690 
FOREST "AND STREAM. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 
Devoted to Fiei d and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural 
History, Fish Culture, the Protection op Game, Preserva¬ 
tion op Forests, and the Inculcation in Men and Women of 
a Healthy Interest in Out-Door Recreation and Study : 
PUBLISHED BY 
FOREST AN1» STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
NO. 1H FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 
[Pobt Office Box 2832.1 
TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR. STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 
Adv 
srtlsing Bates. 
Inside pages, nonpariel type, 25 cents per line; outside page, 40 
cents. Special rates for three, six and twelve months. Notices in 
editorial column, 50 cents per line—eight words to the lino,and 
twelve lines to one inch. 
a by Saturday of each week, if 
* All transient advertisements must be accompanied with the 
money or they will not be inserted. 
No advertisement or business notice of an immoral character 
will be received on any terms. . 
*»*Ariv publisher inserting mirpvospeetus as above one time, with 
brief editorial notice calling attention thereto,and sending marked 
copy to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1879. 
To Correspondents. 
All oommunioationswbntever, intended forpnblicatioii, must-be 
accompanied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good 
faith and be addressed to Forest and Stream PublisuinoCom¬ 
pany. Names will not be published if objection be made. Anony¬ 
mous communications will not he regarded. 
We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 
Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us wtih 
brief notes of their movements and transactions. 
Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 
may not he road with propriety in the home circle. 
We cannot lie responsible for dereliction of mail service it money 
remited to us Is lost, . _ 
tsv Trade supplied by American News Company. 
New York’s Parks.— New York is waking up to the 
discovery that her Central Park is fast going to ruin. The 
Park possesses rare advantages in the character of its na¬ 
tural formation, and when laid out some years ago by the 
very competent landscape artists to whom the work war 
intrusted, it promised to become in time the finest ex 
ample of landscape gardening in the world. Hundreds 
of thousands of dollars and long years of skilled labor 
have been put into the task of accomplishing such a re¬ 
sult, only now to be frustrated by the bane of political 
scheming, inefficient management, and culpable neglect. 
The designs of the artists have been ignored ; rare land¬ 
scape effects have been destroyed ; and official rnisman- 
gement, shiftlessn'ess and obtuseness have thwarted the 
realization of the artists’ plans. Now that the citizens of 
the metropolis are beginning to comprehend this sad con¬ 
dition of affairs, there may be. some partial remedy of ex¬ 
isting abuses, but to restore the park to its former state 
of promise will require a vast additional outlay and many 
years, 
Major H. W. Merrill.— This gentleman has written 
very many valuable contributions for Forest and 
Stream duringthe past six years over the signature of 
“Old Scout,” the rnoBt noticeable of whioh have been 
those relating to the trajectory of projectiles. His 
sketches of frontier life in Texas and Florida have also 
been frequent in the time past, and always instructive 
and entertaining. Blessed with a hale old age, and en¬ 
joying a fuller measure of the good things of this life 
than usually falls to the lot of retired army officers (who 
get few comforts and poor pay for their long and ardu¬ 
ous service), the Major assiduously keeps the field, and 
follows his dogs with a step as lithe and untiring as the 
pedestrians who contest for belts. He has a passion for 
roving, and moves rapidly from point to point, shooting 
a little here and a little there, enjoying the sweets of out¬ 
door fife, like the bee. A short time ago he was in Dela¬ 
ware, now we hear of him in Wisconsin, and are glad to 
see printed, and to be able to copy the following de¬ 
served notice of the “Old Scout” from, the Waukesha 
Democrat of Sept. 20th :— 
Major W. W. Merrill, of New Rochelle, N. Y., a veteran 
of tlie Florida and Mexican wars, arrived in this place 
yesterday. He proposes spending a month here with his 
nephews to enjoy the pleasures of his annual hunts and 
fishing in this vicinity. He if the owner of Army Lake 
farm, near East Troy, where his preserves afford him 
good sporting grounds. He served under Gen. Taylor m 
the Florida war, and again under him in Mexico up to 
Monterey, thence under Gen. Scott, participating in all 
the battles from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and finally had the 
pleasure of escorting (as one of his dragoon body guards) 
the old General into the city of Mexico on September 14 
1847 , now tlnrty-two years since. Mr. M. graduated ai 
the U. S. Military Academy in 1888, and served in the 
United States Dragoons for twenty years, most of which 
time he spent on the Indian frontier of Texas and m 
"bleeding Kansas.” 
THE CLERGY AND FIELD SPORTS. 
11 The gown of the clergyman is now being gradually made to 
appear as the jerkin of the jocky ."—Boston ConaregationaMst. 
W HEN the Christian Church was established nearly 
two thousand years ago, the race of sporting 
clergymen was inaugurated, and since that time, in 
spite of opposition, they have gone on increasing, 
until to-day they grace all the legitimate walks of 
sporting life. There are still left a few “ Friar Tucks ” 
who occasionally overstep the prescribed limits ; but 
of these it is not our province to speak; their in¬ 
fluence is pernicious aud their actions are to be de¬ 
cried. But those representatives of “the cloth” who 
enter the field through right motives deserve a word 
in their behalf, and what better medium can be found 
through which to urge then- claims than Forest and 
Stream 
Clergymen are but human ; lineal descendants of the 
same first parents with us all, and inheriting with us 
their modicum of original sin. And in view of this 
recognized fact, why is it such a hue and ciy goes forth 
when a clergyman derivates from the strict path of rec¬ 
titude ? We are apt to expect too much from the minis¬ 
terial fraternity. We look up to them as models by 
which to mould our own lives, forgetting that they are 
tempted in all points like as we are. So if by chance the 
old man obtains the mastery and some great divine is 
indiscreet, unfortunate, or actually falls, immediately so¬ 
ciety is shaken toils centre and the peaceful cause of re¬ 
ligion receives a terrible shock. The world’s people are 
always looking for blemishes in the body politic of the 
church, and while the numerous imperfections constantly 
being revealed, offer no excuse for the rejection of the 
truths of the gospel, they still furnish food for sneers, and 
it is a lamentable fact that in any issue involving the fair 
fame of a clergyman or church, an unfeeling world never 
waits for the verdict, nor gives the party involved the 
benefit of the doubt. To he suspected is to be condemned 
already. 
The gentle occupation of the clergymen, necessitating 
as it does sedentary habits, makes out of door exercise 
positively essential to his physical well being. This var¬ 
iety of recreation naturally fills him with a deep love for 
nature and her manifold wondrous works, and so he 
drifts easily into the legitimate sporting rut and there 
finds that which being in perfect harmony with his 
thoughts and feelings, affords him rest and health giving 
amusement. The legitimate sporting field, embracing as 
it does shooting, fishing, boating, base ball, riding, cricket, 
archery, etc., is a blessed boon to the profession. Will 
not he who makes consecutive bull’s-eyes at the range or 
cuts down a grouse at forty yards, he sure to make centre 
shots from his pulpit the following Sabbath ? Wifi not he 
prove himself a more expert “ fisher of men,” who with 
skillful hand and supple wrist casts his fly deftly over the 
surface of a trout pool? Will not brain naturally follow 
the bone and brawn developed at the oars or in the saddle, 
and the results be better thoughts and more fervid elo¬ 
quence? 
Who are our best preachers ? Look over the list and see 
if they, who by reason of active out-door exercise, combine 
a sound body with a healthy mind, are not the ones who 
hold the attention of the largest and most intelligent aud- 
ences and do the most real good in their sacred calling. ? 
What folly to frown down the sporting clergyman 
when on him rests the hope of the church. An indoor 
preacher who gets his ideas from cyclopedias, is like a 
closet naturalist, who, using the eyes and experiences of 
others, eliminates ideas and foists them upon the world 
as his own He pursues the same old beaten track trod¬ 
den for ages by his ilk, and after a lifetime of unremit¬ 
ting toil, finds that the simple truths embodied m one idea 
religion’are not enough for the advanced notions of the 
age. Not so the sporting clergyman. He goes forth with 
gun or fishing tackle, happy and care free. With each 
breath he draws in fresh inspiration. His Creator seems 
nearer and more real as he looks up to Him through the 
medium of the clouds, the mountains, and the placid 
lake With renewed strength of body and mind comes 
a greater depth of thought and feeling, and his whole be¬ 
ing is revitalized as he enters into the ennobling pastimes 
of the field, forest, and stream. 
Has our clerical Mend belittled himself, or in any way 
disgraced his calling, by indulging this God-given prochv- 
ity? Does obedience to the natural instincts which 
prompt him to take part in those athletic sports that 
build up the body and give cheerfulness and buoyancy 
to the disposition, make him any the less a man and a 
Christian? Far from it. It is his duty to foster and pro¬ 
tect the body God has given him, and how can he do so 
better than by a moderate indulgence in field sports 
To carry on the great work successfully m which the 
clergy are engaged, soundness of body and mind are ab¬ 
solutely essential. This is au axiom that they would do 
well to heed, and while storing the mind with sound the¬ 
ological truths, give that exquisite structure in which it 
is encased a chance to expand, carry the development of 
mind and matter along together, so that one may support 
the other aud bring forth results at once beneficial to the 
people and pleasing in the sight of Him who is the Great 
Head of the church. 
It is to be hoped that the time will soon com* 
those who frown down the sporting clergy, will 
error of their position and acknowledge the wide 
difference between them and the clerical sports y| 
grace their calling. It is no great matter of woBd 
that people sometimes lose faith in the average clen 
after the unsavory developments of the last fev 
But the mass of earnest, hard-working, conscientioi 
Man gentlemen, at the head of our churches, shout 
made to suffer for the indiscretions and sins of ti 
A man in any walk in life is not responsible for 1 
rehensible actions of those who may be treading tl 
pathway with him. Because Smith, the dry got 
chant, fails, it is not proof positive that Brown, in t, 
business across the way, is financially unsound. 
Then let us all exercise that greater of the bei 
charity,” toward the clergy, and instead of n 
reproach of their tendencies toward the innot 
giving pursuits of the field, encourage them L 
there it is they will draw fresh stores of health at 
lect to carry on the work whereby they are callet 
H. W. 
A Genuine American Sportsman Journal.— 
uable. high-toned American sportsman's journal, 
and Stream and Rod and Gun, under the efficij 
agement, its originator, Mr. Charles Hallock, has 
a point of success in this special branch of litera 
equaled by any similar publication in the Unitec 
Number 1, of volume 13, appears in au entire new 
type and material, which is an evidence that the ji 
conducted with energy, forethought, good taste 
cess. Starting with the first issue, we have cor 
found thispublicationaregularweekly visitorin-H 
finder's sanctum. We have never failed to find 1 
est and Stream full of valuable statistics and in 
reading matter, suitable and valuable to every A 
sportsman throughout the country .—New York ( 
cial Pathfinder. 
Our thanks are due to the above veteran journal 
expression of its good opinion, which we much 
coming from a publication which is now' in Us fii 
year. The Pathfinder is a vade mecum for the 
tile part of New York's business men. 
Faith in Our Perpetuity.— Within the pas 
,ve have had many letters enclosing price of sub 
to Forest and Stream for three yearn, to 1882, 
a fair indication of the trust which our cons 
place upon our continued existence. We see no 
that our confiding Mends will be disappointed, a 
them for the trust they have placed in us. 
GAME PROTECTION. 
The Maine Trout Law.— We had a call last w 
Col. Hayden, of Cleveland, Ohio, then on Ms w- 
from Tim Pond, Eustis, Maine. The fishing the 
learned, has been superb the past season. The 
full of large, game trout, and numerous streat 
and lakes in the vicinity afford change of scene 
any decrease of good luck. Trout fishing in the> 
is not attended with any uncertainty. Unless:; 
a specially gifted bungler he can catch a grt 
more fish than he and his companions can eat ' 
wise legitimately dispose of. 
The best fishing days were in August. SepteM 
yields large returns, but the fish are then gra 
toward the latter part of the open season, Wji 
closes October 1st, the fish are spawning or. 
spawn. Their capture then is simply disgusting 
persons. There seems to be no question about tl 
limitation of the open time here. September ® 
be the date. It is undoubtedly for the immei 
vantage of guides and boarding house keepers: 't< 
the visits of their customers, but reason pre 
earlier close season than that now in force, 
season the Tim Pond region bids fair to be over 
anglers. New accommodations are to be provi 
facilities of access afforded, and the old stoi 
Adirondacks, and a thousand other like rej 
enacted. We are promised some interestingql 
this country before long. 
The Massachusetts Law'.— Boston, Sept. 27 
tor Forest and Stream .-—Since sending an itei 
number of your paper, concerning the case of 
of our woodcock law, we find that the defendai 
sel has had his name entered on the docket, an 
fault taken off. This looks like business, and 
that the signs won’t again fail. John FottJ 
Game Laws and the Cotton Crop.—A go 
for the blackbirds is thus spoken by the Nat 
(La.) Vindicator “ Our farmers tell us that? 
of blackbirds are swarming m the fields ot cott® 
stroying the cotton-worm as they go. \ ery m 
can be found ‘webbed up,' and the planter | 
The destruction by the birds this year is acco 
only by the effects of the game law-, which are 
felt.” Such facts as these willsoon teach peopl 
game laws are not designed to benefit a sma 
“sportsmen.” _ 
—As a light, mild beverage, agreeable to the 
cate digestive organs, the Cocoa preparations q 
Baker & Co. are recommended to invalids ana 
cents as well as to those in full health,—Acte, 
