LETTERS FROM OUR READERS 



335 



it until the hair pulls out easily. Take it out 

 of the water and lay it over a smooth peeled 

 log. Take a grainery knife (if you have 

 not a grainery knife a horse rib will do, 

 in fact, it is better), use it as a draw knife, 

 only push from you instead of pulling. In 

 taking off the hair you take the grain off the 

 hide at the same time. If you do not do so 

 the finished hide will look as if it had been 

 varnished. Turn your hide (deer hide, I 

 mean), and work the flesh side smooth. Take 

 bacon grease, bear or marmot oil will do 

 as well, and saturate the hide thoroughly. 

 Roll it up and lay it away until dry. When 

 dry, you are ready to do the real work. 

 Take the dry hide and wash out all the 

 grease in luke warm water, using soap. If 

 you have no soap make it from leach ashes 

 and oil with deer tallow or any kind of fat. 

 Having washed the skins so that no grease 

 remains, wring the hide dry. Begin to work 

 the hide by pulling first one way and then the 

 other direction, continuing the operation un- 

 til perfectly dry. Should there be hard spots 

 in the hide after drying, it will be necessary 

 to wet these places and pull them until soft 

 and dry. When properly done, the skin is 

 almost white and has a velvety feeling. To 

 prevent it getting hard when exposed to 

 moisture, it is necessary to smoke it, which 

 may be done by an open fire." 



Mr. Nicol is an old-time trapper and knows 

 his business. The way to keep the pelt is to 

 take one part alum, two parts saltpetre and 

 mash them together, as fine as possible, lay the 

 skin fur side down on the ground while it is 

 still undried and apply your alum and salt- 

 petre mixture, using care to do it evenly and 

 to skip no part. Use enough of the mixture to 

 thoroughly wet the surface of the hide as 

 the stuff dissolves. Double the skin up so 

 that the flesh side touches only the flesh side, 

 and then roll it up closely and put in a place 

 where it will remain cool, but where the 

 frost will not touch it. 



Leave it for several days until it becomes 

 almost dry, then unroll the skin and with a 

 dull table knife remove all particles of fat or 

 flesh which may be sticking to the skin. Now 

 rub the hide until it becomes soft and pliable. 



POOR WILLIAM. 

 Editor Recreation: 



I enclose you a little clipping which I 

 thought perhaps would interest you. I 

 would like to see William get a good roast. 

 Frank S. Dunham, Warren, Pa. 



MONUMENT TO A PHEASANT. 



Special Cable to The Philadelphia Press 



and New York World. 

 (Copyright, 1905, Press Publishing Co.) 

 Berlin, Jan. 28. — The spot where Em- 

 peror William has killed his fifty-thou- 

 sandth pheasant has been marked by a 

 beautiful monument in the shape of a 



pyramid of red granite. It has been 

 erected on the property of Count Tsch- 

 irschsky-Renard, whose guest the Em- 

 peror was at the time. Since then the 

 German Emperor has increased his bag 

 by several thousands, and it is expected 

 that another monument will soon mark 

 the place where his one hundred-thou- 

 sandth pheasant will meet its death. 



Emperor William can not be judged by 

 the common standard of a man. It is only 

 charitable to remember that he has had the 

 great misfortune to have been brought up 

 under disadvantageous conditions with en- 

 vironment of a most unnatural and per- 

 nicious nature. He has since babyhood been 

 taught that to slaughter is kingly, and that 

 to be kingly is to be divine. 



It is well not to be too hard on the strenu- 

 ous Emperor, for he has many good quali- 

 ties in spite of his unfortunate education. 

 The writer of the above letter must remem- 

 ber that the pheasants killed are practically 

 •domestic fowls and that William belongs to 

 medieval times. Our own distant ancestors 

 took the same savage pride in ruthless 

 slaughter. 



But a free born man of this country who 

 should be tempted to emulate the example 

 of this dime novel ruler deserves a lasting 

 abode behind iron bars. 



ANOTHER PAPER JOINS OUR RANKS 

 We offer our hand of fellowship to The 

 Sportsman, of St. Louis, in its fight against 

 the ruthless slaughter of game, and only 

 wish that all similar papers would join our 

 ranks. A photograph of two men and a dog 

 posing in front of a string of over a hundred 

 water fowl, reproduced by The Sportsman, 

 shows that even in this enlightened country 

 there are men to be found who take the 

 same pride in reckless slaughter as the poor 

 benighted Emperor of Germany. 



Our earnest correspondent, Dr. Stephen 

 H. Rogan, truly says : "If this is to be con- 

 tinued game will soon become extinct." We 

 join with the doctor in extending our sym- 

 pathy to the dog, and are grateful to our 

 correspondent for his enthusiastic cry of 

 "Long Live Recreation !" 



A CAPTAIN BOLD. 



Editor Recreation : 



What do you think of this for a kind- 

 hearted reception? I. M. Bailey. 



WILD DUCK BARNYARD FOWL. 



So thick is the ice in Long Island 

 Sound that wild ducks are starving by 

 hundreds. The feeding grounds for 

 wild fowl have been frozen for months 

 and the ducks have been forced to stay 

 in the small open places in the center of 

 the Sound, where the water is so deep 

 that they can not feed. 



