dr. A. Russell 

 Strachan, Phoenix Bemsen, B. W. Dyer, Louts Snyder, U. C. De Rivera 

 H. B. Hollina, Geo. W. Hall, N. Y. City ; Prof. Ohas. T. Jenkins, Salem! 

 Mas.?.; Joseph Jefferson, Uahokus, W. J. 



Previous members number about ninety. 



It is hardly necessary to state that the stock of the Associ- 

 ation has very materially appreciated since the publication 

 of its committees' reports. The price of membership has 

 also advanced. Kecent memberships have been secured 

 chiefly by the purchase of forfeited shares at a nominal 

 price of $00, When all such shares are disposed of, the 

 membership will be large enough to support the Associa- 

 tion by its annual dues, which are fixed at $35, subsequent 

 to April 1, 187U; at which time the price will return to $450, 

 as per charter. Life memberships, exempt from taxation 

 and dues, can be purchased for $1,000. 



The congratulations of all persons who foresee the extinc- j 



tion of game in our eastern country by the steady advance 

 of settlement, arc due to those who have at laBt succeeded 

 in placing this Protective Association on a firm and perma- 

 nent footing. It has within itself the i l'< 

 strength. It is the pioneer organization of its kind in 

 America. The good it can accomplish by its influence and 

 direct aid in preserving game and sport for our sportsmen 

 will manifest itself in time; while the fact of its having 

 j rescued from the clang of shops and the tramp of multi- 

 l tudes one choice spot, which it will keep secluded and 

 sacred hereafter to Ntmrod and Diana, will at least be rec- 

 ognized. Accordingly, we feel it to be the duty of this 

 journal, as the representative of sporting interests in America, 

 and independent of what might, bo charged as the personal 

 considerations of its editor, who was one of the incorpora- 

 tors of the Blooming Grove Park Association, to give this 

 enterprise its unqualified support, and to wish all connected 

 with it the most eminent success in their efforts to preserve 

 the game of the country. 



TRUE SPORTSMEN AND SPORTING 

 LITERATURE. 



Piscator— Yon are well overtaken, gentlemen ; a good morning to 

 you both. I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake 

 you, hoping your husinesB may occasion you toward Waie, whither I 

 am goini,' this fine fresh May morning. 



Vkkatob— Sir, 1 for my part shall almost answer yonr hopes, for my 

 purpose is to drink my morning's draught, at the Tbatch'tl nouse in 

 Hododen. ■ * * * * But now 



we are at it, we'll turn into it and refresh ourselves with a cop of drink 

 and a little rest. 



PisCiTOR— SloBt, gladly, sir ; and we'll drink a civil cup to all the 

 other hunters that are to meet you tomorrow. * * 



Venator— I will requite u part of jour courtesies with a bottle of 

 sack, milk, oranges ami sugar, which, all put together, make a drink 

 like nectar; Indeed, too good for anybody but us anglers. 



IZAAK WALTON. 



A true sportsmaD, says a well known authority, must pos- 

 sess a combination of virtues which will fill him so full that 

 no room can be left for sin to squeeze in. He must be an 

 early riser— to be which is the beginning of all virtue— am- 

 bitious, temperate, prudent, patient of toil, fatigue and disap- 

 pointment ; courageous, watchful, intent upon his business— 

 always ready. Confident, cool, kind to his dog, civil to the 

 girls and courteous to his brother sportsmen. 



While possessing the above traits the sportsman should be a 

 most faithful devotee of the attractions of the universe — 

 birds, flowers, woods and streams. He should have sufficient 

 control over the various appetites and passions of the mind 

 and body as will endow him with the capability of dealing 

 moderately in all things. From time immemorial conviviality 

 has been a prominent feature — yea, the wind up of very many 

 jaunts of the angler and fowler, nine of which out of every 

 ten are epicures who would as soon think of eating a raw salt 

 mackerel as sit down to canvasback and terrapin without an 

 accompanying quaff of their favorite wine. 



Izaak Walton lrequently terminated a day's fishing with a 

 generous libation at the "Thatched House," and e'en said 

 grace for the refreshing cup of barley malt. 



A man may drink wine, even carry a little with him 

 on a fishing or shooting expedition, and be both a gentleman 

 and a sportsman, provided he has farce of character sufficient 

 to stop when he has partaken moderately. But he, who to 

 every shot at a leatherhead, has three glasses from the whisky 

 flask, or he who deems it necessary to provide himself with a 

 cask of beer and a hundred weight of ice for a day's fishing 

 or shooting, and who, before the sun is fairly in the meridian, 

 is noisily drunk, and then, and then, parades before the pub- 

 lic in the columns of a first-class sporting journal, over the ap- 

 pellation of a Sportsman deserves chastisement, which delicacy 

 forbids mentioning in this paper. "My Shooting Box," " The 

 Quondon Hounds," " The Warwick Woodlands" and " The 

 Deer Stalkers" are a series of sporting sketches meant more 

 as a literary amusement than an example or lesson to be taught 

 or copied. It was against Herbert's will that tney have been 

 published in book form, and in no other of his works can the 

 reader say dwells the slightest degree of redolency from the 

 whisky flask or brandy bottle. 



Had Herbert failed to note in his peculiar but descriptive 

 way those petit soupers, or the jest at Harry Archers then 

 would he have written narrative void of true delineation. 

 Macauiay might as well have omitted the revolution and the 

 reign of James 11. That the whisky flask should be rigidly 

 excluded from rifle practice where victory is the hard-earned 

 result of Clearheadedness and steady nerves is an indisputable 

 fact worthy the co-operation of alt organizations competing 

 whether with rifle or shot-gun. The great trouble nowadays 

 is the want of judicious discrimination between a sporting 

 man and a sportsman. The former must as a consequence be 

 over just to himself with the bottle, must deal at the pool 

 room and consequently visit the gaming table. The latter 

 must be either painter or poet, a thorough naturalist (Darwin's 

 views excepted), must keep the ten commandments, the re- 

 vised statutes and the thirty-nine articles of the Episcopal 

 Church. 



— Reports of the various railroad companies carrying pas- 

 sengers to Coney Island have been filed in Albany, from 

 which it appears that the total number of persons taken to the 

 popular resort last season, exclusive of those who went by 

 boat, was 2,750,000. Enough went in other ways to swell 

 the number to three millions and a half. The average number 

 carried by the roads a day was 26,000. 



—Wilbur & Hastings, Fulton street, New York, publish 

 some very neat and handsome calendars for 1879. 



— Sleet in Florida and ton inches of snow in Texas are 

 among the rare phenomena of the present winter. Norfolk 

 Harbor, in Virginia, is frozen clear across, and the James 

 Riyer is blockaded by ice throughout itfl entire length. Iu 

 California the growing oranges have been incased in ice, and 

 great quantities of ripening fruit destroyed in great variety. 

 — — - — •♦- _ 



—Our well known correspondent, Oscar B. Smith, Esq,, 

 the author of many pleasant sketches in Forest and Stream 

 during paBt years, has gone into business with BTessTB. Pom 

 roy and Cox, under the firm name of Pomeroy, Cos & Smith, 

 bankers and brokers, 37 Broad street, this city. It' our friend 

 is as earnest in the pursuit of fortune as he is in the prosecu- 

 tion of the game laws, and the hunting of quail, he will have 

 to hire a stout boy to carry his bag of shekels as well as his 

 bag of game. 



_-,-»_ 



Good News from Good Ground.— Our friend Wm. Lane, 



of Good Ground, Long Island, well known to all sportsmen 

 who visit that region, writes us the cheerful news that Sliin- 

 ueoick Bay is once more provided with an iulet. It was 

 opened on the 17th of December, not ou the spot of the last 

 futile effort, but furthor to the westward in the precise loca- 

 tion of the old inlet, which remained open for eighteen ycatv 

 The surplus water, and which crossed some of the best feed- 

 ing grounds, was all run off before the bay become frozen 

 over. The last day of the shooting Lane killed 181 broad- 

 bills and red-heads. The prospects for good shooting in the 

 spring were never better. Lane says that ho never in his life 

 saw so many geese as passed south this fall, and as a very 

 large proportion of them were young ones the chances for the 

 spring shooting are so much improved. With an open inlet 

 there should also be excellent fishing in Shinnecock, as (he 

 bluefish appear to be particularly fond of the bay. We hope 

 to join friend Lane in some "chumming " next summer. 



— .— *9< — . 



[from our own correspondent.] 



THE TROPICAL WANDERINGS OF 



FRED BEVERLY. 



The Cahibbsan Sea— My Neighbors, the Mott-mtainekbs 



—The Isuaha— A Work of Art— Mrs. Gkundt. 

 Mr. Editor; 



The pictures from my cabin door are all beautiful, but all 

 suggest alike the sea. Detached peaks rise to the eastward 

 aud southward, connected by a continuous chain of hills to 

 the sea. Their line is irregular, and very shapely are those 

 mountain peaks, clothed with verdure to their summits. 

 The broken slope in front of my cabin slants rapidly to the 

 precipice that borders the valley that contains the river which 

 hastens to the sea. Outlined against its silvery surface are 

 dark green mountains; a loosely-branched tree stands out 

 against it as against the sky ; palm;'., with gracefully spreading 

 foliage, show dark against it. It spreads so far and wide, and 

 seems to climb so high to meet the sky, that it is hardly pos- 

 sible to tell where sea leaves off and sky begins. Every day 

 I am puzzled to ascertain the horizon line. Every day it 

 blends into sky so softly that all seems sky, or all may be sea. 

 Is the sky blue, so is the sea; is it smoky pearl, ihe sea is 

 dim, and hides its face beneath a hazy cloud. A cloudy day, 

 with the sun shining on the water from behind the clouds, 

 turning the sea to burnished and glistening silver, is as puz- 

 zling as a day with sky of clearest, ether ; for ihe sun, tefli i 

 ed from the silver surface of the sea, disstpales the line of 

 demarkation in the glare of the reflection. 



There are times when the sea does not rise up to meet the 

 sky, but spreads out miles and miles, until I almost fancy I 

 can see to Ave3 Island— that solitary island far west in the 

 Caribbean Sea, where a colony of birds breed on the sands 

 alone. The best view is obtained at sunset ; then, whether 

 the bright orb diEappears behind the mountains without a 

 cloud, or whether he leaves a threatening array, clad in armor 

 of sold and silver, the horizon line is well defined. At moon- 

 light also, when mountains and valleys are but gradations in 

 depth of shadow, the sea reposes peacefully beneath moon 

 and stars, content to rest itself as a sea, and claiming no af- 

 finity with the vault above. 



It seems to me that it changes every time I look upon it- 

 pearl blue, silver shot with gold, hazy depths, from which 

 no light is shown, aud again a sea of deepest ether. It; has 

 never been otherwise than calm anil 

 Winds that sometimes sweep down 1 

 dive into the valleys are enough to 

 any sea. Indeed, it is a well kuowi 

 ten becalmed under the lee of these 



placid, though Ihe tierce 

 im these mountains and 



utile the tranquillity of 

 fact, that vessels are of- 

 Jaribbee islands for days 

 to jethcr, and there is not even a swell to break the monotony 

 of existence on board. I can see white sails, sails of sloops, 

 of schooners, of ships, drifting lazily over the placid sea.' 

 Sometimes the morning will reveal the sail of the evening 

 before— the sail that 1 watched listlessly as I swung in my 

 hammock. It is one of the pleasures of existence here that 

 [ can at any time raise my eyes anal look out upon the s tj|l 

 dreamy, beautiful sea of the Antilles. It is not always that 

 it is so peaceful. In the "hurricane season," when the /em- 

 pests devastate these islands, 11 rises in its wrath— not like the 

 miserable Atlantic, though, always in commotion ; it is only 

 disturbed by a hurricane— nothing less. 



A century ago or thereabouts, when came to this mountain 

 retreat (then unbroken wilderness as dow it is save this 

 little clearing)— when first came that sanguine Frenchman! 



