THE 



AMERICAN 



SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



[Entered According bo A or Of Congress, in the year I8T9, by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, in the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washing-ton. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY31, 1879. 



For Forc.il. and Strmm and Rod ami Gim. 



THE DYING SEAMAN. 



in: ISAAC M'liELLAN. 



I'P WAS ill a dark and miry tone, 

 *- Far in the city's mighty heart, 

 VVberc tossing on a lied of pain. 

 With deatli devouring at his heart. 



There in the dark and dismal rt) 



I"ii'- Bici niiiii nn his COUCh repos'd, 



l Beo," he cried, "my early home 

 Shine in the sunshine as of old, 

 Where the tall elm-tree bends above, 

 Tipt in the-sunset's Dtirniflh'dgrold. 

 Auil by On- porch, the hoses bloom, 

 In all their fragrance and perfume. 



" I see beneath the mossy eaves, 

 '1'he room where I, a child, did sleep ; 

 The sun shines on the window-pane, 

 The honey-suckles o'er it creep. 

 The well-sweep lifts its beam in air 

 And swings the dripping- bucketthere 



" My mother spins before the door, 

 My old sire teste him from the toil. 

 And childhood with its voices sweet 

 Fills all the scene with blithe turmoil; 

 My brothers there are all at play. 

 And call me with their voices gay. 



-' Nowshifts the scone— the hills of blue. 

 The moss-brown roof, the fields of green, 

 The river, the old mill, the wood, 

 flave ranlsh'd like a drama's scene, 

 And in their place I see the foam 

 Of ocojii tides, so long my home ! 



" Again f walk along- the shore, 

 I face the yellow waste of sand ; 

 The tumbling billows toss their crests, 

 They tumble o'er the shining strand ; 

 The ship-boat bears me o'er the spray, 

 The laboring- vessel speeds away. 



" Pull many a year T've roani'd the deep 

 O'er Arctic waves, o'er tropic seas, 

 For years, a storm-toss'd mariner 

 I've battled with the surge and breeze, 

 And here at last, a hulk I lie 

 Upon this wretched straw to die." 



For Forest mid Stream and Had anil Gun. 



WHY is it that I never see you out shooting, now 

 days. Budge 'f'' 

 Badge was a jojly big Englishman, with all of his fea- 

 tures jammed up into the middle of his face anil presided 



a 



over and lighted 

 looked at; me qui 

 " Lor' bless yri 

 and fowlin' pert- 

 out to this count 



t pa 



id I : 



of laughing blue eyes. He 



i moment, then replied: 



1 was cured of my shootin' 



very first year as I coined 



n't as much as looked at my 



gun since that orful scrape, sir." 



" What, kind of a scrape was it? It muat have been a 

 pretty bad one to have put a damper on such an eager 

 sportsman as you used to be." 



"Well, sir, when I first coined out I was rather green, 

 to be sure, and 1 tltought as every think I seed in the 

 ahapeofabird was -wild-fowl like— but I mostly blames 

 a chap as I mot, detail in Maine on the branch road one 

 day when I was lookitr about for a likely place to settle 

 down on. We was just passin' over a little bit of crik 

 like, and all of a fiuddent this 'ere chap 'oilers out: ■ By 

 Jove, what a splendid shot I ' f jumps up and looks out 

 of the window, and there I sees the biggest lot of duck 1 

 ever seed, all bunched together. Lor', sir, they wos that 

 ether you might 'ave covered 'era with a rug, 

 and there was inore'n three dozen of 'em. ' Be them 

 wildfowl, sir?' I asked 'im. 'Wild fowl?' says 'e; 'of 

 course they are ; did you ever see tame ducks of that 

 color?' Well, sir, there was no mistaken what he said 



must be true, for I never seed tame ducks in the old 

 country such 'igh colors as them ducks was. I minded 

 afterwards, all the other chaps in the car gave a kind of 

 laugh like, and the chap as first spoke 'e winked at 'em, 

 but lor', sir. I thought it was all along of my greenness 

 in not knowitv they was wild fowl." 



" I should have thought that such an old hand as you 

 would have known the difference between domestic and 

 wild fowls at a glance." 



"Lor bless you, sir. there ain't nothink as a man's so 

 much deceived in as ducks, and these 'ere ducks was the 

 wevy queerest colored ones as I ever see. One on 'em 'ad 

 a bunch of feathers growin' out of the top of his 'ead, 

 and the rest on 'im 'ad as many colors as a jumpin'-jack. 

 I never seed such a duck anywheres." 



"I suppose in your eagerness that you got out at the 

 next station and tried back after those ducks? " 



" No, sir; I didn't do that exactly, but I did stop at 

 next station and looked 'round for a bit of ground to suit 

 me. But none of 'em as 'ad good places was willin' to 

 sell, and I thought I'd 'ave to move farther along the 

 road, when I 'eard of an old chap as was livin' all alone 

 and kind of crippled up with the rheumatiz like. 'Is 

 place wasn't much to look at, but I thought I could make 

 summat of it until I got a better chance ; so I buys it and 

 sends off for my old 'ornan and the kids, as was stoppin' 

 with a friend up the road, and goes to work to put the 

 place more decent like afore they corned along. Well, 

 sir, all the time as I was gettin' some bits of things 

 together and breakin' up the sile and puttin' in a bit of 

 crop like, I was alius a thinkin' of them there ducks as I 

 seed in the little crik; and whiles I seed flocks of ducks 

 and geese a-goin' over and 'ears the boys a-poppin' at 'em 

 and could 'ardly keep myself quiet from takm' my old 

 double-barrelled Joe Mahting and tryin' a blaze or two 

 at 'em." 



"Is your gun a real Joe Manton's? It is rare to meet 

 -with lii's make now days, and choke bored breech-loaders 

 are all the fashion." 



"Well, sir, strickly stickin' to the pint, I can't say as 

 it's a boner-fider Joe Manting, but we alius calls most 

 guns as we thinks a deal on Joe Mantings, and this 'ere 

 gun of mine was made a many long years ago, and my 

 old grandfather 'ad 'er haltered from a "flint to a purcush- 

 ion — what was that you called them new-fangled guns, 

 sir?" 



"Choke bored breech-loaders." 



" Well, I'll be danged if that ain't a rummy name for 

 a gun ! " 



" I should think that such a venerable gun as yours 

 must be getting rather unsafe, isn't it? " 



" I don't know as she's to call exackly risky, but ever 

 since faither 'ad about a foot of the barrels cut off she 

 kicks like a two-year old and makes an orful n'ise, but 

 she scatters the"shot smartish, and 'its main hard yet, 

 old as she is." 



"I am quite anxious to hear what was the cause of 

 your giving up shooting. " 



"Well, sir, I was just comin' to the p'int. As I was a 

 savin', I could 'ardly keep my 'ands off the old gun when 

 I seed the boys gom' fowlin' and when I seed a chap 

 comin' in one evenin' with a bunch of teal I fairly give 

 in and dropped everythink and started out the next. 

 mornin' afore it was light. I alius thought I'd get fine' 

 sport on that little crik where I first seed the flock of 

 duck, and minded pretty well the exack spot where to 

 look for 'em, for ducks mostly 'as the 'abit of 'anging 

 'round the same feedin' ground." 



"Well, sir, it was a pretty stiffish tramp of a matter 

 of five or six miles from where I lived to strike that littlei 

 crik, and an orful rough tramp it was through swamps 

 and bogs, and I dunno but I'd 'ave give the job up but 

 for hearin' some chaps poppin' away up at some little 

 lakes as was at the 'ead like of the little crik. 



■■ Well, sir, I was just about nigh beat out when I got 

 out of the last bog and corned out on a clearin', where 

 some Irish chaps 'ad cleaned up a bit of a farm like; and 

 this 'ere little crik as I've been a tellin' you about flowed 

 through their place. 



" From where I coined out was a matter of a mile away 

 from the little crik, and not through the best of walkin' 

 neither, to a chap as beat out as I was; but 1 wasn't a- 

 goin' to give hi, so I worried my way down to the bank 

 of the crik and looked sharp up and down the water, 

 without Bpyin' out as much as a feather. 



■•Well, there was nothink for it now hut to tramp up 

 the crik towards the lakes in 'opes of oomiu' on the ducks 

 somewhere, and of all the walkin' I ever did follerin' up 

 that crik was the wery worst. It was just one boil of 

 mud swamp, bog, water 'oles and the wery dangdest kind 

 of briar bushes you ever seed, And when I worried out 

 on to level ground again I was a pretty lookin' objick, to 

 be sure, with my clothes a'most torn off my back and 

 just one mass of mud and slime all over; and I dunno 

 but I'd 'ave made back for 'ome again hut for a n'ise I 



'eard just beyond a p'int of alders as made out a bit into 

 the crik. At first I thought as 'ow I was mistaken, when 

 all of a suddent like I 'ears the wery dangdest quacking 

 of ducks, and afore you could say ' Jack Robinson ' out 

 sails, as I live, the wery identical" old duck with the top- 

 knot as I seed from the car window the time as I told 

 you about. 



"Well, sir, you might 'ave knocked me down with a 

 feather, I was that taken aback, and just as I was a 

 watchin' of 'im out comes the wery biggest mob of ducks 

 a- follerin' right after 'im. I'd no time to count 'em, but 

 there must 'ave been nigh on to twenty on ! em as was 

 old ones, besides a squad of little chaps about 'alf growed. 

 When I first spied 'em out they was too far off for a shot, 

 so I drops on my 'ands and knees and began to creep on 

 'em: and partly walkin' and partly creepin' I made out 

 to reach a bunch of bushes as was between me and the 

 ducks. By this time they 'ad reached a bit of a mud 

 flat nigh on to a bit of cleared land as made down to the 

 crik, and some on 'em was a walkin' on the flat and a 

 shakin' of theirselves and a flxin' of their feathers, and 

 the rest on 'em was a bobbin' up and down in the water 

 a-feedin' like. I was just about to let 'em 'ave it when 

 my foot caught in a tangle of bush and I got a 'ist into 

 a bit of a mud puddle, and made sure my chance was 

 gone and the n'ise would send 'em oft'. But they didn't 

 seem to mind the n'ise much, only them as was on the 

 land scrabbled into the water again and j'ined the other 

 chaps; and they all sailed out into the crik again in a 

 body like. ' Now, Budge, my hoy,' says I, 'let 'em 'ave 

 it,' and I lets go the right barrel at 'em as they was swim- 

 min' and the left at 'em as they rose, leastways at 'em as 

 did rise, for a many of 'em was dead and some on 'em 

 was wounded. 



' ' Well, sir, that was the wery purtiest double shot as I 

 ever made, and 1 was that excited that I did trot know 

 exackly what I was a-doin' of, and took right into the 

 water, which was only about waist 'igh, and picked up 

 all of the dead ones and chased them as was wounded on 

 to the mud flat, and was a batterin' on 'em with the gun 

 and a-twistin' and a-wringin' of their necks for fear some 

 on 'em would get away, when I seed a chap a-runnin' 

 like mad from a bit of a 'ouse on the other side of the 

 crik, and just as he coined nigh another chap as was 

 doin' summat in a field he 'oilers out: ' Good lord, Tim, 

 look at what that fellows doin' to Murphy's ducks ! ' 



"Tame ducks, did you say, sir? Yes, sir; right you 

 are; they was tame ducks, and I paid Murphy for 'em; 

 and the old 'ornan and the kids and me we lived 'igh for 

 a week, and I've 'ad no perpensity for fowlin', sir, never 

 since that there orful scrape, sir."" 



Charles C. Ward. 



7 For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 



GRAYLING FISHING ON THE MANISTEE. 



THE opening of the trout season has revived in my 

 mind the recollections of days spent in this unex- 

 celled sport ; and I am again transported to the wild and 

 picturesque Mainstee, at whose head waters the month of 

 August last foimd the writer hi camp. The object of 

 many a former expedition had been for trout ; but on this 

 occasion we were to have a first cast for a " Thymallus 

 tricolor," for which the Mainstee particularly is noted, 

 and it is rightly said, to a sportsman Mainstee and 

 grayling should be synonymous words. From Mr. Hal- 

 lock's Vacation Rambles, the route by which this stream 

 s reached was easily ascertained. A ride by the night 

 boat from Cleveland" to Detroit, by rail across "the State of 

 Michigan to Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids and Indiana 

 R. R. north to Fife Lake, and you are but a few miles 



ice loc 

 We here hiri 

 rith places mo 



distant from this pt 

 through the woods, a 

 aginable. Six hours 

 ney. and it was fast i 

 rived at our intended 

 We pitched our tei 

 waters into the Ms 



ht tv. 

 d ove 



Mainstee for grayling fish- 

 "06 Clark by name) i'amil- 

 a the desired fish, also a 

 river, as the Mainstee is 

 miles. The route lay 

 ) of the worst roads im- 

 bed hi making the jour- 

 ; sundown when Ave ar- 

 •ound. 



mucin Creek empties its 

 as the site of a former 

 lumbermen's camp. We found it a most favored spot. 

 Plenty of wood ; a rising knoll sloping to the river, and a 

 spring of water as cool as ice and clear as crystal but a 

 furlong distant. There were no musquitoes or midgets, 

 and any whu go here at this season of tiie year need fear 

 no discomfort from this quarter. 



The 8th of August dawned bright and clear, and at an 

 early hour we were astir and at breakfast. Winding a 

 leader or two, furnished wit h flies around our hats, examin- 

 ing again the Orvis Rod, we were ready lor business. 

 Canon Creek is fished entirely by wading, so we took our 

 stations fully a mile apart, fishing down stream. How 

 well I remember my first: cast, and the excitement of 

 catching my first grayling. The same novel sensation that 

 fills a man when he catches his first trout is once more 

 experienced when the first grayling is fast upon the fly. 

 You can see him in the crystal stream, shoot up from tn» 



