204 



RECREATION. 



blotch of sickly green with a border of 

 dirty yellow. An iconoclast is all right 

 as long as he confines his image breaking 

 to things which ought to be ^broken ; but 

 when he attacks everything and everybody, 

 all nobility of purpose deserts him, and 

 he becomes merely a chronic kicker. It 

 takes a genial, whole souled person to look 

 on the bright side of things and to try to 

 help all good movements along ; but any 

 unwashed fool can sit on a beer keg and 

 howl at the existing order of things in gen- 

 eral, and at intelligent persons and their 

 works. This particular fool says that 

 song birds are not now used on wom- 

 en's hats, and that they have not been so 

 used for the past 10 years. This is a la- 

 mentable display of ignorance, but what 

 more could be expected of a man of his 

 type? He says, moreover, that sea gulls 

 are of no use to anybody for anything. 

 Well, this is news. It has been generally 

 believed that Nature makes but few mis- 

 takes. However, it would seem she is not 

 infallible. She certainly slipped a cog when 

 she turned this pessimistic human blun- 

 derer on the world ; for it does not appear 

 that he was intended to fill any useful place 

 in the plan of creation. But Nature is 

 kind, and when this embittered kicker has 

 sloughed off from the healthy portion of 

 humanity, the grass will grow and the 

 birds will sing over his grave just the same 

 as if a real human creature slumbered be- 

 neath them. 



A. L. Vermilya, Columbiaville, Mich. 



DESERTED BABIES. 



A party of 3, consisting of father and 2 

 sons, were in the habit of making ex- 

 tended trips into the heart of the Adiron- 

 dack mountains in search of gum, which 

 is found in large quantities on the spruce 

 trees in this section of the State. 



One day, a little more than a week ago, 

 these 3 men left their home not far from 

 the base of Mt. Haystack, for a long 

 tramp over the mountain on a gumming 

 tour. It was a slow and tedious climb up 

 the mountain and down over the other 

 side. They had secured a considerable 

 quantity of gum, and were on the point 

 of retracing their tracks for home. The 

 younger of the sons being in advance, 

 had reached a thick clump of trees and 

 underbrush and stepped over 2 or 3 dead 

 logs lying across the trail, when, on turn- 

 ing his head to the right, he met the 

 gaze of a full grown she bear, almost hid 

 from view behind a thick log lying over a 

 deep cut in the rocks. He was within less 

 than 10 feet of her. He had no weapon 

 but a small jack knife. 



By that time his father and brother had 

 come up with him. The latter had a 32 

 caliber revolver. This would be worse 

 than useless, for it would only effect a 



slight wound, which would add to the 

 bear's fury. The bear uttered a short, 

 low growl and showed her teeth. It was 

 soon seen why she made no threatening 

 move toward them. Just behind her were 

 her 2 cubs. 



At a signal from the father the party 

 crept quickly but quietly out of sight of the 

 bear, and the sons were hurriedly sent home 

 for the rifles. That the bear would leave 

 her cubs did not occur to them. Hence it 

 was with the greatest surprise they saw 

 on returning to the stump that the mother 

 was nowhere to be seen. The cubs were 

 left alone. Such a thing had never oc- 

 curred to the woodsmen before. With the 

 greatest caution they stole up to where 

 the cubs lay and hurriedly snatched them 

 up, expecting every moment the old bear 

 to charge them. But after waiting fully 

 an hour and seeing no trace of her, they 

 turned toward home. 



The cubs are believed to have been 

 about a month old. The indiscretion of 

 the mother leads the captors to believe she 

 could not have been more than a year old 

 and those were her first cubs. Being con- 

 trary to all previous experiences it is diffi- 

 cult to give any reason for her abandon- 

 ment of the cubs to undesirable and hos- 

 tile visitors. 



L. F. Kuntsch, Malone, N. Y. 



ILLNESS BLAMED TO THE LACEY LAW. 



Some recent cases of illness in Pittsburg have 

 been charged to the Lacey law. This act of Con- 

 gress has diminished the supply of game on the 

 market here. Under it no game can be shipped 

 into a State for sale which could not be killed 

 for market in the State. In Pennsylvania this 

 includes nearly everything in the line of wild 

 fowl or beast. Large supplies were placed by lo- 

 cal dealers in cold storage before the federal law 

 became effective. Nov/ several peculiar cases of 

 illness developing among hotel guests and those 

 who have elaborate menus at their homes are be- 

 ing attributed by the sufferers to game which has 

 been in cold storage. Nausea is the particular 

 form which the illness takes. A number of the 

 physicians and others interested in the chemistry 

 and purity of foods have commenced an investi- 

 gation, and developments are expected which will 

 either cause less to be used, or make the deal- 

 ers more careful. 



Professor Jeremiah Tingley, formerly profes- 

 sor of medical chemistry in the Western Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, now the head of the sci- 

 ence department of the Allegheny schools, said: 



"If they have not treated the meat with chem- 

 icals, the trouble comes from the simple fact that 

 decomposed food is unhealthy. The lack of care 

 on the part of the men who sell the game is the 

 seat of all this trouble." 



Everyone is familiar with the bad effects of 

 decomposed _ food. An infinite number of changes 

 take place in the process. The chemical process 

 of decomposition begins with a rearrangement of 

 the atoms and ends with a complete oxidation, 

 forming carbon dioxide and other compounds. 

 Taken into the stomach, this unwholesome food 

 could not fail to have ill effects. 



Fermentation requires 3 essential conditions, and 

 high temperature being one of them, advantage 

 of it is taken by the use of cold storage to 

 preserve organic matter. Without some attention, 

 after about three days, the process of decom- 

 position sets in, so as to make meats unfic 



