478 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



there were but thirty entries, while the military and short- 

 range matches had about 200 entries each. 



How idle then is the attempt at the present time, when rifle 

 shooting is in its infancy, to overturn the organization which 

 has created all that we now have, and to substitute— we know 

 not what. 



Let us rather unite to build up and strengthen the National 

 Rifle association, by creating in each, of the States an associa- 

 tion of a similar character, by developing State and inter-State 

 matches, by bringing in the military element to support the 

 ranges throughout the country, to increase the interest, and 

 to entitle the various associations to claim from Congress and 

 their respective States that assistance which is necessary to 

 make them successful and popular. 



VACATION RAMBLES LN MICHIGAN, 

 WISCONSIN AND MINNESOTA.— No. 

 i 2, Concluding. 



Bt the Editoe. 



Bbethben : By referring to my preceding letter, you will 



find mention made of a firm, (actively engaged in the rolling 



business in Minnesota,) under the name and title of " Titans 



and Son, of Anak." 



Some ethnologists incline to deny the existence of any 

 survivors of this ancient family so conspicuous among the 

 giants of the early periods, and kindly ealled my atten- 

 tion to the Anakronism. when I was reading the proof- 

 sheets. Not being infallible in historical reminiscence, I as- 

 sented to a correction, and by marking out the comma 

 between the words "Sons" and "of," (the text originally 

 reading "Titans and Sons, of Anak,") I complaisantly sent 

 the proof-sheets back to the printer, satisfied that wrong had 

 been made right, and that history would be verified. The 

 printer, however, instead of erasing the comma, simply struck 

 off an "s" thus decimating the family of Titans without dis- 

 turbing their genealogy. Of course I was surprised ; but hav- 

 ing been taught by twenty-six years experience as a journalist 

 that compositors are censors in literature, I concluded to ac- 

 cept their dictum and suppress my rising chagrin. And I 

 now write to congratulate my Minnesota friends upon having 

 the descendants of so ancient, honorable, and industrious a 

 family in their midst. I trust that the line will continue so 

 long as there is a standing stick of timber left in the State 

 upon which an ax (Anaks) may descend ! 



I have great reason to be proud of my Minnesota friends: 

 "for once, upon a raw and gusty day, troubled [Mississippi] 

 chafing with its shores," " having plunged in, accoutred as I 

 was," by instigation of my comrade, Dr. D. Csesar Estes, and 

 "swam to yonder point," etc., (as you will find by referring 

 to Richard Grant White's new version of Shakspeare,) I found 

 myself standing nude, destitute, joyless, and apart, in a cham- 

 ber of the Merchant's Hotel, on Third street, St. Paul, wait- 

 ing for my clothes to dry and a clean shirt to arrive from the 

 haberdasher's. Ministering friends were rubbing with crash 

 towels my chilled limbs which a long immersion in the river 

 had stiffened, and while some ran my credit at the furnishing 

 and shoe stores, others administered spiritual restoratives. 

 The situation was this : 



Some four hours previous, two of us had started on an 

 excursion down river in a clinker-built sprit-sail skiff, 

 which was as cranky as a dug-out, and twice as assuring. 

 It was the 19th day of September, and we designed a sev- 

 eral days' trip, intending to beat the islands and shores for 

 woodcock, snipe and duck, fish in the river for muska- 

 longe asd bass, and possibly wait for a deer in some of 

 the bottoms where sign was conspicuous. Besides having 

 impedimenta in the shape of a complete sporting outfit, as the 

 Doctor and myself both had, and a large dress wardrobe of 

 my own, our St. Paul friends had provided many luxuries 

 which were carefully stowed in the cuddies and lockers. 

 Wraps, rubbers, blankets, overcoats and tent, were housed 

 under the decks, stem and stern ; guns, rods and oars were 

 made snug under the thwarts ; valises, boxes, and heavy arti- 

 cles were place squarely awaist ; and the craft was trimmed 

 with care and circumspection. With the mast unstepped but 

 ready for use, we bade adieu to our friends on the levee and 

 launched out on the broad river, the wind puffy, and the cur- 

 rent running four knots an hour. A couple of miles below 

 town it scooped out a big black hole sixteen feet deep, piling 

 up the sand on "Pigseye Bar," as the pilots term it, and set- 

 * ting back in an eddy from a high bluff at a sharp bend in the 

 river. We had scarcely got under way before we ran the 

 skiff ashore and made sail on her, thinking she would bear it ; 

 then we pushed out into mid-stream again and — capsized ! 



I have never cared to investigate the cause of the disaster, 

 lest I should place the blame where it should not rest. As 

 the doctor said of a patient, I'm inclined to believe that 

 "death resulted from a complication of diseases." The 

 tableau, as I recall it, while swimming for shore in my en- 

 cumbering corduroys, was a dissolving view of parcels float- 

 ing off down stream and the doctor astride the overturned 

 boat, calm, and buoyant in the vain hope of sculling the water- 

 logged wreck to terra firma with a setting-pole! He had 

 gallantly grabbed his gun as the boat went over, and with this 

 sole relic on his lap, there the three were — the boat, the doc- 

 tor and the gun — helpless, powerless, soaked, and useless. 

 The mast-head stuck to the bottom, the doctor stuck to the 

 boat, and the wet cartridges stuck to the gun; neither could 

 get off. As the wreck gradually worked its way down stream 

 with the current, I followed along shore, lugubrious and be- 

 draggled, liko soma lone mourner at a funeral, and the only 



attendant at the wake (I mean the wake of the boat). 

 Finally, a tramp opportunely came plodding along the 

 riverside, and cutting a long grapevine, he held one end, and 

 I wading into the river with the other managed to reach the 

 doctor's setting-pole : and so, with a long, strong, and united 

 pull, we dragged the cranky craft to land and baled her out. 

 Then we realized that we had suffered a baleful catastrophe. 

 Little was saved except the equipments of the boat : only a 

 rod-case containing a trolling rod and a Conroy-Mitchell bass- 

 rod, and a big rubber bag, the tried companion of many travels, 

 filled with old cast-off clothes and trifles of no value. An in- 

 ventory of my own kit discovered a loss amounting to $900, 

 and the doctor's outfit was possibly $300 more. Nothing was 

 ever recovered. 



Waiting patiently in my hotel room, as I began to say, 

 after a walk of some two miles back to town, (the tramp 

 meanwhile poling the boat up shore to the landing), I was 

 gradually rubbed and limbered into form, and enrobed in new 

 garments which Solomon might have envied. One of my 

 most assiduous friends was Col. Allen, the hotel proprietor. 

 He had pried into the rescued bag as soon as it arrived, and 

 chancing to find a half-dozen soiled shirts, considerately 

 ordered them to be sent to the laundry and returned in prime 

 order with all possible haste. Never was an order executed 

 with more alacrity or precision. Never was a lot of such 

 worn, torn, and begrimed clothes, long discarded as apparel 

 and assigned to cleaning guns, binding wounds, wiping dishes, 

 and such like services in camp, restored to pristine purity in 

 so short a time. No washing powders as yet popularly 

 known, ever eradicated dirt with such celerity. Never were 

 spotless ascension robes of Latter Day Saints ever substituted 

 for the foul habiliments of their casting off with such com- 

 fortable and satisfactory dispatch. How beautiful the vest- 

 ments appeared in their resurrection! Shirts minus their 

 flaps presented only their immaculate fronts to the eye. 

 Veterans which were sleeveless would have passed the scru- 

 tiny of a recruiting sergeant. Buttonless or bosomless, dis- 

 mantled or curtailed, all put their best side foremost and in- 

 vited the admiration of the crowd. And good Col. Allen 

 privately rubbed his hands together with the complaisant sat- 

 isfaction of one who has bestowed a blessing. It was unkind 

 in the boys to dissipate the pleasing dream ! 



By the time our full toilet was completed a capital diner was 

 announced. Its conclusion was followed by congratulations, 

 mingled with regrets and mutual pledges. The old salt-water 

 dirge was sung in all its fervor, saturated with appropriate 

 brine, concluding with the following stanza : 



" Three times around went the gallant little ship, 



Three times around went she ; 

 Three times around went the gallant little ship, 



And she sank to the bottom of the sea, sea, sea— 



And she sank to the bottom o£ the sea." 



Just here District Attorney Chris. O'Brien happened to re- 

 member that I was penniless, and satisfying himself that my 

 octogenarian relatives were well-to-do, proffered a temporary 

 loan of $10 until I could make a draft for funds. Col. Uline 

 and Doc Warner sang " Auld Lang Syne," and the party ad- 

 journed to meet at the trap range the day following. 



Such is the tersely-told story of our grief. 



The festive days enjoyed in the vicinity of St. Paul will 

 bear a long remembrance, clinched as it were, by our com- 

 plementary duck hunt at Rice Lake, whose "passes "have 

 been made famous by their holocausts of slain. Lakes are 

 joined to lakes by marshes filled with succulent rice, to which 

 the mallards, teal and wood-dupks resort for food in large 

 numbers, the gunners taking their best opportunities in their 

 morning and evening flights, as they pass to and fro. There 

 are rails, also, in quantity, but as they are seldom in good 

 flesh, are little heeded. Some Wilson snipe are picked up be- 

 times, and in the woods ruffed grouse abound. 



Near the close of the month, when I set my face Eastward 

 to return to office duties, Brother Chandler handed me a pass 

 over the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, with the terse in- 

 junction to stick to the cars if I wished to reach home with- 

 out accident. The ride down the Mississippi Valley, through 

 its picturesque scenery, is most engaging. The fantastic rock 

 cliffs, the grain-capped bluffs, the sweeps of meadow land, 

 the glimpses of the river seen through frequently recurring 

 vistas, the bustle of the river towns, afford a panorama which 

 changes with kaleidoscopic rapidity. At Lake City, where I 

 left Dr. Estes, the sharer of my joys and sorrows, I briefly in- 

 terviewed " the boys." My anticipated visit there was 

 shortened to a few brief hours, made pleasant by the hos- 

 pitable attentions of our mutual friend S. B. Dilley, Esq., 

 whose kennel of Ranger stock is famous among sportsmen 

 and breeders of gentle strains. Beautiful are the intelligent 

 brutes he breeds and trains. First in degree and reputation 

 is the celebrated champion " Ranger ;" next, the besfr pointer 

 in the New York Bench Show, the champion " Royal Fan ;" 

 then, the white bitch " Dolly," with a peculiar liver mark on 

 the head, a magnificent animal and dam of "Royal Fan;" 

 "Minnesota," a rare specimen of perfect form ; "Chum," a 

 liver pup of beauty, whose work in the field classes him Al ; 

 " Queen," winner of two prizes at Chicago; "Fleet," the 

 winner of first prize for best bitch pup at New York ; a pair 

 of lemon and white pups out of "Minnesota;" these, with 

 Dr. Luke Corchoran's " Bess," comprise the dogs I found in 

 friend Dillej's kennel. Nearly all are pointers, a class of dog 

 which chiefly engages his fancy and attention. He turned the 

 whole gang loose for an airing on the morning when he drove 

 me around in his hunting cart to interview the sportsmen of 

 the town; and a grand sight it was to see them run! Not 



all the unwonted bustle and distracting stir of a county fail* 

 then in progress sufficed to disconcert them or mar their good 

 behavior. 



I must tell you about this little episode : Having rested 

 comfortably at my friend's house over night, and breakfasted 

 sumptuously, we fonnd but few hours remaining before the 

 train left at 2 o'clock in which to make our visits. Now, 

 Dilley has a spanking team ' of ponies whose conscientious 

 principle it is never to go at less than a three-minute gait 

 under any circumstances whatever. Over the prairie or 

 through the town, around street corners, over crossings and 

 gullies, or through the thoroughfares, no matter how muddy 

 or how thronged with vehicles or pedestrians, it is all the 

 same— they never break. Residents understand all this, and 

 never hurry out of the way ; they plod right on, and the team 

 skips around with a dexterous turn. They have became so 

 trained to these flanking tactics that they will not drive 

 straight at anything : so, when Dilley wishes to enter the 

 coach-house, he makes straight for the side, and thus strategi- 

 cally enters the door at the front. I think we must have 

 made twenty calls after 10 o'clock that day. New Year's visits 

 in New York were handicapped and beaten clear out of sight. 

 Clinging to the seat like grim death, I held on bravely while 

 we whisked around corners and jumped crossings, scratching 

 gravel like mud, and kicking up clouds of white dust that 

 covered us as if we had been dredged from a flour mill. The 

 entire troop of dogs kept always in the van, helter-skelter, 

 doing their level best, tails up, happy as jack tars when the 

 commodore is aboard. It was fun to see with what acute dis- 

 cernment the old dogs would anticipate our movements, run- 

 ning equo passu when we abruptly turned a corner, never mis- 

 sing their foot or making a mistake; but the youngsters 

 would go scooting far ahead in a straight fine, like a hog on 

 ice, and then fetching up on their haunches, wheel and make 

 for the front again. That was the dog-gonedest ride I ever 

 had! 



Well, in time we made the grand circuit, dined, adieued, 

 and parted at last. The train rumbled off toward Chicago, 

 and I jotted down a memorandum of the friends I had seen. 

 First, there was " TJncle Dudley," (M. C. Russell, of the 

 Leader,') and his associate O. Jones, Esq.; then followed 

 Q. W. Lumley, President of the Lake Pepin Sportsman's 

 Club and champion fly-caster, who won a Holabird hunting 

 suit with Dr. Estes, Gen. Garrard and Wm. Morris as com- 

 petitors ; Dr. Garrard, the Mayor, and F. Ranckert the gun- 

 dealer ; Uncle Sam Doughty, the veteran goose hunter, who 

 has the best lot of artificial geese I ever saw set up as decoys ; 

 S. M. Emery, a newspaper writer of note ; Major J. E. Dough- 

 ty ; Oliver Gibbs, author of that very clever brochure en- 

 titled " Lake Pepin Fish Chowder ;" the venerable Mi-. Pat- 

 ton, the leading fly-fisherman of the State, and Dr. Potter, 

 his son ; G. F. Benson and his son ; Major Van Vliet, Presi- 

 dent of the State Sportsman's Association, and perhaps others 

 whom I have forgotten. It was a noteworthy day's work, 

 and, as may be inferred, there was no DiUey-dallying on the 

 occasion. I would fain have lingered longer among them, 

 but the limit of my vacation was reached. That my travels 

 were not wholly barren of interest or observation, the pro- 

 lixity of my letters has shown. 



I now come to a full stop, and as I abruptly round the 

 period, I reiterate the injunction of the great and good "white- 

 coated philosopher," " Go West, young man," and do not 

 omit to spend some portion of your vacation rambles in Michi- 

 gan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Brethren, adieu ! 



P. S.— In my letter printed last week, where I alluded to 

 Mr. Jerome Marble's bag of 180 birds, I intended to refer to 

 only one day's shooting, and not to the net results of his ex- 

 cursion. Hallook. 

 <~.«. . . 



GAME PROTECTION. 



Connecticut. — Stamford, Jan. 19.— The effortB of last 

 winter to procure live quail for propagating purposes will be 

 resumed with greater vigor, if possible. We must import 

 birds or have none at all. G. 



New Jebset.— The Bergen County Association are dissem- 

 inating posters and circulars, and in other ways publishing 

 the New Jersey game laws. 



Michigan State Sportsmen's Association — Third An- 

 nual Session. — The regular annual session of this leading 

 organization will take place on the 5th and 6th of February, 

 at the Potter House, Battle Creek, Michigan. Arrangements 

 have been made to render the meeting of the most attractive 

 character. Papers on topics of vital interest will be read. 

 Among them we may mention, " On the General Topics of 

 Preserving Game and Fish," by ex-Governcr John J. Bagley ; 

 "On the Propriety of Establishing Bench Shows, or Field 

 Trials, " by Mr. John E. Long, of Detroit; ' ' Should the Taking 

 of White Fish andLake Trout from the great lakes and rivers be 

 prohibited during their spawning season, and for a sufficient 

 time thereafter for them to recuperate and become healthful 

 food ?" Eli R. Miller, Fish Commissioner, Richmond ; 

 "Should Wild (water) Fowl he protected by law in this 

 State? If yes, what species, and when?" John Davidson, 

 Monroe; "The Michigan Grayling— What must be done to 

 prevent the annihilation of this excellent food and game fish?" 

 Lyman D. Norris, Esq., Grand Rapids; "Ducks and Duck- 

 ing." Hon. A. B. Turner, Grand Rapids; "Need of More 

 Effective Protective Legislation," Prof. N. B. Roney, East 

 Saginaw. 



The session will probably last two days. 



The officers of the Association are: E. S. Holmes, Presi- 

 dent ; A. J. Holt, Secretary. 



