NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 20,1874. 



For Forest and S'ream. 

 TROUT JERKS. 



MR "JOLLTBOT," wearied or city ways, 

 Of his treadmill tramp, in the ronnds of trade: 

 And as he perspired, through summer days, 



He thought of the country, and cooling shade. 

 Until the purpose grew strong in him 

 To do a bit of rural sport; 

 So at it he went, with accustomed vim, 

 And hence this most veracious report. 



He had heard of the trout, and resolved to try 

 And whip a few of the mountain brooks; 

 For, soys he to himself. "It's all in my eye, 



This talk about skill in the use or hooka; 

 I ain't such a clumsy hoh-de-hoy 

 As not to know how a nibble feels; 

 i used to catch "shiners" when a boy, 



And was seme on catDsh, suckers and eels. 



Then he hied away to a tackle vender. 

 Where an angling outfit he bought complete: 

 Some lines were stout and some were slender. 



With hooks, ami Hies that could'nt be heat. 

 He bought a little of everything 

 That the dealer suggested might "come in play," 

 from a bamboo rod to a "clearing ling," 



And a creel of a size to last ail duy. 



He had wading boots to reach the thighs, 

 And boxes for various kinds of bait: 

 A pair of goggles to shade the eyes, 



And tourist's books of the latest date. 

 His clothes were "the color of forest trees," 

 (He had always heard that such were best); 

 Hie hreeches buttoned below the knees, 



And his coat had pockets in flaps and breast. 



After four and twenty hours or more, 

 An old stage stopped with sudden lurch, 

 Where the landlord stood at his open door, 



And villagers lounged about the porch. 

 The city man (wisliing to seem an fait). 

 Thought the trout on the dinner table small. 

 And arranged for a lengthy trip next'day— 



"He'd show some fish to beat, 'em all." 



Then full of zeal, with nerves all steady, 

 He got his bran new tackle ready; 

 With eager eye. and careful tread, he 



.Essayed work piscatory. 

 He plunged through holes and climbed o'er boulders, 

 He barked his shins aud bumped his shoulders. 

 Unseen of critical beholders, 



guiltless of victims gory. 



Thus, till the noon -tide hour drew nigh, 

 ne faithfully the stream did try, 

 Mosquitoes bit, but trout were shy; 



The prospect was most, gloomy. 

 He stopped to lunch, and smoke, and mnee. 

 Wished for thin coat and easy shoes, 

 And grimly rubbed Mb latest braise, 



And viewed his creel, so roomy. 



While waiting in this doleful plight, 

 A bareroot urchin hove in sight, 

 Jerking the trout from loft and right, 



.Willi sore manipulation. 

 His pole was a crooked alder thing, 

 Hook dangling from a bit of string. 

 I 'areless lie seemed at every Uing. 

 In juvenilo elation. 



Spying the stranger where lie sat. 



The urchin in the torn straw hat 



Flopped over the brook to have a chat 

 Aud ask "what luck a-ustdn'," 



11<: saw the gentleman's kmky line, 



The shiny reel and rod so fine; 



"Oh! goliy!" says, ha, "if them was mine- 

 Just, what I always was wishin'." 



Well, they made a compact by the brook. 

 The would-be angler some lessons took, 

 The-lad got lines, with many a hook. 



And a shiny, silver dollar. 

 Then they tramped the stream with soug and shout, 

 By jerks alternate they "yanked" the trout— 

 A couple of Jollyboys, no doubt, 



The teacher and the scholar. T. W. A. 



For Forest and Stream. 



S nt ld<tg ffnstimej in ^dvm\ii. 



The Sabbath a Uollilay-Masa-Vnlle de Oallos-Biahop's Garden - 

 Street Sceuea— Grnud Ball at the Captain General's. 



—A Buffalo paper announces that by the recent burning 

 of an ice house there, twenty thousand tone of ice were 

 'reduced to ashes." 



AS in all Spanish countries, the Sabbath is a general 

 holiday in Havana. The first sound that greeted us 

 at early dawn was the clanking of the irons as the chain 

 gang passed up the street from their bard beds at the Pre- 

 sidio. Our Coolie waiter brought us a cup of delicious 

 coffee, which we sipped while, making our toilet. As we 

 had a round of sinful pastimes marked out for the day, 

 including a cock-fight and a ball at the Captain General's, 

 we concluded to compound for some of them by attending 

 mass at the old cathedral where the ashes of Columbus 

 repose. One by one the worshippers file in — chiefly fe- 

 males — with neatly attired slave girls bearing rugs in their 

 arms, on which the Senoras devotedly kneel in front of the 

 altar. Sombre-looking padres, attended by several juve- 

 nile and not sombre-looking incense bearers, officiate in the 

 chancel, while a choir of eunuchs chaunt music of bewil- 

 dering sweetness from away up under the stained arches in 

 •the gallery. A portly priest ascends a little pulpit on the 

 right, and rehearses the service in pure Oastilian, and then 

 passes to a pulpit on the left and concludes the service in 

 the same round, swelling, and sonorous dialect. Then the 

 audience retires one by one; a venerable padre at the door 

 condescending to show strangers the tomb of Columbus, 

 and accepting with Christian humility and gratitude any 

 consideration therefor which the recipients of his courtesy 

 may choose to bestow. There is an interesting history con- 

 nected with the transfer of the ashes of Columbus to Hav- 

 ana; but as I am recording Sunday pastimes, I must hurry 

 on, and leave the "groat Colon" in his ivy-crowned mau- 

 soleum. 



Returning to our hotel, we find breakfast almost over, 

 and, with the dispatch for which our countrymen are 

 noted, we do ample justice to the bill of fare, which em- 

 braced fish, beefsteak, corn cakes, oranges, plantaius— fried 

 and raw— Catalan wine, and coffee. After breakfast we 

 took a quitrin for the "Valle de Gallos," or cock-pit. It 

 is related in this connection— and with how much truth I 

 cannot say— that the priests not long ago were in the habit 

 of hurrying through with their morning service in order 

 to get good seats at these great popular spectacles' An 

 American friend, who kindly offered to act as a cicerone 

 for our party, insisted on purchasing tickets of admission, 

 which were twenty-five cents each. The place consists of 

 a round, covered atnpitheatre, with seats like those of a 

 circus. Overhead, and commanding a full view of the en- 

 tire arena, is a little gallery, occupied by^he august judges. 

 Adjoining this structure is another, almost its counterpart, 

 where the negroes are engaged in the national diversion— a 

 refreshing evidence that civil rights bills have not yet dis- 

 turbed the social life of the "ever faithful isle," so-called. 

 As these spectacles have been dignified as national pastimes 

 among the Spanish people, I surveyed the crowd with some 

 interest, but looked in vain for any considerable element 

 save the lower classes; and, to the honor of the Cuban la- 

 dies, not a single female was present in the motley assem- 

 blage. 



'Die chickens were brought in and weighed, and the ring 

 was cleared of all save the trainers, who proudly held the 

 birds up for general inspection, and bantered the crowd for 

 bets. The feathers had been clipped from their tails, 

 wings, and necks, and 1 was told thaL they had been regu- 

 larly trained and dieted for the contest with as scrupulous 

 care as an athlete is prepared for a prize fight or a foot 

 race. They are permitted to fight with their natural spurs, 

 which is a commendable refinement on the American bar- 

 barism of murderous gaffs. As they were turned loose, 

 they each alternately flapped their clipped wings with the 

 most ludicrous mug froid, aud fairly made trie welkin ring 

 with brave carol.* of defiance. Now the fight begins, ind 



it is so much like all other gallinaceous disputes that I need 

 not rehearse its details. Blow after blow is struck with 

 beak and spur, until one sinks staggering, blinded, and 

 bloody under the superior prowess of the other. A truce 

 is called, when aguadiente is squirted on their wounds 

 from the mouths of their trainers, who also wipe them 

 with the most delicate tenderness with the most spotless of 

 white handkerchiefs. Meanwhile, the crowd is wild with 

 excitement. The din of hundreds of voices produces such 

 a jargon of noises that bets are made by the most ludicrous 

 signs and gesticulations. I cau compare it to nothing ever 

 seen or heard save the New York golrt room or stock board 

 on a "field day" between the bulls and bears. At a given 

 signal the birds again confront each other, and the conflict 

 is renewed. Bets run high, and the confusion grows wilder 

 and wilder as they struggle through the brief moments of 

 the second round, when they are again cooled and re- 

 freshed by their trainers as before. Bets now grow less 

 active, as the waning powers of the weaker bird have al- 

 ready almost decided the wager of battle. Bets are here 

 and there taken at large odds on the faint hazard that a 

 lucky stroke may yet turn the scale against the favorite. 

 The third and last round is very brief — a well aimed thrust 

 from the more vigorous chicken penetrating the breast of 

 his plucky foe, and laying him dead in the arena. The 

 whole contest lasted twenty minutes, and to me they seemed 

 like almost as many hours, so dismally oppressive and dis- 

 gusting were all the elements of the scene. The victor 

 chicken was borne off in triumph, his trainer wiping the 

 blood from his wounds, or affectionately sucking them be- 

 tween, hit) lips! A few moments of confusion attend the 

 settling of bets, in which the harsh tones of execrable. 

 Spanish and the jingle of gold and silver distract the dis- 

 gusted ear, when another pair is brought into the ring, and 

 another round of similar diversion gives zest to the occa- 

 sion. 



It is creditable to the Cubans that these spectacles are 

 losing their attractions for the better classes, and are now 

 chiefly patronized by the rabble. The youth of the is.and, 

 however, retain a fondness for the excitement of the cock- 

 pit, and a game chicken is quite essential to the happiness 

 of a Creole boy, though he is taught to shun the vulgar 

 accessories of these public contests. 



"Valle de Gallos," like the "Corrida de Taurus," or plaoe 

 or bull baiting, is licensed by the government, and Sunday 

 is, I was informed, the day fixed bylaw for the exhibitions. 

 At any rate, custom has made that the popular day for 

 their indulgence . 



Having gratified our curiosity to see a cock-pit, our little, 

 patty— which, I should have observed, consisted of a gen- 

 tleman from New York, one from Portland, Maine, two 

 from Wilmington, N. O, and the writer— strolled back 

 toward our hotel, that we might get, a better view of the 

 customs of the day than could be gained from the hooded 

 confines of the quitrin.* Shops and stores were open; 

 workmen were at, their benches and tradesmen at their 

 wares; donkeys were plodding along the narrow streets, 

 almost hidden beneath the great loads of fodder, palms, or 

 fruit piled upon their backs; carts, drawn by great oxen, 

 with yokes attached to their horns, loaded with sugar or 

 molasses, rolled lazily toward the wharf, and there was 

 nothing but the almanac and our "inner consciousness" to 

 remind us that it was the Sabbath. Little shows were, 

 open at almost every corner, and the peculiar strains of 

 the hand organ invited visitors to see some great monstros- 

 ity or other device of strolling mountebanks who infest the 

 city. As many of these are from the States, I should per- 

 haps be a little blind to their insiduous snares. 



After dinner, weary of the sights and sins o! the city, I 

 take an omnibus for the "Cerro," a suburban report three 

 or four miles distant. Our party have some other diver- 

 sion on foot, and 1 urge them in vaiu to joiu me. nere, 



+A quitrin is a two-wheeled vehicle, like the old fashioned "one hi 

 shay" of Holmes, with long shafts, and a curtain In front to keep off 



horse 



