26 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 9, 1882. 



The New Yobk Dog Show.— The sixth annual hen eh 

 show of the Westminster Kennel Club will be held April 18, 

 19, 20, and 21, at the American Institute Fair building, Sixty- 

 third street and Third avenue. Mr. Charles Lincoln, who 

 will superintend, has arrived in this city and may be found 

 at his office, No. 23 Park Row. It is the intention of the 

 managers to make this show the best that has ever been held 

 in this country. The prizes will he liberal, and among them 

 will be found very handsome ones for the field trial winners. 

 New classes will be added and no effort will be spared by the 

 club to make this the most successful show that they have 

 ever given. 



"Byrne" tells us that he has had many letters of inquiry 

 about the Arkansas country from which he writes. These 

 letters are so numerous that he cannot answer them indi- 

 vidually, but will write something on the subject for our 

 columns. The inquiries have been regarding climate, land, 

 etc. "Byrne" lias communicated some valuable information 

 on these points to the Prairie Farmer and the Farmer's 

 JKeview, both of Chicago, 111. 



EASY READING LESSONS-II. 



FOB THE LITTUS READERS OP THE FOREST AND STREAM. 



TS this the Atlantic Ocean? No, it is not the Atlantic Ocean. 

 -^ It is the Tempestuous Sea of Journalism. What is that 

 Funny Thing there in the Raging Main, three points aft the 

 Port Beam? Is it a Spout? Yes. it is a Spout. What makes 

 it Spout? The Editor is Blowing about his Paper. He Calls 

 it a Marvel of Enterprise and Energy. Is the Editor a Whale? 

 Oh, no. The Editor is not a Whale. The Editor is a Water 

 Spout. Is the Water Spout a Gas House? Oh, no, the Water 

 Spout is not a Gas House. What is the Water Spout? The 

 Water Spout is an Incomprehensible Phenomenon of Nature. 

 Can we See the Spout now? No, we cannot See the Spout 

 now. Where is the Spout? 



"WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE!" 



THE lover of nature, nowadays, cannot wander far 

 afield without being shocked and enraged at 'the ruth- 

 less and indiscriminate destruction of forest trees; and with 

 many cruel instances of this vandal work staring me in the 

 face in my walks and drives, I cannot forbear writing a 

 protest against it. To be sure, it may be a feeble one and of 

 no avail, but, as a sportsman and wood-lover, to be wholly 

 silent is to shirk a duty and to be consumed with indig- 

 nation ! 



In many parts of New England, as soon as harvest is over 

 there is a rush to the axes and thence to the woodlands, 

 and the foul work begins and continues almost until seed- 

 time. 



I admit that there must be fuel provided, but this may he 

 in plenty hy a judicious '•thinning" out of trees " and 

 branches. This, however, is never thought of, and acres of 

 goodly growth are felled every winter that should be left up- 

 right. Much has been written on the influence of forests on 

 climate, and much remains to be written — the subject is by 

 no means exhausted. I wonder if tin- average New England 

 farmer will ever have an eye to beauty? At present the 

 most sordid utility reigns Supreme without and within doors, 

 and, with few exceptions, drudgery and spoliation is the rule 

 at every farm-stead. 



This ought not so to be! Surrounded as the country-man 

 is by beauty and gracfe— the elements teaming with loveliness, 

 and all about him fraught with softening influences, it is 

 passing strange that so many men (and some women) see more 

 to admire in a pig, or a potatoe, than in a flower, a tree or a 

 sunset! Every farmer ought to be a conservative spoilsman, 

 lover of nature, and a rigid gamekeeper, at any rate, on his 

 own estate. He should take a pride in affording and pre- 

 serving suitable " covers " for game, and in exterminating the 

 enemies thereof, including, of course, all " pot-hunters "and 

 poaching trespassers. But I am digressing from my subject, 

 and in recurring to it, I will suggest that every fisher and 

 shooter, every fox-hunter and harrier is, more or less, inter- 

 ested and affected by this felling of forests or stripping the 

 hill-sides, till they are as naked as a Fiji islander! 



Whether game abides or abides not in the woodlands, the 

 existence of a goodly growth of trees has a mighty influence 

 on the surrounding country, and thus every bird and beast- 

 yes, and fish also!— is directly or indirectly affected by the 

 preservation or removal of a wood. 



The present tendency is to make the whole country side 

 an unbroken, universal stubble-field, and in some places I 

 wot of, there is not cover enough for a young grouse to hide 

 itself under, nor for a shooter to swear by) It is high time 

 that shooting and game-preserving clubs and associations 

 should make the preservation of Foresl trees a co-issue with 

 the preservation of game, and there must, ere long, be a. 

 stringent law in the interest of both. Here let me expressmy 

 delight and satisfaction of the communication of " Ogdens- 

 hurg " in the last issue of Forest and Stream. It is full of 

 truth, of sound sense, and has the ring of a sturdy sportman's 

 voice and of a huntsman's horn. That his timely words 

 may have an influence for good, I, for one, earnestly hope 

 and pray. Several Legislatures are now in session," and if 

 some sturdy and steady effort could be made by influential 

 sportsmen, this present year of grace may be made notable by 

 a needed change in the game-laws and by their proper enforce- 

 ment everywhere. 



" Too late!" is a sad legend to be written over any place, 

 or thing, and so is " Iehabod;" but if some very decisive 

 movement is not soon made for the preservation of both 

 forests and game they must be written in and on many a 

 section of country, 



Then the gun aud dog and the rod and creel must lie laid 

 aside as a past memorial of pas! joys, or be painfully carried 

 into some new and Untried held and water — if. indeed, there 

 remain any in this gain-greedy world. 



Spare the trees! Spare the game and fish, and preserve 

 jealously all. Then, with thankful hearts, enjoy the honest 

 pursuit of fur, fin and feather, tempering every act with 

 mercy, remembering that :: Sweet mercy is nobility's true 

 badge," and without which the panoply of the true sports- 

 man is incomplete. 



Will not some one make a move for a live Forest and Game 

 Preservation Society, whose influence shall be felt and feared 

 like the ghost of Hamlet's father, "hie et ubique ?" 



O. W, R. 



Vhe ^attBtiym %mm$t 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



TXTIDE and far the woods extend, 



* * Leaf-laden branches graceful bend ; 

 The old oaks, like great tents, outspread 

 Their verdant canopies overhead; 

 The fir, the hemlock and the pine 

 Their interlacing shoots entwine; 

 The cypress of the swampy glade 

 Enweaves a dark, impervious shade; 

 The slender willows stoop to lave 

 Their tassels in the rushing wave; 

 The chestnuts cast their treasures down, 

 Then- opening burrs, their nuts of brown; 

 And thick the clusters of the grape 

 With purple wealth the alders drape, 

 And on the Forest kings unfold 

 Their draperies of green and gold. 



Each river, each transparent Stream, 

 Amid the woodland vistas gleam; 

 They toss with foam where rocks impede 

 The arrowy swiftness of their speed ; 

 They glide with smooth, unruffled sweep 

 Where flow their currents dusk and deep, 

 And fathomless abysses hide 

 The sand and shells that pave the tide. 



Now deep in forest glooms the deer 



Bound in exultant, swift career; 



They leave the covert of the glade 



When earliest rosy dawns hivade; 



They pause to nibble the sweet grass, 



In bosky dale, in mountain pass; 



They stop to drink the sparkling fount 



That trickles from the rosy mount, 



Or lie at noontide to repose 



Where tall the fern luxuriant grows; 



But when the yelpings of the hound 



Athwart the sleeping shades resound, 



And when the hunter's whooping cheer 



And winding horn rise near and clear, 



Quick from their sheltering haunts they spring, 



And fly like fleet birds on the wing. 



Forest and Stream ] I love to trace 

 Your inmost depths, your watery race; 

 I love your dense, primeval shade, 

 O, forest monarch! to invade. 

 I love, O, grand, majestic Stream! 

 To wander where your ripples gleam, 

 To plunge beneath your ice-cold breast; 

 To seek the wild fowl that infest 

 Your wooded shores ; to spread the sail 

 In gusty breeze or howling gale; 

 To take the springing trout that skim 

 Your face, or in abysses s wim ; 

 In storm, in calm, in shade, in shine, 

 My heart, my steps to thee incline. 

 No haunts of earth so fair I deem, 

 As Forest-side and banks of Stream] 

 Grreenport, L. I. Isaac McLellan. 



REMINISCENCES OF LIFE IN CAMP. 



Sweet memory! wafted by thy gentle gale, 

 Oft up the stream of time I turn my sail 

 To view the fairy haunts of long lost hours, 

 Blest with far greener shades, far fairer flowers. 



MANY years ago, when the writer was much younger than 

 he now is, before "his face was furrowed o'er with years, 

 or hoary was his hair," it was an invariable custom among 

 those fond of the gun in this section of country to have two 

 "big hunts" each year, in the broken sandhills which lie 

 between the Cape" Fear and the Pee Dee. The locality to 

 which I allude was the region on the head waters of the 

 Little Pee' Dee, or Green Swamp, as it is called in the neigh- 

 borhood, and which are situated not many miles east "of 

 Lumber River. The section is traversed with quite a num- 

 ber of clear streams, and nearly all of them have an unde- 

 fined margin, but course sinuously through swamps of gum, 

 bay, maple and other woods which love a wet and spongy 

 soil. In these dense swamps, during the autumn, deer were 

 found in abundance, but chiefly does and yearlings. The 

 blackjack thickets, which were common on the sidges, were 

 the favorite haunts of bucks. 



Our months were September and October. We had one 

 tent, and the "accompanying documents," so to speak, and at 

 the usual time, putting oiir heavier luggage on a wagon, and 

 ourselves in buggies, we drove out to the camping place, 

 near the head of the Juniper, spread our canvas, built a roar- 

 ing fire of blackjack logs and lightwood knots, and after 

 discussing the plans of operation for the following day, 

 dropped down on our pallets and sought the necessary 

 repose, It often happened that we took a preliminary hunt 

 on the way, so as to secure a supply of venison for use* at the 

 camp. And we rarely failed to get it. I recollect my first 

 experience in hunting deer. It. was in October, and when 

 frost first made its appearance. I was armed with a 15-bore 

 muzzle-loader, and had carried out another gun of about the 

 same size to lend to a local huntsman, whose only weapon 

 was tho old-time flint and steel musket. In that day we 

 carelessly carried the hammers on the caps, and before shoot- 

 ing, of course, heard two clicks of the lock. The flint and 

 steel crowd were obliged to carry their guns at half cock, 

 and, hence, heard but one click. This by way of explan 

 ation of what follows. 



On the morning after our arrival at the rendezvous we 

 started down Juniper, having but one dog along, and on him 

 we had to depend for starting the deer during the entire 

 hunt. He had a small bell fastened to his collar, and this 

 was muffled with grass to prevent any noise until all things 

 were ready. Half of our party crossed the swamp, went 

 down it, keeping about one hundred yards apart, and about 

 fifty yards from the swamp, except the rear guard, who kept 

 in the ' 'hog trail" aloug the margin. He kept opposite the 

 dog. The same disposition was made of the forces which 

 had not crossed. Then the grass was taken from the bell 

 and our dog Ring joyfully bounded into the swamp. I was 

 placed just in front of our rear guard. After we had gone 

 abdut one hundred and fifty yards, old Ring made, one sharp 

 bark — that is what we called it — there was a crash in the 

 thicket, and out emerged the first deer I had ever seen in the 

 woods. Instead of running for a short time in the swamp 



and then coming out, this one headed at once for dry land 

 and dashed towards the rear, passing within easy range of 

 the rear guardsman— who had the little gun referred to— and 

 ecpially long range of the writer. 



Squire Jim, being nearer and having had much experience, 

 was waited upon to deliver the first broadside, but he failed 

 to shoot; and as the deer passed within about thirty yards, I 

 let go the left barrel, expecting to see it tumble "at the 

 pop. To my astonishment, it did not even falter, and after 

 looking at its flight for fifty or sixty yards, I recollected that 

 I had another barrel, which, without much deliberation, I 

 cocked and discharged. But as far as I could see I had made 

 no impression, and the fleet animal soon went out of sight, 

 followed by the faithful dog, who was in full cry. Injess 

 than a minute the dog was quiet, and Squire Jim remarked 

 to me that I had killed it, or the dog would have returned— 

 for such dogs never pursue a fleeing deer more than a half 

 mile, and if they do not find it, come back at once to the 

 swamp. I asked why he did not shoot. His reply was that 

 he had tried, but could not get the gun to fire, I found that 

 he had lifted the hammer until he heard one click, and as it 

 was but at half-cock, he failed to get the deer, which it was 

 now my good fortune to claim. I stated to him that the deer 

 was a very large doe. "Doe, indeed." said he, "it was a 

 large buck." " Why, I didn't see any horns." " But I did," 

 he replied, " and when we get to him, you will see that he is 

 a five or six pointer. " Sure enough, when we had walked 

 about two hundred yards we found a tine buck stretched 

 upon the earth, and old Ring was feasting upon the flowing 

 blood. But one shot had struck. That hit in the flank, and 

 came out at the neck, in the opposite side. The second barrel 

 had done the work. And did I not feel proud ? Successful 

 sport, lias produced no such joy since. There was a mild sug- 

 gestion that I be wrapped up in the hide, as the penalty, or 

 rather price of my first honors— but some tender-hearted 

 friend obtained mercy from the court, and I escaped the 

 fearful judgment. 



Our hunt lasted three days, and resulted in fifteen deer. It 

 was rarely the case in those days that we got less than six. 

 It was laborious work — for we all walked, and as our course 

 was on hill-side covered with pine leaves, one often slipped, 

 and this made locomotion extremely tiresome. But when we 

 reached camp at night, and partook of a plain but hearty 

 meal, in which venison steak was an important factor, it re- 

 quired no downy couch nor music's strain to invite us to soft 

 and sweet repose. 



As a general thing, we were met by some gentlemen from 

 the southeastern part of the county— the McL's brothers, all 

 of whom were extremely fond of deer hunting. They were 

 tireless walkers and sonic of them excellent marksmen.' Sim 

 and Daniel shot well, whilst Malcolm and Billy and Sandy 

 often missed. With them came Joe McM. and "Angus McD. 

 Poor Daniel had been thrown from a stage coach in the street 

 of Columbia, S. C, and made a cripple for life. Still he 

 loved hunting, and usually availed himself of the advantages 

 of a small white pony which " Uncle Pickett " carried to the 

 woods to take the deer to camp. On one occasion, we were 

 driving some bogs not far from Blue's bridge, on Lumber 

 River, and Daniel had ridden around to a point of one of the 

 bogs nearest the river. Soon, a fawn was started and killed, 

 and shortly thereafter Daniel's gun was heard. We always 

 knew when one of the McL's shot, from the loud report fol- 

 lowing a heavy charge of gunpowder. After a short while 

 we reached the spot where the lame hunter had placed him- 

 self, and found Daniel standing near a fine doe which he had 

 shot. We made the usual inquiries, as to distance, position, 

 etc., which he answered by r saying that the deer was running 

 her best, and was fully fifty yards' from him when he shot. 

 Sim looked doubtingly, and having closely inspectetl the doe 

 and noticed that the whole charge seemed 'to have entered the 

 right side just behind the shoulder, replied that the story was 

 a — well, the phrase was one not exactly according to the ap- 

 proved moral standard. Upon this, our hero was equally 

 emphatic in the indulgence of the " countercheck quarrel- 

 some," and offered to prove his assertion by showing the posi- 

 tion of his wadding. Sure enough, he hobbled "off about 

 thirty yards, and picked up a considerable quantity of 

 blackened paper, holding it up with an air of triumph. We 

 had about given it up, as an instance of remarkable shooting, 

 seen only once in a life time, when Billy, another brother, 

 stooped down and from the very side of the deer he took up 

 similar bits of wadding, held them towards Daniel, with a 

 very emphatic compliment to his veracity, and told him that 

 his new line of argument proved that he had failed to tell 

 the truth. Daniel seeing that his ruse had failed, ' ' acknowl- 

 edged the corn," and admitted that the doe was standing, 

 and not more than ten yards from the muzzle of his gun. It 

 was years before poor Daniel heard the last of that shot. 



Sandy was a good fiddler, and invariably brought his Cre- 

 mona to the camp to entertain us with music. The sweet 

 strains from the violin were accompanied with the voices of 

 Frank T. and Cyrus M., and thus the "nights drave on wi' 

 sangs and clatter." Nearly all those lively spirits have fallen 

 "like leaves in wintry weather," but ;1 he memory of their 

 joyous faces still finds a lodgment in my mind, and I often 

 sigh when I think of the happy days aud nights which we 

 have spent together, never again to return, beneath the 

 spreading pines, whose sharp foliage made mournful melody 

 in the autumnal breeze. 



When we had ten or twelve in our party it was the custom 

 to divide our forces into about an equal number and enter 

 into a friendly contest for superiority of skill or luck in hunt- 

 ing. On one occasion, after we had separated for a little 

 more than an hour, the repeated heavy discharges of the 

 McL. guns indicated clearly that they ' had started plenty 

 of game and were doing their best" to come off victors 

 in the day's sport. So far we had not "made a raise," and 

 began to fear that we should be "crowed over" when we got 

 to tamp. But in a short while the clear, sharp bark of old 

 Ring was beard, and then the warning words, "Look out 1" 

 from Joe McM. The writer well knowing what this meant, 

 hastened rapidly to the top of a knoll, and as he reached it he 

 saw a fine doe running broadside, a little less than fifty yards 

 off, which he saluted, in quick succession, with his Lewis & 

 Tomes' 14-bore, 36in. barrels, Dibs., and soon brought 

 her to the ground. Old Angus McD. then came up and con- 

 gratulated me with the result, remarking that "those 



Scotch couldn't now crow" so loudly, We walked together 

 about one hundred yards, and, as we approached a small bog 

 or swampy thicket, containing not more than an acre, he 

 stated that he would walk through it, and perhaps might 

 steal some old buck. I told him to go in and I would walk 

 around. He had not reached the middle before I heard the 

 report of his gun, and as I looked toward him I soon saw the 

 Hash of the second barrel, and a fine buck scampering off, evi- 

 dently wounded. It ran about 200 yards and fell dead. 

 With the first he had shot down a buck, and so Angus had 



