I Dec. 31, 18F3. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



408 



Two men never descended the eastern slope of a cliff with 

 a more reflective and humble beating than did we; it was 

 not until after we bad gained the quarter deck of "The 

 Bus." t hut I ventured to remark to Weston that for "n poem 

 iuc mi ite, born of a goddess in a grotto,'' the young woman 

 bad a very practical turn of mind. 



WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 



Vt. — ABOtTtf SOME OF TtlE DISTINGUISHED A3? OLE It rt OF OtJTt 

 TIME. 



Though he in all the pi ople's eyes seemed great, 

 Yei greater he appeared in his retreat. 



-£tr J. ."■ vJuui 



IN the long catalogue of bonornble anglers are the names 

 of apostles, kings, princes, priests, poets, bishops, Hates- 

 men and philosophers — men who made history, ruled 

 nations, honored the church, dignified humanity, 'and U ft 

 the impress of their schohVrSuip upon all the centuries. 

 And what they did they did all the better— more wisely, 

 more humanely, and wfth a higher conception of the sacred 

 character of the work assigned them— became they bad the 

 contemplative habit, proverbial patience and gentle spitit of 

 the simple wise men who love to go a-flshtng. 



It has been my fortune t-> know and to have "camped 

 o'd" with some of the woll-known men of our own time, 

 and 1 have, always found them as compauionable and merry- 

 hearted as the most humble of the brotherhood. If there 

 was any difference in the zest and enthusiasm with which 

 each class plied their vocation, it arose from the fact that to 

 the former the pastime was in greater contrast, with tli 

 social and olllcial conventionalities winch held them more 

 closely in their chafing trammels, and so gave them a 

 keener appreciation of the freedom which came to them in 

 the quiet places lo which their love of angling led them 

 To all such an "outiug" was not simply a holiday; it win 

 the unlocking of their official prison bouse; the lifting of a 

 leaden weight from their weary brain; a translation from 

 work and worry to needed rest and absolute freedom and 

 repo.-e. The contrast between what they endured and what 

 1hcy enjoyed — between the red-tape technicalities of official 

 life, ami the rollicking abandon permissible in the cosy camp 

 on trout stream or salmon river — is the contrast between 



?i irgalory and paradise; and when the rebound comes it is 

 elt in every cell of the brain, in every fibie Of the body and 

 in every pulsation of the. heart. I knew jilst how a Chief 

 Justice" felt when, coming in from our salniou pools to lunch, 

 he cast himself at full length beneath the welcome shade of 

 a spreading pine, with face aglow and his voice tremulous 

 with devout thanksgiving ana exclaimed: 



" 'Begone, my cores, I give ye to the winds.' 



" Ahl old man, old man, this indeed is rest." 



"Yes. my clear fellow, it is pleasant and — jolly." was my 

 response, as I ripped off a piece < f fresh hemlock bark lo 

 serve as a table for our humble repast. 



These ripples of ecstacy; these indefinable heart-zephyrs; 

 these foretastes of a higher felicity, which drop into the 

 soul like golden sun-glints through 'the quivering leaves of 

 the waving forests, are among the uupurchasable luxuries 

 of the appreciative angler, and come to no other in suebfull 

 measure. 



Vice-President Wheeler is one of the distinguished anglers 

 of our own time. His visits to the Sara noes and adj 

 waters were t?nd still are as regular as the seasons. His 

 home is in close proximity to the' best fishing grounds in 

 the State, and be has grown up as familiar with all of them 

 as he is with the various rooms in his own domicile. He 

 has been a member of our State Legislature, has repeatedly 

 served his district in the House ot Representatives, been 

 Vice-President of the United Slates, and a busy man al- 

 ways, but he has never intermitted his annual visits to the 

 beautiful lakes which make a terrestrial paradise of the far- 

 famed Adiroudacks. When, years ago. he wis talked of for 



suits 



filled, I ventured 

 vould prc- 



9 of their 

 But 1 not 



the high position which m 

 the prediction that he would 

 elude him from these annual 

 18 6 "Hayes and Wheeler" > 

 party, and 1 was proclaimed 



only knew my man, but the fascinating pastime of which 

 he was a votary, and the result vindicated my piediction. 

 lie more than once mysteriously disappeared from bis place 

 as presiding oilicer or the Senate, atid while o 1 hers were guess- 

 ing his whereabouts, his more intimate friends knew lie had 

 gonea-fishinn- His robes of place were laid aside for the 

 garb of the angler, and the restraints and formalities of bis 

 odlee for the quiet and freedom which can be found nowhere 

 so p.'ifectly as in the primitive forests and on the crystal 



the ' 



lakes and flowing rivers wb 

 most refreshing rest and high 



Althousb the ex-Ytce-Presidei 

 mysteries of the craft as be is in : 

 civil law. and with all the profour 

 manship, he affects the 1 1 oil rat 

 Ol'tener setu leisurely floatiug ov< 

 the beautiful lakes than 



ngicr finds .lis 

 cctation. 



is as skillod in all the 

 the intricacies of the 



est principles of state 

 •r than the fly. and is 

 the silvery surface of 

 uther brook or river. 



Gen. Arthur, now President of the United States, is also a 

 well known "brother of the angle." He has all the best 

 qualities of the most famous disciples of the senile art. He 

 is patient, courteous, companionable, cnthusisastiu and 

 expert, lie is, withal, an ardent lover of nil that is grand 

 and beautiful and picturesque in nature. As I have said of 

 another I can say of him, la all that moves our sensibilities 

 and kindliest sympathies he is as impressible as a child and 

 as gentle as a woman. In spite of the rough school in which 

 he has been a life-long pupil, his heart is "open as day to 

 niching charity," and his poetic tastes enable him always 

 and everywhere, to see 



"Sermons in stones, books in running brooks, 

 And good in everything." 

 His love of the art is the outgrowth of his leslbet'e sua 

 ceptibilities, and this love will remain wilh him long after 

 the dazzling glories of office shall h ive lo3t their charm, be- 

 cause the beauties OJ nature are as varied and exbau-tl.ss as 

 the munificence aud majesty of their beneficent author. 

 The pleasurable emotions ihev excite, like ihe eternal prin- 

 eip!c mysteriously linked to our finite humanity, never die. 

 Thau Gen. Arthur no man can pitch a tent more quickly, 

 adorn a camp uiore tastefully, cast a fly more deftly, tight a 

 salmon more artistically or bring him tog iff more g. ace-full)'. 

 1 owe to his courtesy the opportunity to kill my first salmon, 

 have been with him'iu every phasj of an angler's experience, 

 and know him to be the peer of the most accomplished ami 

 most appreciative of the masters of the art. It lias ben his 

 good fortune to kill the largest salmon ever taken with a fly 

 on this continent : and it was because 1 knew his intense 

 fondness for the pastime that I appreciated how deeply he 

 felt his disappointment when, after his nomination as Vice- 

 President, i tendered hint my coagr itulatioas, he said: "I 

 thank you, of course, but 1 am afraid that, lor this summer 

 at least, it will keep me away fio n our grand old river." A 

 pastime that could be remembered and spoken of under 

 such circumstances must have a strong hold upon one's 

 affections. I am sine he looks forward hopefully to the day 

 when, relieved of the cares of bis high office, he will be once 

 more permitted to pitch bis tent upon the Restigouehe or 

 C.isi ariedia and angle for salmon. 



Gen. Spinner, ex-United States Treasurer, an octogenarian 

 with whom old Time has dealt very gently, and wuosesigu 

 manual is a type of his robust integrity and sturdy patriot- 

 ism, is also one of the brotherhood. Long before bio home 

 friends sent hiui to Congress or President Lincoln made him 

 the custodian of the treasury chest of the nation, be had be- 

 come intimate with .the best angling waters of Northern 

 .New York. With him the pastime was a delight, less ba- 

 eauso of the fish to be taken than because of l lie pleasant 

 places to which their capture led him. He was a born 

 botanist as well as a born angler, and during his later years 

 he was quite as happy gathering the rare plants and ferns 

 and flowers he met with iu his forest walks as in catching 

 trout. 1 have journeyed with him through the whole length 

 and breadth of' our Northern forest, and 1 never joui neyed 

 with a more happy or entertaining companion. VVhile iu 

 Washington through the terrible years ot the war, he found 

 needed rest iu frequent rambles along the Potomac gal hcriug 

 flowers and angling for bass. His office, from which be 

 distributed thousands of millions of dollars without the lots 

 of a farthing was a perfect museum of Loifil iiud 1 otanital 

 specimens and of all the paraphernalia which go to make up 

 an angler's kit. And now, at his home iu Florida, although 

 long ago passed the alloted life of man, the same habits 

 remain With him and the same pleasures come to him hum 

 these cherished pastimes of his eai licr years. He would, per- 

 haps, all the same have illustrated in his life the virtues of 

 u honest man if Providence had not, iu addition to ft vigor- 

 ms constitution, given him the temperament and taste of an 

 ngler, but the fact that he is an angler we may be sure 

 bslracts nothing from the high qualities which enter into 

 he mental and moral sttucture oi an honest man. May he 

 yet live many years to fish with leaders as tough as his con- 

 stitution, and with rods as elastic as his humor and as stable 

 as his fame. 



Judge Edmunds, the distinguished Senator from Vermont, 

 has been for many years a regular visitor to salmon 

 waters. He has fished 'many of the best rivers of the Prov- 

 inces, and is as expert as he is enthusiastic in the practice of 

 the art. Of late jeafls his daughters have accompanied him 

 and shared with him the great pleasure to be derived from 

 these annual visits to the quiet places where salmon aud sea- 

 trout gather in their season for the delectation of the angler. 

 One of his daughters was long an invalid, and although she 

 was temporarily benefited by these summer sojourns in the 

 silent woods, sue recently "entered into rest. Hereafter 

 the pleasure the honored statesman may derive from his 

 angling excursions will be hallowed by the memory of the 

 heart-gladdening companionship of the "loved and lost." 



Judge Folger, the present Secretary of the Treasury, is 

 also fond of the augle. A coterie of genial gentlemen have 

 lodges on the banks of Geneva Lake, The Judge is chief 

 among them in skill and enthusiasm. He has been hoping 

 for years to accompany Judge Hadley, his near neighbor 

 aud intimate friend, iu "his annual raid upon the king of 

 Babes; but be has always bad the ini-.fori.unc. to lie so tfed 

 clown .by tlie galling withes of public responsibilities l bat 

 lu bus" never been able to pass beyond the metes aud bounds 



which they thrive. This weed can, he believes, be trans- 

 planted and should be introduced into all wat< rs where 

 trout are found. A treatise from his pen on this subject 

 would be an important and valuable addition to the multi- 

 tude of papers on practical themes which be has written. As 

 one of our honored fish commissioners, such a treatise would 

 come within his official province, ami form an important 

 addition to our piscatorial literature. Who will say 

 what influence this love of the silent woodB and the 

 peaceful repose of rural life has had in moulding and de- 

 veloping the social virtues and pure public character of this 

 unique and distinguished statesman? None of our public 

 men have lived more circumspectly. His declining sun 

 reflects a mellow light and will set iu unclouded lustre. 



Chief Justice Ritchie of New Brunswick, and Chief Jus- 

 tice Gray of Massachusetts (now of the Supreme Court of 

 the Unit d States), were two of the merriest men 1 ever met 

 on angling waters. The former, though venerable, in years, 

 had ail the ardor and enthusiasm of lusty youth, and wasone 

 of the most pi rristeut angk rs I ever encountered. He cast 

 with the skit] of an expert and fought his fish with a dash 

 and impetuosity as exciting as it. was masterful. Chief 

 Justice Gray, with less experience and more deliberation in 

 easting and killing, was like bis brother chief in his inler.se 

 love of the sport aud in appreciation of the enjoyable pos- 

 liilities of camp life on salmon waters. Among the pictur- 

 esque memories of th.se two eminent jurists which remain 

 with' me i . this: Chief Justice Ritchie bad struck a large 

 fish about the going down of the sun. Failing to return to 

 camp before dark, his brother chief became alarm d lest 

 some mishap had befallen him. Whereupon be hastily ex- 

 temporized a number of birch-bark torches, and started out 

 lo the rescue. The lost chief was found enveloped in iiark- 

 ness. sturdily fighting a huge fish among rooks and rapids as 

 impetuously and as resolutely as if the chances were not ten 

 to one that at any moment his canoj would be wrecked 

 upou some one of" the hundred boulders which made the 

 rapids directly below the pojl iu which he bad hooked his 

 tisu a boiling cauldron. As Chief Gray approached him 

 with his fl immg flambeaux, the happy angler, in a voice 

 which overto'ped the thundering of the rushing rapids, in 

 reply to the query, "Wnat cm we do for you?" exclaimed: 



"Give me but lUht, Ajax asks no more," 

 and, amid flic ringing cheers of Jiis admiring rescuers, after 

 a further half hour's struggle, a thirty-pound salmon was 

 gaffed, and these two jolly jurists, assisted hy their equally 

 excited guides, proceeded" lo c imp— Judge Gtay leading as 

 coips commander of the most uuique torchlight procession 

 that ever gave escort to a conquering luro cm land or water. 

 The unusual length of this rambling "Talk" prevents me 

 from referring to several noted churchmen and scholars 

 with wIdib I have eithe>- camped or met in my forest tramps. 

 Prominently in my mind as I write is an eminent and lie- 

 loved Bishop, whose fondness for the pastime often leads 

 him to the silent woods and crystal trout streams within 

 easy reach of his cathedral parish. His appreciation of the 

 dignity as well as of the chureldy and fascinating character 

 of the'art may be inferred from the fact that he deems it no 

 disparagement to his sacred office to be seen bearing wilh 

 him homeward his well-filled creel aud the tidy fly-rod which 

 had been bis only companion through tne long summer's 

 day. If any cavil at this apostolic habit, of the reveiend 

 bishop, I would say to them as good old Iz.iak said lo simi- 

 lar stupid critics of his own day: "Indeed, my friend, you 

 will find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has 

 a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings attending 

 upon it." .^___^^__^^_^^_ G - - ' 



ei.l-l.y 



While this mode of angling does not, come up to the highest 



standard of the art, and fails to saiisfy the more ardent, _ 



roaust and enthusiastic of the brotherhood, it is full of of his official parish for the length of time nee.diul to make 



i and affords supreme delight to the 

 tul and contemplative. Indeed, the most enthusiastic, of 

 the craft— cvon those who fancy they would soon weary of 

 the sport if they could not "east" for their prey— are often 

 lurecf by the pleasure available lo those who spend the 

 sunny siimmer dayseisling along the picturesque shores 

 and among the fairy -like islands of our charming inland 

 waters. Every measure of the oar reveals some new bit of 

 landscape to be admired. Sunshine and shadow are ever 

 busy paiutiug pictures of ever-varying beauty. The gentle 

 summer z.phyrs float down from the forest-crowned moun- 

 tains like Heavenly benedictions. The bitlruy air, as free 

 fiom the germs of disease and the odors of decay as the 

 mind of the angler is from strife aDd contention, 'fills his 

 lungs as full of i ivigoratiug elixir as ids heart is of graii- 

 tude and go >d will. Those who have felt all this-tiud all 

 of US have — -will not think the less of our distinguished 

 fellow ci.izcn because he mostly angles with the ti oil, aud 

 seeltS his pleasure and rccication in moving to aud fro upon 

 the lakes, which sit like spark I inn gems among the evciiasf- 

 ing hills of the far-famed Adirondack-;. J hope, when my 

 right hand sliali forget its cunning, and when from oU > 

 or decrepitude I shall have fought my last battle on salmon 

 wafers, lo be able lo glide gentl) toward the dark river in 

 the quiel and peaceful and liappy way in whieli my honored 

 friend has so long found bis 'highest pleasure aud mo^t 

 perfect repose. 



the trip and enjoy the longed-for luxury. A seat will be 

 reserved for hi ui in our cosy tent until a kind Providence 

 shall enable him, unhampered by any special obligation to 

 au exacting publie, to try his prentice hand on trie lordly 

 salmon. 



AH hough Gov. Seymour may not be technically classed 

 among the brotherhood, ho has the simple habits anil 838- 

 thctic tastes of the contemplative angler. I\o one has » 

 nicer appreciation of the beauty and grandeur of forest 

 scenery, or of the hi neficent influence upon mind and heart 

 and body of au occasional sojourn in the silent woods. It 

 is a Hire pleosuie to listen to hin graphic descriptions of what 

 he has s en and felt aud enjoyed during hi * rambles in the 

 Adiroudacks. Unlike most of IbevU'itors to licit pictur- 

 esque regi.ni, he waH most charmed by his winter excur- 

 sions, when the solitude of the woods was doubly solitary, 

 and when the noil-winter camp-lire gave an aspect to ail its 

 surroundings as weird-like as it was fascinating. "You 

 ought lo go to the woods in mid-winter," be said tome on 

 one occasion, "You will never have seen them iu their 

 sublime st graudeui aud magnificence until you do." The 

 very last conversation 1 had "with him was on the always 

 interesting subject to the angler of fish fooJ, and lb" reasons 

 why some streams arc so much more prolific than others, 

 liis" theory is the existence of a weed which attracts '0 itself 

 and holds*, if it does not produce, a spjoies of insect or ani 

 malcula; of which fish, especially trout, are fond, and upon 



<§[ew $ttblwttim$. 



"TUB STILL-HUNTER." 

 In bis "Still-Hunter," Mr. Van Dyke lvas given to rifle shooters who 

 desire to become hunters, and above all to the tyros who have yet 

 to take tbeirfiist lessons in still-hunting, a very useful book. Its 

 value is more especially to those who are quite without experience, 

 and t« sucli It will, If attentively rend, give the general theory of 

 deer hunting. No book, however carefully written, or how fully il- 

 lustrated by examples, can teaeh the reader the difficult lesson of the 

 woods or convey to him the knowledge which is necessary to success 

 in hunting. This can only be acquired by long experience. In deer 

 hunting there Is no royul road to knowledge. A well written printer 

 of still-hunling Is, however, of grait use, for it may serve to im- 

 press upon the student who is venturing into this new aDd difficult 

 field of research, the importance of Ihe three cardinal principles by 

 which success may bo attained, viz., caution, patience and dellbera- 

 uon. Keeping carefully in view these principles, experience will 

 soon give the beginner hints as to how their practice should oe modi- 

 fied by circumstances. Mr. Van Dyke's deer hunting has evidently 

 hiefly, if not altogether, in Minnesota and in Southern 

 UJd these tivo sections ot country, affording as they do 

 rent conditions, have given lilui au experience which un- 

 doubtedly qualifies him to speak- with authority. We wish that he 

 bad omitted In his wm-kall reference to the antelope, for every word 

 that he has written about this animal shows that ho has seen but 

 very little of it, ant is practically Ignorant of its habits. This, how- 

 over, is a. small mutter, a trifling blemish in so excellent a book. In 

 most of what he ha< to oiy relative, to deer, their habits, and how to 

 hunt them, old deer stalkers will agree that his ideas on the subject 

 are, as a whole, correct. There may bo differences of opinion on 

 minor prints, but with regard to the general plan of the advice 

 given, there will be but. one sentiment. 



The author does not oonllne himself to the simple hunting and 

 fin ling of lb a d?er, but gom at loagth i ito the subject of rifle shoot- 

 ing. His eh.tpt ;,r on Loag-Tl in ;._• SS ml :n J at CUni-> is a mo -t excelllent 

 one, and his ridicule of the loo common habit of boa ting about, long 

 Si ots made at game is sever* and telling. People do undoubtedly 

 make long shots occasionally; the only question is whether such 

 shots are regirded as a ta-t of slcltl or simply as accidents. We 

 ips hunted and killed as much big game us most men, and 

 r tune madu a good many long shots, but at the same time 

 tlilnkJhat we are doing pretty well when we kill, standing, 

 doer or an anU lope or tin elk at one hundred yards, and v e do not pro- 

 fess to bo sure at .invlhiiijr over that distance. It is not so much the 

 diffleelty ot holding "on as it is of. judging the distance. It is there that 

 r.iLcosl evi'rvvine fads. 



Tuec.iapters on I no hil'ect of Tt-eoll upon Shooting, the Killing 

 Power of Bullets, the limiting Hide an I Flight: of Balls and the 

 sie-li'iug of lltinciiiff Hill ■:- eimt.iiu a vast am.-.utit that i- iuie.resting 

 arid t id i- worthv of e ireful thought; and while itmnv hunters will 

 di -agree with the author on certain p nuts, rb we ourselves do. there 

 is no dOULt tnat his book n ill do a great amount of good. 



One of the moat attractive and practical feutt res of Ihe work lies 



in tje way in whle.i thi' author "supposes his cases." He takes the 



tvro Into all sorts of places and buo ttttinv positions or diffli tiity, 



' ' icn very goo liiauovdlf h.lps him out, again, and points onl to 



rau-eandhowhj made hia mlst-ikes. The ''Still-Hunter" de- 



i high prabjo. 



I iin V 



