442 



RECREATION 



atiox readers. Scarcity of game sets the 

 sportsmen thinking, and in Recreation 

 they rind a remedy. 



C. N., Portland, Oregon. 



On receipt of these reports I wrote the 

 men mentioned, asking for confirmation. 

 One of them replied as follows : 



We did make quite a killing the day you 

 refer to, but not to the extent stated. 

 Nine of us killed 289 ducks. We sent 180 

 ducks to the Children's Home, Good Sa- 

 maritan Hospital and St. Vincent Hospital, 

 of this city. 



C. N., Portland, Oregon. 



ANSWER. 



The fact that you gave a lot of the ducks 

 to certain hospitals does not mitigate your 

 sin in the least. This is an old excuse, and 

 has been put up by hundreds and perhaps 

 thousands of men before you. It is sim- 

 ply stretching the cloak of charity to cover 

 sins that have been going on since the be- 

 ginning of the world. It is a wonder the an- 

 cient garment was not torn to pieces hun- 

 dreds of years ago. Children do not appre- 

 ciate game birds. These children would 

 have been just as well pleased if you had 



sent them a few carcasses of veal or mutton 

 or a few quarters of beef. So would the 

 doctors and nurses connected with that 

 institution; and those animals can be re- 

 produced by the farmers and ranchmen in 

 your State every year. The ducks you 

 killed do not belong to your club simply 

 because they stop tnere in their Northern 

 and Southern flights to feed and rest; nor 

 because you bait them there with grain and 

 shoot them when they go to get their break- 

 fast. These birds belong to the sportsmen in 

 general, and this great army of good men 

 will scarcely concede the right of a few 

 members of your club to slaughter 289 of 

 these birds in a single morning under the 

 flimsy pretext that they are to be given to 

 some charitable institution. 



However, the killing was not so disgrace- 

 ful as the display you made of your vanity 

 and your swinishness by stringing up these 

 birds and standing yourselves up about 

 them to be photographed. That was a 

 most disreputable piece of work and I am 

 glad to have a chance to show the world 

 how infamous a lot of men can look when 

 they show up in their real characters. 



Editor. 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY J. BAUER. 



THE TREE THAT INFLUENCED ME 

 MOST. 



Let others sing in praise of men, 



Of art and books galore; 

 My song shall be of impress deep 



Wrought by the woodland's store. 



Of aspirations that the oak 

 Taught from her acorn small ; 



Of perseverance that my soul 



Learned from the chestnut tall. 



The maple fair, the stately pine, 



Each willow by the brook 

 Guided my childhood's careless thought 



In upward ways to look. 



But vet 'tis true beyond dispute, 

 As memory's leaves I search, 



The tree that influenced me most 

 Was mother's little birch. 



Sarah A. Faunce, in Life. 



HEN HAWK. 



Winner of 21st Prize in Recreation's 6th Annual 

 Photo Competition. 



Lobsters usually don't agree with us. 

 Indeed, about the first mark of a lobster is 

 his not agreeing with us. — Puck. 



