242 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



tOcT. 23, 1885. 



PRIVATE FISBCXILTmE. 

 'T'HE Ragged Lake Club, which is composed of gentlemen 

 from Syracuse, N. Y., and which has its abode on the 

 lake from which it takes its name, in Franklin county, N. Y., 

 sixteen miles from Malone, have taken a step which should 

 be followed by all persons and clubs having fishing privileges 

 in the Adirondacks. They propose to build a little hatchery 

 at small expense, and apply to the New York Fish Commis- 

 sion for eggs, and keep their lake stocked with a view to 

 future sport. The cost will be small, but the results may be 

 great. The example of IVIr. A. R. Fuller, in stocking 

 Meacham Lj^e at his own expense and reaping his reward 

 in good fishing, after the waters in his neighborhood were 

 exhausted, is deserving of imitation. The Ragged Lake 

 Club, of which Mr. A. C. Belden is president, Hon, James 

 Geddes vice-president, and Mr. Geo. Hier secretary, have 

 begun something that will no doubt be followed by other 

 clubs and individuals, and the day when a man thinks he 

 has done a grand thing in slajang a large number of trout 

 will be followed by an era when it will be considered grander 

 to have planted thousands of fry. The fact that waters can 

 be exhausted has been forced through many a skull that at 

 first supposed there was no end to the number of fish. After 

 planting will come care in capture, and the day of the trout 

 hog will be past in waters under such intelligent supervision 

 as will come from the practice of hatching and stocking 

 waters_by private individuals. The establishment of a State 

 hatchery in the Adirondacks will favor this, for eggs can be 

 readily procured there by persons interested in stocking 

 waters, provided they put in a few inexpensive troughs. 



Behold How Blessed a Thing is Chakity. — A com- 

 munication recently published in the Forest and Stream 

 concluded (in the manuscript) with these words, relating to 

 a correspondent whom the author was at the time replying 

 toi "In conclusion I would like to say something which con- 

 cerns me personally. There are some things which I can 

 never contemplate for an instant with other than feelings of 

 fear; and one of them is that, possibly, by the requirements 

 of old age, poverty and sin, all creeping on at one and the 

 same time, I may be forced ever to remain in a country 



where writers like Mr. . of , are by law allowed such 



an unrestricted use of pen and ink." We wrote back to our 

 correspondent that if he were ever fortunate enough to meet 

 the gentleman he was so incensed against, he would probably 

 set him down as just the sort of a fellow to go fishing with. 



A Boyhood Notion.— Our correspondent "Special" 

 tells a very suggestive story of how in his boyhood days a 

 companion forfeited the confidence and respect of his fel- 

 lows because he was a game thief. They scorned a boy 

 who could not be honest when alone in the woods. That is 

 all well enough for boyhood, which, as we all know, has its 

 peculiar fancies and superstitions; but such a notion is out- 

 grown by the time man's estate is reached. No such fool- 

 ishness is to be tolerated among persons of mature years. 

 As a matter of fact, a man— no matter of what standing in 

 the community— may go into the woods in the close season, 

 kill deer and leave them to rot, jig trout, and commit all 

 manner of offenses according to his fancy, and may then 

 come home again and hold his head up, and go his way with 

 the respect and trast of his associates. • 



Another Peril of ANaLiNG was illustrated the other 

 day in the sad experience of a young Norwegian gentleman 

 of Boston, a Mr. Frank Cardozo. Having returned from a 

 fishing excursion, and being in all probability unacquainted 

 with the Boston way of telling fish stories, Mr. Cardozo 

 resented the elastic statements of a companion, Mr. Coimaro, 

 about the size of the fish that had been caught— or, probably 

 lost— and was thereupon very properly rebuked by Mr. 

 Counaro, who employed for emphasis an empty beer mug. 

 The latest reports from the hospital are to the effect that Mr. 

 Cardozo is in a fair way to recover, and he will doubtless 

 leave his cot a more charitable and wiser angler, with sense 

 enough to swallow the next fish story without question. 



State and Codnty Fair Committees may wisely take 

 notice of the interest manifested in the dog exhibits where 

 such shows have been a part of fair displays this year. At 

 Philadelphia, notwithstanding the bad management, the 

 dogs were the chief order of attraction; and the visitors to 

 the Stafford, Conn., fair manifested a similar interest. It 

 will not be very many years before the dog show will be a 

 regular feature of the average fair. That will be a happy 

 time for the dogs, but a day of doom for the curs, for when 

 a community is educated to an appreciation of good canine 

 stock it will cease to harbor the sheep-killing brutes that in- 

 fest in hordes so many localities. 



In Adirondack style it is not all of hounding to hound. 

 Not by a long shot. To hound is only a part of it. The 

 rest is to row up to the deer in the water and pour buckshot 

 into it at four feet range, or to club it to death at arm's 

 length. That is Adirondack style. 



A "Healthy Specimen" of an officer of the law is the 

 deputy sheriff of Richardson county, Nebraska, who has put 

 in his time this year shooting pinnated grouse out of season. 

 Nothing less than a moral regeneration can save the callow 

 broods in that county. 



INDIANS AT WORK. 



I.— IN THE FIELDS. 



^TANDING in front of 4he stockade one bright September 

 ^ morning I watched the Indians as they passed to and 

 fro. One was bringing his horse to the blacksmith's shop 

 to be shod, and another wanted a new bolt for his wagon. 

 Several were driving their teams toward the mountains, and 

 one wagon, loaded with wood, had just come down, and its 

 driver had gone into the house to see if he could sell his load 

 to the agent. The oats had all been cut and the yellow 

 agency field was dotted with shocks which were ready to be 

 hauled to the threshing machine. A cog had broken in 

 some part of its gearing, and the agency blacksmith was 

 hard at work mending it, while a dozen Indians and white 

 men stood around and watched his every movement. Indi- 

 ans with their wagons arranged with great racks and with 

 four very little ponies harnessed to them, stood about ready 

 to begin to haul the oats as soon as the thresher should be 

 ready to work. 



Seated in rows against the wall of the stockade, enjoying 

 the warm sun, sat a dozen old men who gossiped with 

 one another without intermission. About the wagons a 

 dozen boys, several of whom wore the garb of civilization, 

 chased each other and scufiied together, after the fashion of 

 boys, civilized or savage, the world over. 



The scene was picturesque and peaceful. I saw a wide 

 valley with bluffs rising in terraces one after another till the 

 brown expanse met the sky, the bright green of the willows 

 and cottonwoods that marked the course of the stream, to 

 the west the mountains whose clear-cut outlines were sharply 

 defined against the blue, the rough stockade near at hand, 

 and further off up and down the creek the conical white 

 lodges of the Piegans, and here and there a low cabin, built 

 by the more advanced of them. The Indians passing to and 

 fro, sometimes on foot or again on horseback, with their 

 bright colored blankets, beaded belts and knife sheaths, gave 

 life and color to the picture, which was one not soon to be 

 forgotten. 



The Piegans have shown under Major Allen's management 

 a remarkable disposition to work. This no doubt arises in part 

 from their natural intelligence and from the terrible suffering 

 which they underwent during the famine winter, but it is 

 in large measure due to the admu-able way in which they 

 are handled and to the encouragement which is given them 

 by Major Allen. In the spring, when the work of getting in 

 the crops was in progress, the men showed themselves very 

 willing to work, and although, through ignorance, their 

 efforts were at first somewhat clumsy and ill-directed, and 

 they easily became discoiu-aged, they soon learned to give 

 efficient help. Now in the fall, when the crop was cut and 

 the thrashing machine was in operation, almost all the work 

 was done by the Indians. They loaded the teams, hauled 

 the grain to the thrasher, helped to feed it, pitched away the 

 straw, and measured and removed the grain. Only one 

 white man was at work at the machine. That portion of 

 the work about which the Indians appeared to use the least 

 judgment was the hauling. They would pile on a wagon an 

 enormous load of oats— far too much to be hauled out over 

 the rough field — and then whip up the little runts of ponies, 

 which would perhaps tug it along until the front wheels 

 dropped down into one of the irrigating ditches by which 

 the area is traversed, and there they would remain until the 

 load was pitched off, or another pair or two of horses were 

 attached to the wagon to pull it out. 



It was interesting and encouraging to see the Indians at 

 work, and to note the energy and earnestness with which 

 they went at their tasks. Except at harvest lime there is 

 employment for very few, but some of them liave garden 

 patches of their own which they cultivate and on which 

 they raised last summer excellent oats, and potatoes which 

 would be sure to take a prize at any agricultural fair here in 

 the East. They are very ignorant on farming matters, and 

 their lack of experience causes them to act in an extremely 

 improvident way. For example, as soon as their potatoes, 

 or some of them, are large enough to eat, they proceed to 

 dig them and carry them off to sell, although if left in the 

 ground the tubers would perhaps continue to increase in size 

 for a month longer. In this way they lose a portion of their 

 crop. There are a hundred similar practical matters in 

 which they need instruction and advice. Quite a number of 

 theses Indians have, as has been stated, wagons, and when 

 not otherwise occupied they drive up to the mountains, 

 twenty miles distant, and haul down loads of wood, which 

 they either sell or stack for their own use. Many of them 

 have built comfortable log cabins which they inhabit in 

 winter, but during the warm weather they prefer— and very 

 naturally — to live in their lodges, which they can move 

 about from place to place. 



Except their ponies, with which, however, they are not 

 very well provided, they have no domestic animals besides 

 the dog. 



n. — at school. 

 For a number of years the importance of educating the 

 young Indians has been more and more appreciated. Those 

 who are interested in the subject of Indian civilization have 

 come to realize that in many cases it is quite hopeless to ex- 

 pect that the adult Indians will labor, or indeed contribute 

 much of anything toward their own support. They see that 

 it is only by wholly separating the Indian child from its 

 natural surroundings — ^from its parents, its home and its 

 blanketed playmates — and bringing it up as a white child — 



with instructors open or covert on every hand— can it be 

 taught to carry itself as the white child does. The system 

 has not been long enough in operation to have its success 

 thoroughly demonstrated, but enough has been d,one to show 

 that the Indian child has capabilities which are quite up to 

 those of the average white child, and to promise great things 

 for the Indian race when the practice of educating the child- 

 dren shall have become universal. Down in the Indian Ter- 

 ritory, where this plan has been for some time in operation, 

 it is not uncommon to find in white men's stores Indian 

 clerks, whose services are quite as valuable as those of a 

 white man would be. And it has been demonstrated there 

 and elsewhere, that give to the Indian the same advantages 

 that the white man has, and he will not fall far behind the 

 latter in the struggle for existence. 



At the Piegan agency there is a school where the Indian 

 children receive instruction, though, owing to lack of funds 

 and consequent want of proper accommodations, it is on a 

 much smaller scale than we could wish were the case. Still 

 the school had during the month of August an average 

 attendance of seventy-four scholars. Of these, about one- 

 fourth are in the boarding school. The rest are day scholars, 

 that is the blanket children, who come from the lodges and 

 camps in the neighborhood, more, perhaps, for the purpose 

 of getting the bread that is issued to the school children at 

 noon than with any idea of acquiring knowledge. The 

 boarding school children are quite different from these. To 

 see them, cleanly and neatly clad, sitting at their desks busy 

 over their book, one might imagine that he had stepped into a 

 New England district school house, except that in few school 

 houses Avould one find so much earnest attention to duty, 

 and so little disposition to turn away from the task in hand. 



The school has only been in operation one year; that is, it 

 was opened last October, and in this short time the children, 

 who before knew nothing but the Piegan tongue, have 

 learned to read very nicely and to write in English. The 

 most remarkable and most interesting feature of the school 

 was the very great interest which the boys and girls took in 

 their work. They seemed to realize that the important busi- 

 ness in hand was the accomplishment of their tasks. There 

 was no whispering or attempt at skylarking among the boys, 

 no giggling among the girls, all were interested and absorbed 

 in what was before them. I could see that this earnestness 

 was due in a great measure to the admirable methods of Miss 

 Allen, their instructress, of whom they seemed very fond. 

 It is their love for her which leads them to strive so earnestly 

 to accomplish the tasks which she sets them. The older 

 Indians, too, give the school every encouragement, and those 

 whose children belong to it are very proud of their accom- 

 plishments, and use every means in their power to spur the 

 children on to exertion, and to induce them to make 

 the most of the advantages which they have. It 

 is not long since old Running Crane, one of the 

 chiefs of the tribe, made an address to the chil- 

 dren, in which he said that they now had a great 

 opportunity to learn things that their fathers never knew ; 

 that they ought to try to study veiy hard and learn quickly; 

 that they must not play in school— the time to do that was 

 when they were out of doors; but that while they were here 

 they should give their attention wholly to their work. I 

 heard a number of the children read, and, after the school 

 was dismissed, which was done most decorously, I had an 

 opportunity of examining their copy books, and of hearing 

 something about them from Miss Allen. From what she 

 told me and from what I saw I could not help thinking that 

 the perceptions of these Indian children are quite as quick 

 as those of the average white child of the same age. It would 

 certainly surprise me to find a white child who after eleven 

 months' instruction could read and write as well as these. 

 Miss Allen related to me a number of touching instances of 

 the desire to please her exhibited by the children, and in- 

 deed the influence which she had over them was very re- 

 markable. 



Later, in company with Mr, Bartlett, I went through the 

 living portion of the boarding school. Like the school house 

 it was built of logs, and was low, but warm and comfortable 

 and exquisitely neat. It contains, however, only four or 

 five rooms — a dormitory for girls, one for boys, a kitchen 

 and a room for Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett. The latter informed 

 me that, although it was at first difficult to teach the little 

 girls how to cook, wash and so on, they very soon caught 

 the idea, and when they had done so their work was admir- 

 able. Certainly their bread and the butter which they had 

 churned was equal to anything I have ever tasted. A few 

 cows are kept for the use of the school, and the butter which 

 the young girls make finds a ready sale at fifty cents per 

 pound, thus adding something to the scanty funds at the dis- 

 posal of the school. More money is greatly needed, and 

 above all, more room; for the school ought to be large 

 enough to accommodate all the children of the Piegan 

 tribe. 



While the girls attend to the housework, a certain portion 

 of the boys' time out of school is occupied in work in the 

 garden. This is a marvel for this part of the country, and 

 speaks volumes for the rich soil of Northern Montana as 

 well as for the industry of the Indian boys who have culti- 

 vated it. For all the work, except the plowing, has been 

 done by the schoolboys. It is several acres in extent, and all 

 vegetables except corn, for which the cUmate is too cold, 

 were growing in the greatest profusion and luxuriance. 

 There were potatoes, turnips, heela, peas, lettuce, parsnips. 



