BOOK NOTICES. 





THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN. 



About a year ago the U. S. auxiliary 

 cruiser Yankee went into commission at 

 the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was man- 

 ned, save for a few officers and the marine 

 guard, by members of the New York Naval 

 Keserves. The history of the ship and her 

 men for the ensuing 4 months is told in 

 the story of "A Gunner Aboard the Yan- 

 kee." Of the tons of war literature printed 

 last year this book is one of the few that 

 have survived. It is compiled from the 

 diary of one of the youthful gunners and 

 has a fresh, vivid charm that springs from 

 the enthusiasm of the writer for his novel 

 experiences: "I was smeared and bruised, 

 streaked and stained, aching and hungry,, 

 but I was happy." Every boy will appre- 

 ciate that. The Reserves were, almost with- 

 out exception, young men unaccustomed 

 to manual labor or hardships of any kind. 

 From lives of ease and luxury they were 

 turned into coal heavers and deck scrub- 

 bers, for their great country's cause, and 

 they threw themselves into this drudgery 

 with joyous abandon. The spirit with 

 which they worked is vividly brought out 

 by the narrator, and the result of their ef- 

 forts placed the Reserves high in the es- 

 teem of the country. The story is from the 

 boy's point of view, and beside its thrilling 

 realities the imaginary adventures of im- 

 aginary heroes fall flat. Stevenson and 

 Weyman may be shelved without regret 

 while we follow the fortunes of the real 

 boy in the real war, share his enthusiasm 

 and rejoice in his achievements. 



"A Gunner Aboard the Yankee," is 

 published by Doubleday & McClure Co., 

 New York, and contains an introduction 

 by W. »T. Sampson. Rear Admiral, U. S. 

 N., in which he gives the Naval Reserves 

 the highest credit for the valuable aid they 

 rendered the country during the war with 

 Spain. 



EDITOR'S CORNER 



Several clipping* from the New York- 

 Herald, of a certain date in December, 

 were sent me announcing that Captain Boh 

 Evans, General McCook, Grover Cleveland 

 and others, were slaughtering ducks at an 

 extravagant rate on the coast of North 

 Carolina. When these gentlemen returned 

 home I wrote them calling their attention to 

 this report, and asked them if it were true. 

 A few days later General McCook called on 

 me and said he and Captain Evans had 

 talked the matter over and thought it best 

 to explain in person, rather than by mail. 

 He said the despatch that went out to the 

 associated press had exaggerated the fact; 

 as usual ; that the largest number of ducks 

 killed in a day by any 2 men in the party 

 were killed by himself and Captain Evans 



and that their score was 75. This is an 

 average of 37 ducks to each man, for a day's 

 shooting, which is more than any man 

 should kill in a day. Some few clubs in 

 the country prescribe limits for the daily 

 bag for each man, and at least one of these 

 puts the limit at 50 birds. This is, how- 

 ever, excessive. 



Captains Evans is one of the best friends 

 I have in the world, and I should greatly 

 dislike to be placed in a position where I 

 should have to say anything discourteous of 

 him. I trust, however, in the future he 

 will feel entirely satisfied when he kills 10 

 or 15 birds in a day, and that he will quit 

 at that. 



The lawmakers and the Governor of 

 Michigan have publicly disgraced them- 

 selves by reenacting a law permitting spring 

 shooting. It is a national misfortune that 

 Michigan — one of the first States to pro- 

 hibit the killing of ducks in spring — should 

 now take this backward step when several 

 of her sister States are enacting laws pro- 

 hibitingspringshootingof wild fowl. Mich- 

 igan was a party to the 2 conventions held 

 in Chicago last fall and winter, in which 5 

 States agreed to adopt uniform game laws. 

 One of the important points on which the 

 conventions agreed was that spring shoot- 

 ing should be prohibited in all these States. 

 It is not known at this writing what the 

 fate of the bills introduced in the legisla- 

 tures of the other 4 States has been, or will 

 be, but inasmucH as Michigan was the only 

 one of the 5 States that had already passed 

 a prohibitory law it is, as I have said, most 

 unfortunate that she should have gone back 

 on the pledge made at that convention, 

 when leading sportsmen of the other States 

 were doing their best to carry out the con- 

 tract. 



All the progressive sportsmen in Michi- 

 gan opposed, bitterly, the passage of the 

 bill referred to, but they were overpowered 

 by the game dealers, pot hunters and game 

 hogs; and so we must wait until another 

 session of the Michigan legislature wipes 

 out this relic of barbarism. 



Last fall a pair of moose — a bull and a 

 cow — crossed the "Soo" from Canada, into 

 the upper peninsula of Michigan, and their 

 tracks were seen by several people. A 

 progressive member of the Michigan legis- 

 lature promptly introduced a bill in th.it 

 body to protect moose in that State for a 

 number of years, and providing a penalty 

 of $100 for a violation of the law. I do not 

 know whether or not the bill passed, but 

 now comes a despatch from Sault Ste Ma- 

 rie, Mich., stating that both of these ani- 

 mals nave been killed by brutal marauders 

 who doubtless would claim to be sports- 

 men. If the bill referred to did not 



