Terms, Four Dollars a Year. } 

 Ten Cents a Copy. J 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1877. 



i Volume 7, Number 25. 



1 IT Chatham St. (City Hall «qr.) 



Selected. 

 WITHOUT THE CHILDREN. 



OH. the weary, solemn silence 

 Of the home without the children ! 

 Oh, the strange, oppressive stillness 

 Where the children come no more . 

 Ah! the longing of the sleepers 

 For the soft arms of the children; 

 Ah! the longing for the faces 

 Peeping through the open door- 

 Faces gone for evermore. 



Strange it is to wake at midnight, 

 And not hear the children breathing- - 

 Nothing but the old clock ticking, 



Ticking, ticking by the door. 



Strange to see the little dresses 



Hanging up there ail the morning; 



And the gaiters— ah I their patter, 



We shall hear it never more 



On our hearth-forsaken floor! 



What is home without the children? 

 'Tis the earth without its verdure, 

 And the sky without its sunshine; 



Life is withered to the core ! 

 So we'll leave this dreary desert, 

 And we'll follow the Good Shepherd 

 To the greener pasturea vernal, 

 Where the lambs have "gone before," 

 With the Shepherd evermore. 



' ■•*♦ 



For Forest and Stream, 



j$m ^untinQ in <fflichigm. 



. 4 . 



PART II. 



♦ 



AS "Old John" is to figure more or less conspicously in 

 the account of the next day's bunt, it will be well 

 to introduce him on the start. He is a stallion of almost 

 regal magnificence when he is in shape; but it is not usual 

 in the hunting season to find him in this condition, for his 

 master is almost constantly on his back, and they rough it 

 together, scouring the country in all weathers, and it is a 

 matter of almost daily occurrence to see them come in at 

 nightfall— -'Lish on foot followed by Old John bearing a 

 tuck, or a bear, or a brace of turkies slung over his back; 

 and when we consider the pure white of his coat it is easy 

 to imagine that with such usage he does not at this season 

 appear at his best, as far as looks are concerned, being 

 blood stained and soiled; but as soon as the hunting sea- 

 son is over lie appears in his dress suit, which is pure 

 glossy white with jet black spots scattered about his loins 

 and shoulders, with a mane and tail flowing thick and 

 long like silken floss prepared for the loom. A sight of him 

 impressed one with supernatural strength and endurance, 

 combined with the most perfect symmetry a/id grace of 

 form and movement. 'Lish bought him while a colt, and 

 commenced his education at once. We call him Old John, 

 but he has only turned his sixth year, and is therefore not 

 L jet in his prime. His natural intelligence is something 

 wonderful, and after he had been taught that he had an 

 absolute master it was perfectly easy for him to be made 

 to understand and to perform anything. He will acknowl- 

 edge but one master, however, and -it is worth the life of a 

 stranger to attempt any familiarities with him, and yet 

 'Lish will put his little six-year old Gussie and five-year old 

 Nellie on his Dtck, and Old John will follow him like a 

 pet dog even into the house, proud of his precious burden. 

 But the noble animal shows best his mettle when on the 

 hunt with his master on his back. The bridle lines are al- 

 ways hanging loosely over hts neck, for they are rarely 

 used. 'Lish has his Winchester slung over his shoulder, 

 Ms breech loader over his arm, his knife in his belt, and 



>ff they go like the wind, through thickets, over ditches 

 and fallen logs, turning this way and that, guided by his 

 master's voice or the sway of his body, or a wave of his 

 Hand; it is a picture worth going miles to see. Now we 

 jnll imagine 'Lish and Old John coming home together af- 

 ter a hard day's hunt. They pass in the lane and stop at the 

 side door of the house. The game is taken off Old John's 

 0a ck, and the bridle also removed and done up snugly; no 

 ^ch encumbrance as a saddle is used. Old John is then 

 Jiade to take the bridle in his mouth and receives his or- 



ers there. "Now, sir, take your bridle down and hang it 

 'P. and go into your room and shut the door," and Old 

 ^hn starts off at a lively gait for the barn at the end of 



\ke ^ Wle Li8h g ° es iEL ' ki3Ses Wife and babies » takes 

 mak *nM 1Ut ° the dressm S room » and tllen g°es down to 

 bridf ^ JaUtt comfortable for the night. He finds the 



faeoM * ° U itS peg a11 Iight ' and lifting the latch finds 

 w« fallow awfully impatient for his oat«; so the feed 



box is filled, and just as Old John is going for it with a 

 rush, he hears a waning, thus : "Stop, sir! Don't you 

 dare touch an oat until I tell you." We go out and latch 

 the door and look through a crack, keep perfectly still and 

 watch. John stretches out his nose towards the oats ju it 

 near enough to get a sniff, then throws back his head and 

 looks all around slyly; then once more slowly and cau- 

 tiously allows his nose to get within an inch of the tempt- 

 ing pile, and holds still a moment, then the lips begin to 

 quiver, then to open and stretch forward. "T-ak-e c-a-r-e, 

 sir," and back goes his head with a sigh and a half whin- 

 ney, when 'Lish says "Go in, old chap," and his nose goes 

 in half way up to his eyes, and he is happy. Such is Old 

 John. 



In order that the plan of the second day's hunt may be 

 clearly comprehended, it is necessary to explain that the 

 Black river runs through the country due south, passing 

 directly through the village where our headquarters are lo- 

 cated. All the deer that are started west of here make for 

 this river, which is mainly a deep stream, and probably 

 ten or twelve rods wide, with an occasional fording place. 

 The banks on either side are mostly high and precipitous, 

 of clay and gravel, and fringed with the virgin forest. 

 The river is generally full of logs, which are floated down 

 from lumber camps above to a large saw mill at the village. 

 The deer, when pressed by the hounds, will plunge 

 into the river and hide under the floating masses of logs, 

 with nothing above water but their nostrils, and many of 

 the countrymen who do not own hounds take their stations 

 along the east bank of the river trusting to luck for a shot 

 at some deer who may have run the gauntlet of hunters 

 beyond. Our plan for this day's hunt was for Buxton to 

 take the hounds and go west about a mile, then north two 

 miles, and drive towards the river, while we were to go di- 

 rectly up the east bank of the river about two miles, tramp- 

 ing the whole distance, as there are no roads from the vil- 

 lage in this direction, and then take our several stations. I 

 was to take the station furthest north, and 'Lish was to go 

 on Old John and scour a limited district norih 

 of me for bear, wildcats, or turkeys, and when 

 he found them he was either to return to me and let me 

 know, or, if circumstances would not permit of his leav- 

 ing the game, he was to give two quick shots from his 

 Winchester rifle, and I was to make my way as best I 

 could to where he was, being guided by an occasional 

 whistle from him, he keeping the game cornered or treed 

 as the case might be, until I should come up. We were 

 honored on this trip with the company of Mr. Wildman 

 Mills tho owner of countless broad acres in this and ad- 

 joining counties, and whose great industry and success in 

 clearing and reclaiming the wild swamp lands of the dis- 

 trict causing them to blossom as the rose, has rendered his 

 name a synonym for industry, progress and civilization. 

 Well, Buxton gets an early start with the hounds, and we 

 a little later go our way. Mr. Mills takes the first station, 

 Bertham next, and myself to the extreme north of the line. 

 As we get located 'Lish rushes by on Old John, and with 

 a nod at me he is out of sight in the timber in an instant. 

 We are now all ready for whatever may turn up, and wait- 

 ino- on the tip-toe of expectation for something to happen 

 to^all our energies into action. Besides listening for the 

 hounds I have an eye and an ear in the direction whence 

 'Lish disappeared, and while there waiting I am slightly 

 exasperated by a duck flying around the bend of the river 

 below, and settling in the water directly in front of me— a 

 splendid shot for my rifle, but I dare not shoot for fear of 

 frightening off nobler game, which is liable to appear on 

 the opposite bank at any instant, so I content me by draw- 

 ing a bead on the duck's head, and betting myself a hun- 

 dred dollars that 1 could take it off as clean as a whistle, 

 if I only chose to pull the trigger. We have waited now 

 nearly an hour, and yet no sound from 'Lish or Buxton or 

 the hounds. Meantime Bertham has come up to my sta- 

 tion for company, and being a trifle chilled we have built a 

 blazing fire from the fallen pines and birches, and have al- 

 most forgotten the excitement of the hunt in the delicious 

 comfort of the situation, and the chat over the camp fire 

 in the midst of the grand, wild surroundings. Bertham 

 does not expect much from this hunt, particularly in the 

 way of deer r as the range of the hounds is too limited and 

 the wind is wrong, having changed to the east since we 

 started, and the deer running towards us against the wind 

 might scent us and turn to the noith and be lost to us in 

 the swamps abounding in that direction. He acknowledg- 

 es, however, that with 'Lish's proverbial good luck it would 

 be unusual if he did not start something; and just as he 

 comes to the conclusion we are startled by two quick cracks 



of the rifle, apparently from a direction a little west of 

 north. Bertham thinks they are from across the river. 

 The wind, however, being from the east might deceive us 

 a point or two, and so I start directly up the river bank, 

 being assured by Bertham that if I have occasion to cross, 

 there are plenty of good places where it can, be done. I 

 follow up the bank of the river perhaps quarter of a mile 

 on the run; but here I am stopped by a dense undergrowth, 

 which it seems impossible to penetrate. I try it, however, 

 and I am startled by a sudden whirr! then another, and 

 another, until it seemed as if at every step I must almost 

 tread on a partridge. Fairly bewildered with excitement at 

 the idea of losing so much of what we in the east would 

 call first class sport, I press forward and come out finally 

 on the edge of a small clearing, where I stop to take breath, 

 listen, and get my latitude. While there listening I notice 

 on the other side of the clearing, moving closely beside 

 the debris of roots and branches which form the northern 

 boundary of the clearing, a long, lithe, brownish figure 

 creeping close to the ground, but rapidly, in the direction 

 of a large pile of roots and logs at the further corner of 

 the field. It was surely a cat, but certainly larger than 

 any I had heard described in these parts. The suddenness 

 of the apparition, so entirely unlooked for, checked my 

 ardor quickly, and led me to consider with such faculties 

 as I remained master of, whether in this case discretion 

 would not be the better part of valor. Alone in the forest 

 with a wildcat, or something worse, for I felt sure from its 

 size that if it were a cat it must be ihe father of the whole 

 tribe. What shall I do? "I want to go home!" Had he 

 seen me? I could not be sure of it. Could it be possible 

 that this was the game that 'Lish had found, and was he 

 lurking around somewhere taking notes of the situation? 

 No, this could not Be, as his shots were further to the west- 

 ward, and I had been trying to work to the westward as 

 fast as the river would let me. The cat, or whatever it 

 was, had now dragged his sinuous course to the log 

 pile and had disappeared under it, and at thi& moment I 

 heard a whistle from 'Lish, and evidently on the other side 

 of the river, and not far away; so I concluded at once to 

 retrace my steps to a point where I could hail Bertham and 

 let him have the wildcat all to himself- Back I went— at 

 good speed, too, for I imagined every time a twig snapped 

 that my "friend" was behind me. Reaching a tree that 

 had been uprooted and fallen over the river, with the top 

 nearly to the opposite shore, I crossed on it and down the 

 opposite bank until I could see and hail Bertham, to whom 

 I gave all the points concerning the cat. He seemed to 

 comprehend everything clearly, and started for the game 

 at once, while 1 turned and made ay way towards the 

 sound of the whistle. I had not far to go before I saw 

 'Lish at a distance lying on the ground and rolling over 

 and over in a manner to astonish me. I hastened to him, 

 thinking he was hurt, but on coming up found him in an 

 fit of uncontrollable laughter. Old John was lying behind 

 a clump of bushes prone on his side and still as a mouse, 

 while all 'Lish could do was to point in a certain direction 

 and laugh until his face was purple. I looked in the di- 

 rection he pointed, but could see nothing until my attention 

 was attracted by the falling of a piece of bark, or some- 

 thing like it, from a tree near by, and guided by that I 

 poon saw the cause of the "trouble." Only a few rods 

 from where we were was an old pine tree which had been 

 broken off short so that only about a third of the original 

 tree was left standing, and about the top, say perhaps fif- 

 teen feet from the ground, a few large branches were left, 

 While from that point down almost to the ground were in- 

 numerable small stumps of branches a foot or more in 

 length, the branches themselves having been torn and 

 twisted off by storm and accident so that the stubs were 

 left mainly sharp and slivery. Up in the top among the 

 large branches was a bear cub about two-thirds grown, and 

 he had gotten himself wedged in between two of the large 

 branches so that he could neither advance or retreat, while 

 his hinder parts were astraddle of a long, sharp stub that 

 stood out from the tree directly under him. He was so 

 wedged that he could neither raise himself much above it nor 

 get around it. In endeavoring to keep himself clear of it 

 he had clawed the bark all off, so that now there was no 

 hold for him, and he was continually slipping down on the 

 sliver, which would pierce him every time he touched it, 

 and at such times the snarling and growling and scratching 

 were something terrific, and when undertaking to look 

 around under him to see what the trouble was his head 

 would bump savagely against the limb that held him, and 

 his eyes would fairly shoot fire with rage; in his calmer 

 moments he would look down atuj and seem to say; "This, 



