4G8 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[iter? l4, 1 



The service requires that, the surfmen shall at certain hours 

 of the day ami night patrol the beach, aud that their beat 

 shall extend to each side of their station (except where inlets 

 intervene), just half way. As the stations on the Jersey and 

 Long Island coasts are about six miles apart, of course, three 

 miles is the extreme limit of the beat, which is the meeting 

 point of the patrolmen from the two stations. The Service 

 has inaugurated a sys'em of exchange checks, to prevent 

 the patrolmen from shirking their duty ; for the temptation 

 to stay warmly housed duriug the wild weather on the c mst 

 is great. It is no child's play to turn out in a December 

 night and face the fury of a northeaster for three miles under 

 the most exposed conditions. And little does any one know, 

 who has not lived ou the coast, the hardships the Life Service 

 men have to undergo, if they adhere strictly to tha discipline 

 of the Service. For the most part the men appointed for 

 the crews are seamen or tbo?e who make their living on the 

 waters of the coast. They are hardy and tough, and no 

 strangers to physical pain, with nerve to face the highest 

 running surf, yet children, many of them, when darkness 

 sets in, and having the very utmost dread of loneliness. 

 Mauy of these men are full of superstition and silly beliefs, 

 that no mortal man can argue out of them. Living a seden- 

 tary Wc, and listening to the traditional tales of ghosts, 

 sights, and lights upon the shores, there are some that even 

 if they adhere to the strict rules of discipline, are in the very 

 act, so incapacitated by extraneous circumstance for the work 

 at hand, as to be absolutely unfit to be. the guardians of the 

 sands. Wc know whereof we speak, for we have for many 

 months lived near these men, at different sections of the 

 coast. What companion for such men can surpass the noble, 

 courageous dog that knows no fear and is ever on the alert? 

 Should the patrolman be stricken down, ho will have by 

 him a friend that will never desert him, who will sound the 

 alarm and call for ait!, should his own powerful frame be in- 

 adequate to the task to save his master. No human briug 

 can compete with the dog in Ecentiug danger from afar ; and 

 when the dog discovers its presence, he has a thousand aud 

 one ways of giving a timely warning. With ej'es that, can 

 peer into the very clonds aud see objects long before their 

 approach makes them visible to the human eye (for who is it 

 that has used the Newfoundland for a retriever that has not 

 been told by him that fowl were moving long before his own 

 eyes could discern the floating thread — the string of geese?), 

 in foggy weather, when the signal flags and lights may fail, 

 and when the booming of the surf will drown the sound of 

 the signai gun. \X hat messenger can be dispatched to give 

 the alarm and secure aid with as fleet a foot to run the sands 

 and spau the water breaks in the beach as the Newfound- 

 land:- Theu, should the eprouvette mortar fail to seed its 

 line — for in high windB and in the hands of even the most 

 practical persons it is no sure thing that the hue will reach 

 the wreck — the dog can at times be sent off. We have seen 

 many a dog face aud clear the eurf where no boat handled by 

 an ordinary crew could live. 



it was in tlie latter part of the last century that the first 

 line/ever brought to the shore from a wreck was carried by 

 a Newfoundland. The vessel was one of the many that 

 stranded on the Goodwin sands, on the coast of Kent, in 

 England. 



In this country a dog was known to render great service at 

 the wreck of the Huron, in 1S77, on the coast of North 

 Carolina. He belonged to a farmer that resided several miles 

 inland, but when the news spread that a vessel was in the 

 breakers, the dog was along with the first that collected on 

 the beach to render the perishing passengers and crew assist- 

 ance. Binae then he has deserted his old home and lives at 

 Station 4. He now accompanies the night patrol leaving 

 that station, aud on meeting the patrol fiom Station ;">, joins 

 him, pusses the day at the last named station, aud returns to 

 Station 4 on the following light. The. dog is said to be a 

 great favorite, and more than earns his living by' dragging 

 to the beach all the passing drift stuff, besides being useful 

 in a hundred ways. 



Should care be taken in training the dogs from their pup- 

 pyhood, the most reliable coast patrol can be established, 

 aud it would not seem unlikely that he might often aid in 

 assisting the revenue officers in sc:-ntiug out much that was 

 contraband While being only a sad s-a-dug in one sense of 

 the word, he will not have the tempta'ions of Jamaica spirits 

 and seven-up to keep him indoors. 



JIiSIm FOB WATER D0«S. 



In England, although file Newfoundland has been for 

 mauy years greatly admired and his many grand qualities 

 known, if was not until out' frieml, Mr. Hugh Dulziel, was in- 

 strumental in inauguraling water trials in 1870 that the 

 public were shown in a practical way to what extent the dog 

 could be utilized. We have recently received from Mr. Dal- 

 zielacipyof his admirable book, "British Dogs," and we 

 cannot SO belter than tpiote what that distinguished author- 

 ity has to say on the subject, but in justice to ourselves, we 

 mustsiy that ; wc conceived the idea of attaching the New- 

 foundland to our life-saving stations long before we saw the 

 matter agitated in other quarters. Mr. Dalzld writes a3 

 follows: 



As a water dog the Newfoundland has no equal : he delights m 

 it, will almost live in it, and his high courage and great swimming 

 powers (.liable him to face and do service in such a Sea-as I be- 

 lieve no other laud animal pan successfully encounter. 



Knowing and admiring tlio wonderful faculty he possesses sug- 

 gested to me, when viewing the sea from the site of Portsmouth 

 Dog Show iu 1875, the advisability of instituting water trials as a 



moans of keeping up and developing this wonderful and useful 

 natural power, that his great abilities as a life-saver might bo 

 made the best of for the benefit of rnau ; for it cannot be denied 

 that without such aids public or private shows may do serious 

 harm, giving, as they properly do, prominence to the finest de- 

 veloped animal. But if prize winners, however grand in appear- 

 ance, are uneducated, their instincts and natural powers unde- 

 veloped and indeed checked, are continuously bred from, we shall 

 soon have lost sterling qualities, and get iu return mere good 

 looks. 



But the two things— fine physical dovolopement, with high cul- 

 tivation of those instincts and natural powers — are not incom- 

 patible, and should, I think, be siimiltauously encouraged by dog- 

 show promoters, just as the Kennel Club does for pointers and 

 setters by their field trials. 



Chiefly at my instigation, water trials of Newfoundlands took 

 place at Maidstone Show, May 1876", and wore repeated at Ports- 

 mouth later iu the same year, and, although neither could he pro- 

 nounced as a brilliant success, they were each of them in many 

 respects interesting, aud provided that with more experience and 

 well carried out such competitive trials might become more than 

 interesting— highly useful. 



I would be the last to advocate again reducing this or any breed 

 to a beast of burden, but I cannot but think and here repeat what 

 1 have so often written, that the Newfoundland's extraordinary 

 natural power as a water dog, his wonderful sagacity »nd intense 

 desire to serve should be systematically developed and utilized, 

 and I can see no reason why one or more trained dogs should not 

 bo attached to every life-boat station, and at every popular bathing 

 resort around our coasts. 



I must here render praise to Mr. C. Marshall for the excellent 

 rules he drew up for the conduct of the first water-trial of dogs. 

 As a basis for others who may wish to institute similar competi- 

 tions 1 append the tests adopted at Maidstone : 



First.— Corn-age displayed in jumping into the water from a, 

 height to recover an object. The effigy of a man is the moBt suit- 

 able thing. 



Second.— The quickness displayed in bringing the object ashore. 



Third.— Intelligence and speed iu bringing a boat to shore. The 

 boat must, of course, be adrift, and the painter have a piece of 

 white wood attached to keep it afloat, mark its position, and facili- 

 tate tho dog's work. 



Fourth.— To carry a rope from shore to a boat with a stranger, 

 not the master iu it. 



Fifth.— Snimmingraces, to show speed and power against stream 

 or tide. 



Sixth.- Diving. A common dag basket, with a stone in tho bot- 

 tom of it to sin!; it, answers well, a« it is white enough to be seen 

 and soft enough to the dog's mouth. 



With a brief outline of the life-saving service we close an artiele 

 which we trust may assist in bringing the Newfoundland as a use- 

 ful animal into notice. 



LIFE-SAVING SEtmOE. 



There are regular organizations or societies for the preser- 

 vation of life from shipwrecked vessels in Great Britain, 

 France, Germany and Russia, supported by voluntary contribu- 

 tions, but under the patronage of their respective governments. 

 A few years since a humane society was instituted and is now 

 admirably conducted in China. The first appropriation made 

 by Congress at the United States was of $5,000 in 1847, and 

 iu the next year $10,00.0 more was appropriated for providing 

 rockets, corronades aud surf-boats, and shortly after tho au- 

 thority of Congress was given for the regular organization of 

 the Life-S aving Service, in 1871 a liberal appropriation of 

 $200,000 was granted for increasing the number of stations. 



A reference to the ollicial register of the Service shows 

 that there are twelve districts which are divided up as follows : 

 District No. 1.— Coasts of Maine and New Hampshire ; 7 

 stations ; G in Maine and 1 in New Hampshire. District No. 

 3, — Coasts of Massachusetts* 15 stations. District No. 3.— 

 Coasts of Rhode Island and Long Island, 38 stations ,- G in 

 Rhode Island and 32 in Long Island. District No. 4.— 41 

 stations. District No. 5.— Coasts of Delaware, Maryland and 

 Virginia (Cape Henlopen to Cape Charles), 11 stations ; 3 in 

 Delaware ; 1 in Maryland and 7 in Eastern Virginia. Dis- 

 trict No. C— Coasts of Virginia and North Caroliua (Cape 

 Henry to Cape Fear), 25 stations; 5 in Virginia and 20 in 

 North Carolina. District No. 7.— Eastern coast of Florida, 

 5 stations. District No. 8.— Coast of Texas, G stations. 

 Di$;rict No. 0. — Coasts of Lake Ontario and Erie, sta- 

 tions. District No. 10. — Coasts of Lake Huron and Superior, 

 13 stations. District No. 11.— Coast of Lake Michigan, 18 

 stations. District No. 12. — Pacific coast, 12 stations: mak- 

 ing in all 1!)G stations, but of this number some forty have 

 nut been built. 



The Service is under the general supervision of an inspect- 

 or, designated from the list of cnpUins in the Revenue Ma- 

 rine Service by the Secretary of the Treasury. At each sta- 

 tion six experienced surfmen arc employed imder the charge 

 of a competent person known as a keeper. From September 

 1 to May 1 the beaches arc patrolled day and night, and the 

 discovery of a wreck is made known by means of a system 

 of signals (flags by day aud colored lights by night). Each 

 s'ation house is provided with boats, and a complete set of 

 life-saving apparatus. We, however, believe that if the New- 

 foundland is added to the list, a season will not pass without 

 due proof of his usefulness being given. 



We respectfully submit the foregoing to all those who 

 have the lives of their fellow creatures at heart. 



Harper's Periodicals.— In the artistic excellence of its 

 Ihistratious, the worth of its contents and the magnitude of 

 Is circulation, Harper's is first of all the popular monthly 

 magazines. The names of the other periodicals of this 

 house have long ago become household words. The Bazar 

 for the ladies, the Young People for the little ones and 



the Weak/!/ for everybody have achieved a decided success 

 in their respective fields. Americans are confessedly ahead 

 Of other nations in the excellence of their illustrated peri- 

 odicals, and the Harpers somehow manage to keep ahead of 

 other Americans. 



THAT LAW ON EATING SALMON. 



WE hear on all American rivers, which are now nearly 

 or wholly salmonless, that a law once forbade em- 

 ployers from forcing their apprentices or servants to eat 

 salmon oftener than once or twice a week, as the case may 

 be. This is told as a joke, but was probably intended to pre- 

 serve those useful persons from gout. A man who can eat 

 salmon twice a week for six months earns, and deserves, 

 either gout, or indigeslion, and cruel employers were thus 

 prevented from using salmon as a means of punishment, for 

 rcfactory servants. Yet we have no doubt that the law was 

 often violated, and can imagine that irate employers even 

 used the machine known as a sausage stuffer iu order to 

 wreak vengeance on their helpless victims. It is as easy to 

 picture the bloated employer with the dreaded "stuffer" 

 down the throat of an apprentice, who is on his knees to save 

 his gouty feet, as it is to believe in the passage of this law on 

 all these rivers. 



It is quite possible that it originated somewhere, for Bishop 

 Pontopidan mentions some such thing as protecting the 

 serving men of Norway in the 12th century; Johnson speaks 

 of a similar law in Holland ; while in English literature it is 

 often referred to. AA r e read in the Memoirs of Thomas Ber- 

 wick : 



From about the year 1760 to 1707, when a boy, I was frequent- 

 ly sent by my parents to purchase a salmon from the fishers of 

 tbe"sti-ii(e" at Eltringham Ford. At that, thno I never paid 

 more, and often less, than Hjd. per pound (mostly a heavy, 

 guessed weight, about which they wore not exact). Iiefore, cr 

 perhaps about, litis time there had always been an article inserted 

 iu every indenture in Newcastle that tho apprentice was not to to 

 obliged to cat salmon above twice a week, and the like bargain was 

 made upon hiring ordinary servants. 



Kane docs not mention it as occurring among theEskimos, 

 nor do Dall nor Elliott report finding it among the Alaskans, 

 although we fully expected that the researches of Capt. 

 Beardslee would unearth it among the Siwashes. 



It is a mailer for congratulation to us that these old laws 

 which so interfere with the liberty of the individual have 

 passed away; and we can now have She most perfect liberty 

 in respect to salmon. We shall avail ourselves of this in fu- 

 ture and introduce the salmon punishment into this office, 

 and all printers, compositors, proof-readers, and others making 

 errors in this article will be compelled to eat salmon twice a 

 week, no matter if it costs a dollar and a half a pound. 



Ma. Befioh's Anti-Pigeon Srroo-riNO Biix.— Just as 

 we go to press we learn that the Senate has passed the bill 

 prepared by Mr. IIenry Bergh prohibiting the trap-shooting 

 of pigeons. The hill awaits Gov. Cornel Ps signature before 

 becoming a law. Its provisions are i 



Section 1. Any person who Shall keep or use any live pigeon, [On I, 



r bin 





the purpose ot a target, o 



; skin i 



Shot at, 





Wt, 



ny pigeoi 



M aforesaid, or be. a party to any such Shooting of any pigeon, 'u,-, I, 

 m other blrt ouajumal; ani ft i person KrBoahSU seal fflaj buflfllng 



shod, 1-moiii, yarn, Held, or other premises, or shall suffer or periffli 

 tlie use ot any building, sheet, room, yard, Held, or other premlEes lor 

 tua [SurfiOBe 01 shooting any pigeon, towl, or other bird or annual as 

 aloiesalrt, shall ho guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 2. Nothing herein contained shall apply to the shooting ot any 

 wild game in Its wild state. 



The bill is a direct and rot wholly unexpected result of 

 the Coney Island pigeon killing tournament of the New York 

 State Associatbn for the Protection of Fish and Clame. Had 

 the sport of pigeon shooting been confined to individual 

 clubs of gentlemen testing their skill at the traps, it is doubt- 

 ful if the matter would ever have received, as it would not 

 have merited, public attention. But when a society, which 

 organized ostensibly for the protection of game, treats 

 the public to such a spectacle as that at Coney Island, neg- 

 lects the matters with which it she uld be c mcerned and de- 

 votes 20,000 pigeons' brcugbt from their ne tin^ ground to its 

 wholesale slaughter, its members e in hardly 1 >ol{ for any 

 olher public sentiment thin exactly 1hat, fe?ling which has 

 been aroused. An afternoon fhool a*, a few p 'genns, and a 

 ten days' shoot at unlimited numbers of helplees hltd- — many 

 of Ihem squabs", unable to fly, and others too exhausted to 

 do so— are regarded by the public as two very different things. 



The Tkavis County Association. — We have received a 

 copy of the constitution of the Travis County Clame and 

 Fish Protective Association, of Austin, Texas. There has 

 long been manifest the necessity of some such concerted ac- 

 tion as tlie Association contemplates ; and we trust that the 

 members may not be discouraged by the obstacles which an 

 apathetic pnblic sentiment places in their way. The society 

 will make it a special object of their work to secure the best 

 practicable protection of game aed flsh ; and will also labor 

 to promote fish culture, to which end they will devote their 

 funds. The list of charter members includes some names 

 which are well known beyond the State, and we bespeak for 

 the gentlemen thus organized the support of the right-think- 

 ing part of their community. 



The hoped-for Washington bulletin— Bullet out. 



