354 



RECREA TION. 



of the professional pot-hunter. Upland 

 shooting, however, may be had in any of the 

 localities I have named, and guides may be 

 obtained on reasonable terms. 



As to the particular points to which I 

 would advise a friend to go: For quail 

 shooting he can hardly go amiss. He prob- 

 ably would be more comfortable at Wake- 

 field, Va., or Waverly, Va., stations on the 

 Norfolk & Western railway, or at Emporia, 

 Va., on the Petersburg railroad. If he were 

 a particular friend, I should send him to 

 Garysburg, N. C, on the Petersburg rail- 

 road, and put him in the hands of John 

 Lifsey, who has a hotel -for sportsmen and 

 who is a sportsman himself. There he can 

 make a good bag, getting a deer if he wants 

 one, a turkey, or a few dozen quails, with 

 an occasional woodcock. 



At Macon, N. C, not far from Weldon, 

 he will find a fairly comfortable hotel and 

 good sport. This is true of most of the sta- 

 tions on the Raleigh & Gaston railroad. 



As I recall the many days of sport I have 

 had, and the different places where I had 

 them, I feel that even the narrow limit to 

 which I started out to confine myself is wide 

 enough to take in a great deal of time and a 

 great deal of paper. I would therefore ad- 

 vise anyone coming to this locality to get 

 a railroad map and select any point em- 

 braced in a circle commencing at Peters- 

 burg, running up the Norfolk & Western 

 railway to Burkeville, Va., thence going 

 South, say to Henderson, N. C., on the Sea- 



board Air Line railroad, thence to Rocky 

 Mount, N. C, on the Atlantic Coast Line 

 railroad, thence East up to Suffolk, Va., on 

 the N. & W. railway. 



>f. yf. yf. 



From Richmond to Keswick the country 

 grows gradually higher, until among the 

 Albemarle hills the air makes one young 

 again with every fresh morning, and far 

 and near, whenever you pass corn stubble 

 or hummock, the quails are calling to Bob 

 White. We are all on the lookout for some- 

 thing in this life of ours. Some of us want 

 money and some of us want fame; but on 

 the day when all the questions are answered 

 mine will be, "Who is Bob White?" and 

 " Why did Dick marry the widow? " 



Let no one who wants to get back to the 

 workaday world brim full of the strength 

 and buoyancy of spirit which make all liv- 

 ing worth the trouble, return without a good 

 hunt in the hills. At Charlottesville that 

 splendid sportsman and old Virginia gen- 

 tleman, Colonel Carter, has his home, and 

 what he cannot tell about hunting is not 

 worth listening to. Anyone who has. read 

 Mr. Wise's "Diomed" knows that, and those 

 who haven't have something still to live for. 



When I was obliged to leave Charlottes- 

 ville, Virginia mutinied and refused to come. 

 If it had been Old Point, I should have at- 

 tributed the whole matter to the fascination 

 of the army and navy officers; but Virginia 

 is a careworn editor, and she says this is 

 " God's Country," which is the truth. 



FISHIN'. 



ANSON EVANS. 



Been a-settin' all the day down around the river 



Havin' jest a bully time underneath the kiver 



Of the oak an' ellum trees, settin' there an' wishin' 



That I could spend a thousand years at nothin' else but fishin'. 



Watched the turtles on the logs a layin' there a-snoozin', 



Made me think of Uncle Benny when he was a-boozin'. 



Lawzy! but it's awful hot, nary breeze a blowin', 



'Nyit I'd ruther set an' fish 'n anything agoin'. 



Nothin' better'n settin' here as a feller'd orter, 

 Watchin' of the cork a bobbin' on the shady worter, 

 An' smilin' at the dimpled rings as they slowly widen, 

 An' the worter-spider jest a gittin' up an' sliden. 

 Land o' gracious! don't a feller's appetite awaken 

 Settin' here an' thinkin' of a hunk of bread an' bacon! 

 Gitten drowsy — let'n line grow jest a little slacker — 

 Give a dollar if I had a chaw of good tobacker. 



'Crost the p'int the pewee sets on a reed a-swingin' 



Speculatin' if his song 'u'd be considered singin'; 



Boy a huntin' down the bend, hear his dog a-whinin' ; 



Mus'rats fiosin' 'neath the drift — see their eyes a shinin'. 



Been a-settin' all the day here around the river, 



Havin' jest a bully time underneath the kiver 



Of the oak an' ellum trees, settin' here an' wishin' 



That I could -spend a thousand years at nothin' else but fishin' J 



