September 1, 1881. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



85 



tbe calm lakes, the leaping brooks, the trees, the buds, the 

 flower?. She tells him that there in that vast wilderness he 

 in the presence of his .Maker. 

 ■ ndy beach at tbe bead of Massawepie is a toi elj 



giave. The birches bend tenderly over it and Ihe I ■ - i 

 theinlei ripple byinau attending dirge. Tj idil i Bayi thai 

 Bars ago a maniac, who had escaped from h ; s keeper, wan- 

 dered off into the woods and made his bed here. When too 

 weak to walk be had crawled hack and forth to the little 

 brook for writer and some hunters found him longafter, lyiug 

 •dead upon his couch of haves. No one knows what led "that 

 being to flete from his fellow men to the solitude of Ihe wild- 

 ereess, but it seems certain that to I hose bereft of reason, to 

 .Ihose who are denied rational intercourse with their fellows 

 nature speaks a powerful language. Asa father is more tern 

 der to a weak and helpless child, so Ihe kind Father of all 

 looks mercifully dowu upon these most helpless of his chil- 

 dren and reveals hidden beauties to their eyes. For love of 

 nature is love of God. 



AN INVALID IN THE FIELD. 



IT is a clear, cold October morning of which I write. The 

 wood#are iu the "sere and yellow." Tbe prairie grass has 

 died of grief, perhaps, for the bright flowers that have willed 

 earlier, or more likely, has had the emerald tint knocked out 

 of it by Sir John Frost, the destroyer. 



I have been confined to my room for ten days playing a 

 game of patience ("a game I do not understand.") with a 

 severe lit, of rheumatic gout ; but on this morning, after fear- 

 ful groaning, I have dressed and, mounting my crutches, 

 hobble to the window to look out. 



My dogs, Don, an English setter, and Stella, a pointer 

 bitch— both "natives"— are sleeping on the gallery in a patch 

 of sunlight. A tap upon the window and both heads "come 

 to attention ;" another Tap and their bright eyes turn toward 

 Ihe window and, catching sight of my face, they bolt through 

 the hall to my chamber door and whiningly beg in the most 

 piteous manner to be admitted. 



"Open the door, mother, and let them in." 



"Nonsense, Hob j they'll lie sure to hurt you." 



"I'll risk it; here, give me that low chair. Right; now 

 turn that high chair— no, not that, the one with the cane 

 hack— down in front of my feet and knees ; all right. Now 

 lot them come." 



The door is opened and in they rush : It is well that I 

 have entrenched myself or Iheir affectionate onslaught might 

 have hurt me seriously, They eagerly leap upon me and 

 with low whines of intense joy kiss my cheeks, while their 

 honest eyes beam with an expression of love more plain than 

 any spoken words can express. Ah me! how pleasant it is 

 to be the object of such unselfish devotion, dumb brutes 

 the ugh Ihey be ! And yet they tell us that these loving and 

 intelligent, though dumb, companions have no "hereafter;" 

 that after serving us for years, learning to know our thoughts 

 and share our feelings, they die and there is no more of them 

 forever I Believe it who will, I elo not. The preachers tell 

 us of material joys and pains in the world to come, of golden 

 streets and jasper walls ; but who wants to walk on golden 

 streets unless sure of leaving their ills behind them, or rath- 

 er, who would walk at all if there be angelic wings with 

 which to fly. As for jasper walls, they are doubtless beauti- 

 ful, but lo my mind mote ornamental than useful. For my- 

 self, I could never endure "city life" in this world and I am 

 sure I should not enjoy being cramped in the next. No, sir; 

 God is good, and I verily believe that all of the many dogs 

 and hunting ponies I have owned and loved here, and who 

 have gone before, are now awaiting me on that other shore ; 

 and lo lie once more with them on those eternal hunting 

 grounds, with a hammerless gun, smokeless powder and un- 

 dying youth in which to follow the chase— ah, me, but that 

 will be heaven 1 



1 look out at the window again, then glance at my dogs, 

 now quietly Bleeping upon the hearthrug, then at my gun- 

 case, and the longing lo be afield once more becomes irre- 

 sistible. Turning to my wife I say : "Mother, will you take 

 me on the prairie this morning in the buggy?" 



"Why, Bob, are you crazy ? Dow couFd you get into the 



"Not crazy, mother, but a sudden attack of 'Cacoethes'— 

 what the deuce is the Greek for hunting?" 



"I'm sure I don't know," she says; "but you certainly 

 don't mean to take your gun .'" 



' 'I most certainly do. You shall dri ve me— I'll shoot from 

 the buggy." 



"And como back half dead with the gout I" 



' 'Not so, my wife, it will cure me ! So, good now, please 

 have ' Dandy ' harnessed at once. My soul's in arms and 

 eager for the fray 1" 



"But you've got the gout and can't get away !" 



"Confound it, madam, will you— oh! ah! oh! Whew!" 



"What's the mailer with you now?' 1 



"I struck my lame foot against that infernal chair-rocker. 

 Ah me 1 but hurry, mother, and let's be off." 



A nd now, while she goes to order the buggy, let me explain 

 that our only living son has attained to his majority and gone 

 out into the world lo carve out his destiny, for weal or woe- 

 and our only living daughter, having married years ago. has 

 a home and children of her own. So that we, with'the ex- 

 ception of an occasional visit from our children and grand- 

 children and the necessary dependents, are left abeneln the 

 Old home. That is why .Mrs. C. is nearly always my com- 

 panion in bird hunting and fishing, and though she cannot 

 herself shoot a gun, she takes great pride in my shooting, 

 and "chaffs" me uncnerc fully when I shoot badly. But 

 here she comes to tell me that she is ready. 



With much pain and the. aid of kindly hands I am helped 

 into the buggy. Mrs. C. takes the reins, and away we go. 



Ah, ha! how deliriously exhilarating it is to one who has 

 been for days confined to a close room to drink in huge 

 draughts of put e prairie air. How pleasant to a hunter to 

 inhale the peculiar aroma of dead grass and weeds that in the 

 fall pervades the prairie atmosphere. 



But Don and Stella are eagerly quartering the ground from 

 right to left, meeting aud passing each other in front of the 

 buggy, so we have no time to poetize. Suddenly Don checks 

 his speed and cautiously moves to the right, while Stella 

 catching sight of him, backs for a second and then moves as 

 he dors. There is no need to caution them, but in my heart 

 1 think, "Ah, my beauties, howl love your' Now Don 

 halts and becomes rigid, bis lips "going in an' out" with 

 Suppressed breathing until his hesd turns slightly, and his 

 bright eyes say to me, " Old man, they are here ; I've done 

 my work, now do yours." Meantime Stella is backinc like 

 the datiiuer Utile thing she is, iu the most beautiful manner. 



"What is it ?" whispers wife. 





"Quail, I reckon ; too close to timber for chickens. Turn 

 Dandy a little and drive slowly to Don's right— a little 

 nciirer, 1 wish the horses to flush them." (N. B. — I always 

 walk up my birds. A de>g trained to flush is, in my judg- 

 ment, unreliable.! "Now, Mollie, watch the old man take 

 'em in." Wbir-r-whir-r-bang ! bang! "Eh, what— a miss 

 with both barrels. Oh, confound il !" 



"Not a leather," says Mrs. 0. " Ahem, is that the way 

 you take 'em in, old man?" 



"Well, you see, mother. I'm weak and nervous. But see, 

 Don has another point. Drive to the right of him again — 

 there." Whir-r-r — an old cock quail, and straightaway I 

 throw up my gun, and, resisting the impulse to pull trigger 

 until he is fairly between the 'hammers, and then my finger 

 contracts. A few floating feathers in the air, but I feel the 

 bird is mine. 



"A long shot, Bob." 



"Well, yes, so so ; the fact is I had to kill him or go home. 

 When I find myself nervous at the start I must, by a power- 

 ful exercise of the will, evercome it at once or I grow worse 

 and make a bad day of it. Dead bird, Don, fetch. Come 

 in, Stella, it's Don's bird" ^ hen hunting two dogs I let the 

 dog that points the bird retrieve it, if killed; it is his right 

 aud he expects it. 



"Did you mark them down, Mollie :" 



"Yes ; three or four dropped near yon tall vesiu weed." 



"Good; drive that way— hie 'way 'Don, hie 'wav, Stella!" 



The dogs quarter the ground, aud when near the designated 

 weed they point at ihe same instant, but at different objects. 



"To which shall I drive first ?" 



"To Don ; he's nearest." 



"Yes, but Stella is young and may break point at gun fire, 

 while oid Don will stand all day." 



"Yes, and all night, too, the dear old fellow! but we will 

 trust Stella, and if she breaks—" I point to the dog whip at 

 our feet. The dogs are not over twenty yards apart. Wife 

 drives slowly to Don, and up jump a brace of quails. I am 

 ready, and remembering the result of firing too quickly at my 

 first birds I hold hard, and with s!ow hasle score a clean kill 

 of both birds. 



"Dead ; Don, fetch." He's off at the word (and never be- 

 fore) retrieving both birds, of course, singly. 



"Well, Mollie, how did Stella stand the racket ?" 



"Beautifully !" she answers, enthusiastically. "At the 

 first report of the gun she dropped to shot, but only for a 

 second, when she icsumed her point." 



We turn the horse toward Stella, and Don, getting sight 

 of her, backs her like a gentleman. We get close to the bitch 

 but flu-h nothing. 



" It mu«t be so close to her nose as to be paralyzed wit h— " 

 when out bounces a rabbit, and away goes "Stella in full 

 chase. 1 whistle and call frantically, but she heeds me never 

 a bit. After a chase of a hundred yards or so the rabbit is 

 lost iu the high grass, and then Miss" Stella hears my whistle 

 and sees the buggy bearing down upon her. Instantly real- 

 izing the enormity of her offense she absolutely wilts under 

 a sense of fear and shame. I stop the buggy, and order her 

 to "come in." She starts to us dragging'her feet as though 

 they were weighted with lead. 



"Here, wife, taKe the whip, jump out and punish her." 



"Now, Mrs. O, whose embonpoint is one of those self-evi- 

 dent facts about which there can be no discussion, is not 

 much of a jumper at any time, and in this instance her kind 

 heart makes her rather glow in getting out, I look to see if 

 the bitch is coming, and lo 1 she is making a splendid point, 



"Get back, Mo lie, S'ella is pointiug." 



" Perhaps she's found her rabbit again." 



" No, I think not ; besides, look at Don !" who was now 

 cautiously working bis way toward the bitch and on arriving 

 within fifteen or twenty steps he points in her direction. 

 Evidently the birds are between them. 



" Bet drinks they've found chickens!" 



" Thanks I no. I neither bet nor drink," says Mrs. C. 



" Pardon me. Of course I didn't mean to bet with you. 

 A innn and his wife being one cannot bet with each other." 



"Except as to drinks they may be one, but I'm sure that 

 your drinks never gave me the gout," 



" Don't make personal remarks, mother : bad taste— very. 

 Drive around so as to come between the dogs." 



The horse makes one or two steps, when— "whir-r"— up 

 jumps four or five "chickens." Although unready aDd a 

 little startled, 1 let chive with both barrels aud down oce, 

 while another gets away with both legs dangling. 



" Maik the cripple, Mollie." 



I slip a shell iu each barrel. "Now drive between the 

 dogs." They have kept their points, and as we get close in, 

 up get the chickens in a bunch. I swing my guu round and 

 cut away right and left at two that have separated Trom 

 the oth> rs, miss one, and drop the other. Stella holds her 

 point still. 



'•Drive close in front of her." An old cocks gets up with 

 a tremendous clatter, but drops at the crack of the gun 

 "Deid, Don! Dead, Stella! Fetch!" 



"Now, mother, for the cripple." • 



" Wait a moment," and she picks up the dog-whip and 

 makes a move to get out. 



" What are you going to do ?" 



"Whip Stella for chasing that rabbit?" 



"Whip your granny! Give, me that whip. Don't you 

 see that she has repented and ' brought forth meat for repent- 

 ance.' Job—' When found make anote.' " 



"All right; but if your scriptural quotation is correct, 

 there's a typographical error in my Bible." 



" W< II, I quote from memory only ; but let's g:> for that 

 wounded chicken and then home, for my feet begin to pain 

 me fearfully." 



"Just as I feared." 



The dogs soou fiud and retrieve the chickens, and we 

 turn our horse's head homeward. I am assisted out of the 

 buggy aud into the house. I lie down npon the lounge, 

 which my wife rolls in front of the fire and hands me the 

 last Forest and Stream. " Anything else?" 



"Yes, ma'am; give me a dose of coichium, please." 



She pours out a spoonf id, which I no sooner swallow than 

 I cry out : "Mercy, mother I What is it you are giving me?" 



She snatches up the bottle and gives one look. 



" Oh, Bob, I'm so sorry ! I've made a mistake in the bot- 

 tle and given you — " 



"What? poison!" 



" No. It's— it's— " 



"My God! What?" 



"Vermifuge!" 



"Vermi— h— la'uia! Why, confound it I don't you know 

 I'm past—" But she had left the room. Well, the Lord's 

 wjllbedone; but fancy giving a fellow "wurruui" medi- 

 cine for the gout ! 



Crockett' i Blvjf, Ark, Bob. H. C, 



"PorniEKS" m-coURSETH. 



AND PROMISES TO TALX sOME MORE, 



Down E'aST, Aug. 21, 1sS[. 

 Editor Forest (ttul Hlream ; 



Have just been reading the last two numbers of Fokbst 

 A.sn Stuk.ui from besinfriflj! to end, lying Bill on my back 



on a lounge, with coat o IT. a ei ,Hl el ci^ar. and feel at the usual 

 orthodox aoeie, the mantel of Ne>. y(l, ifoung'a Hotel, doing 

 duty as a foot-stool. 



This time it is not stories of big fish and wonderful catches, 

 but ihe burden runs more to 'possum and climbing snakes. 

 It is wonderful what a deal Dt experience and modern in- 

 stances the mere suggestion of a case or a query brings forth. 

 The 'possum question has certainly been well ventilated, and 

 snakes have now had a good tun. Strikes me the fiiends of 

 Fokkst and Stream have had an undue experience with 

 snakes; bad some myself, but not the sort I fear many of 

 those gentlemen know most of. I acknowledge a total ab- 

 sence of 'possum experience ; really don't believe I ever Baw 

 one, much less ate one, hot or odd. Do remember going out 

 once from Virginia Springs far an evening 'coon hunt, with a 

 dozen niggers ami dogs, hut beyond the dreadful hubbub, 

 yells, barking, and noise and flashes of torches and final 

 death of something said in be a 'possum, I know nothing. 



But when you talk about snakes I am with you, remember 

 that. I mean the veritable, not the imaginary, and I can 

 write a snake story for every number of the Forest ami 

 Stream for the nest five years. But the question mainly re- 

 fers, I believe, to climbing snakes or snakes lhat do or don't 

 climb. The climes certainly have much to do with it. In 

 tiopical countries we know the great boa or python climbs 

 trees ; and well he may, for it is easy for such a moDS'.er to 

 do it. As feu* our common snakes, I am with the pro's, for 

 I have seen them doing it, and especially in spring lime 

 when the birds were nesting and the young ones about hatch- 

 ing, although for that matter their shakeshfps are not over- 

 particular ; tney will take the eggs before imtchint;. But all 

 the snakes I have seeu climbing did so with the spiral mo- 

 tion ; in tbe elescent they are not so particidar, being gener- 

 ally considerably hurried by us boys. 



1 think old Otsego County, in my native Slate of New 

 York, could at that period chum precedence over any other 

 locality for snakes, big or little, especially the black and the 

 dreaded rattlesnake. There was a ledge of rocks back of my 

 native village and a cave under it which was designated 

 "I-Uttlesnake Den." In the spring of the year, when the 

 sun began to warm things up, the snakes would crawl out 

 and lie on the shelf rocks, while we boys, from our Eecure 

 perch overhead, waiting until a good lot of them had gath- 

 ered, would launch at a concerted signal a ton or two of col- 

 lected boulders, and then gathering up the slain, drag them 

 into town with a siring and sell them to a weird old woman 

 —generally considered a witch by us boys. What she did 

 with them we never knew, but surmised that she used them 

 in her incantations. She probably extracted the oil, which 

 by popular belief contained wonderful healing properties. 

 These snakes included all sorls— the garter, black and vencui- 

 ous 9eeniingly being in harmony, or at least had appirently 

 spent the winter together. 



That black snakes do climb is a fact forcibly im- 

 pressed on my memory by the following circumstance. Mv 

 governor was a man who would have made a splendid and 

 staunch supporter of Bergh's Bergkories, and a thorough 

 sportsman of the old pa 1 tern, i. e., great on deer and fox 

 hunting with hounds, and would visit on us boys the most 

 severe punishment for disturbing a bird's neat. "The old elm 

 back of Ihe house was a safe and reliable lodgment for nests 

 and fatndy raising, and especially did a pair of robins come 

 year after year to repair and make use of their old nest, in a 

 smaller offshoot of the main tree. Ooe spring, in accordance 

 with their usual custom, a nestful of young robins were 

 hatched, and one of my daily duties was to go into the garden 

 with a spade, turn up the soil, and expose worms for the 

 benefit of the youngsters, which the old buds accepted, and 

 hopped down from the tree to pick up. From the wiudow 

 where the Governor usually sat iu the soft spring days mak- 

 ing flies for the approaching trout season and rigging up last 

 year's tackle, he could look down into the nest ; and so tame 

 were the old birds lhat they would hop on the sill of the 

 open window. One day the Governor, on looking down into 

 the nest, noticed that, two of the four young robins were 

 gone. At once the subscriber was suspected ; and whether 

 from a previous bad reputation or strong suspicions, his pro- 

 testations of innocence were unheeded, and the sudden 

 change of temperature from a cool spring day to a most fear- 

 fully tropical climate was wonderful. Such a warming end- 

 ing with imprisonment in the attic! 



The next morning, while listlessly lolling out of the win- 

 dow, looking down at a smaller brother, who was out thus 

 early with a huge piece of bread spread with brown sugar, as 

 a special concession lor being so much better than his elder 

 brother, 1 heard a great chattering unit to-do iu the Iree, anil 

 on looking, discovered a large black snake approaching the 

 nest. At once it flashed on my mind that here was a key lo 

 the mystery. Disregarding the injunction to slay where I 

 was until released, I lieu- down stairs to the old sentkman's 

 room and called on him to lookout aud see the snake robbing 

 the robin's nest, which ocular evidence was no"t to be gnin- 

 said. Tableaux— a dead snake with a young robin in' its 

 mouth ; and another slice of bread and butter, with sugar on 

 it, in mine. The Governor was a man of few words ami on 

 this occasion, seeing the injustice of mv punishment, rui^ht 

 have had bis own views, but did not express them, and in 

 answer lo sundry regretful mid pitying expressions from the 

 mother, merely remarked, "Very true, he was nor guilty this 

 once, but we will credit the thrashing on general account, aud 

 then there will be quite a balance unaccounted Tor " 



The Governor, nowever, made the amends in a way that 

 was much more acceptable than apologies - he took me along 

 trout fishing a few days later, and 1 had the privilege of fol- 

 lowing with my primitive alder rod aud woim, while he pro- 

 ceeded with the fly ; and precious little chance did 1 usually 

 have to fish, as one of my duties consisted in picking up the 

 fish as het;ssed them to rae with a peculiar motion of the 

 rod, saving himself the trouble of unhooking by filing off the 

 barb of tbe hook. Those were the days though when every 

 Stream in old Delaware County swarmed with' trout, and we 

 usually returned from a two days' fish with a chatOI 

 basketful, supplying all the village for s ve.al days. What a 

 hand the Governor was with the fly ; and his celebrity »8 a 

 fisherman earned for him the name of The Fisherman Lawyer 

 that no man could hold a candle to. And, by the way i never 

 could understand what paiticuiar virtue there could be, or 

 wherein lay the evidence of great skill in being able to hold 

 that candle. We hear of many lhat can't ; there must be 

 some that can ; and then what ? 



