Around Our Camp Fire 



You're Always Welcome — Some Cheerful Letters 

 — That Box of Cigars — Quick Work for the Buffalo 



The July Number 



We believe that this is the best number of 

 Recreation we have yet printed. What do 

 you think about it? We believe it ap- 

 proaches closer to our ideal of a family maga- 

 zine for sportsmen than we have yet attained. 

 To some extent, we were feeling our way 

 for the last three or four issues, trying 

 to get nearer to our readers on these topics. 



Now, we have started 

 the gait and mean to 

 keep it up. This number 

 by no means represents 

 our ideal of what the 

 magazine should be. It 

 is better than the others, 

 that's all. It is rather 

 hard to keep from be- 

 ing "nicey nice" in our 

 pages, especially when 

 we read the splendid let- 

 ters which have deluged 

 us during the past three 

 months. 



After all, in New York 

 we are rather far from 

 Nature. Although our 

 office is not perched up 

 on the nineteenth floor} 

 of the Flat Iron Build- 

 ing, like Frank Mun-. 

 sey's, or overlooking with quiet dignity the 

 historic confines of Union Square, as* does the 

 Century and Everybody's, we are located just 

 a stone's throw from the busiest centre of 

 this, the busiest city in the world. True, we 

 can see one dingy cottonwood tree from our 

 window and the breezes that blow across the 

 North River from New Jersey occasionally 

 bring a shower that tells us that somewhere, 

 not very far off, there is a green country. 



While it is hard for us to get to the coun- 

 try, the country comes to us in many differ- 

 ent ways. A boyish admirer of Mr. Beard 

 recently sent him a big package of spruce 

 gum. Frank Ford occasionally gets the skin 

 of some unknown bird or animal for identi- 

 fication. Last week an enthusiast sent the 

 office three big trout. 



Then, the sportsmen of the country come 

 in by twos and threes, bringing stories of 

 the fields and waters and urging upon us 



THE MYSTIC FIRE 



kindly invitations to join them on favorite 

 streams and handy camps. 



We get a tremendous mail, and it is grow- 

 ing every day. Our publisher opens it all so 

 that the head man of the office reads your 

 letter, no matter what the subject is. That 

 is one way in which we are cultivating an 

 intimacy with our- people. If you are in New 

 York, or if you ever come here, take this as 

 a lasting invitation to drop in and smoke a 

 pipe with us. Don't for- 

 get to write us and sug- 

 gest improvements in the 

 magazine. You might 

 win that box of fine Ha- 

 vana cigars we promised 

 to give for the best let- 

 ter of the kind last 

 month. One box will 

 have been awarded be- 

 fore you read this, and 

 the cigar-winning letter 

 will be published in the 

 September number. The 

 offer is still open, and 

 another box will be 

 awarded for the best let- 

 ter which reaches us on 

 or before August first. 



Some staid, old; city 

 people think that "Rec- 

 reation's subscribers all 

 ccme from the wild and woolly parts of the 

 country. While it is true that Recreation 

 reaches the lonely cabins in the far-distant 

 mountains, the ranch house and the back- 

 woodsman's home, it also finds a place on the 

 library tables of many city homes. Every- 

 one born on the American continent his 

 sportsman's blood in his veins. The dignified 

 jurist, the world-famous author, the big 

 politician, the artist or the clergyman who 

 may be your next-door neighbor, will fre- 

 quently surprise you with stories of success 

 in the game fields. 



Quick Work for the Buffalo 



On June 7th we heard that Miller Bros., 

 the proprietors of the big 101 Ranch at Bliss, 

 Oklahoma, were going to kill a number of 

 buffalo on June nth in an event described as 

 the "last buffalo hunt to be held in the United 

 States." 



