444 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[t)KC. 80, 



Titusville, on the Indian River, has nothing so far as I 

 could jndge worth visiting, but Rock Ledge, a place some 

 ten miles distant, is well worth a visit, i. e. , that part that 

 borders the river, its orange groves extend for several 

 miles and it has one of the best hotels in southern Florida, 

 terms $5 per day and $28 per week and upward; another 

 hotel there charges $15 per week. As a permanent stopping 

 place Rock Ledge does not compare with Lake W orth, 

 but it is well worth a visit. I have seen ice 2in. tliick at 

 Rock Ledge, but none at Lake Worth. D. F. Easton. 

 New York. 



THAT BROWN PUP. 



I GRANT that the thrilling whir-r-r of a pheasant's wing 

 in an Englibh copse is music to the ear of a sports- 

 man: that right pleasant it is to pop over the red-legged 

 grouse on the gorse-clad moors of Yorkshire, and that 



fallant fowling may be had crouched behind a tiny ice- 

 erg on a Michigan river, when the canvasbacks are fat 

 from long debaucheries in the wild rice crops, but I main- 

 tain that the crime de la creme of shooting is to be found 

 on the brown praMes of the West, when the "cliickens" 

 are not too wild nor yom- dogs too eager. 



One glorious morning of last September three carriage 

 loads of us started from C. , a border town in northwest- 

 ern iowa, bent on a long day's sport. Far we sped over 

 the prairie till not a tree, house, nor even the thread of a 

 path was to be seen far as the eye could reach ; then when 

 the virgin wilderness lay before us our leader dropped a 

 dog from his buggy to "try the country." The game was 

 plentiful, and wVall leaped down to get our share of it, 

 the intelligent driverless horses keeping at a discreet dis- 

 tance belund us, pausing when we stopped, following 

 when we proceeded. 



The lion of our party was a man of Scottish descent 

 named William McLaren, a miglity hunter, whose feats 

 of gunning were the talk of the whole country round. 

 He was a thickset handsome fellow, about tldrty-iive 

 years of age, with a frank face and such a clear skin as 

 men have who live in the bracing air of the plains. 



But to me, a stranger, he was that day an unmitigated 

 nuisance; yet, not he, but a decrepit, worn out, half blind, 

 stone deaf, brown Gordon setter which accompanied him, 

 for his conduct toward that old dog wliich, for sheer 

 humanity's sake, ought long ago to have been deprived of 

 his miserable existence, was aggravating in the extreme. 

 No fine lady could have exhibited more fantastic whims 

 over a pet poodle. First, I noticed that "Curly" shared 

 with his master the entire front seat of the cai-riage, while 

 tlnree big men were "scrooged" into the hind one; then, 

 whenever he raised his grizzled muzzle and whimpered, 

 he must be lifted tenderly to the ground and be allowed 

 to "nose along," as though he had not lost years ago the 

 sense of smell, thus running over our birds and spoiling 

 spoi-t generally. Wlien fatigue checked lus blundering 

 career, he would coolly sit down and pant, and his master 

 would carry him carefully back to the buggy again. It 

 •was exasperating, yet my companions, all tnie sportsmen, 

 never murmured, and of course I was compelled to hold 

 my tongue, though I would not like to confess how often 

 I was tempted to accidentpJly end the poor old crijjple's 

 eccentricities with a charitable charge of shot. 



After a week's reveling in the delights of chicken slioot- 

 ing my visit came to an end, and I rode over to Mr. Mc- 

 Laren's house to pay my adieus. He was out, but his 

 wife, a charming lady, who looked almost young enoitgh 

 to be her own daughter, graciously received me. 



On a soft bearskin rug before the fire, monopolizing all 

 the heat, lay the irrepressible brown dog, looking, if pos- 

 sible, more' blear-eyed and ready for dissolution than 

 when out on the prairie. 



"Poor old Curly," said the lady, patting his raised head, 

 "he loves the fire these chilly mornings." 

 It was evident that madam was as mad as her husband. 

 "Isn't he rather a nuisance?" I asked spitefully, for 

 visions of fat chickens flying away and laughing at me 

 floated before my imagination. 



"Curly a nuisance!" How her round eyes opened with 

 wonder. "Oh, no, indeed; in this house Curly is king, 

 for had it not been for him we might not have had its 

 roof for a shelter." 



This declaration, of course, led to the recital of the 

 story of the dog's heroism, which I give in the lady's own 

 words: 



Fifteen years ago Will and I came out from the East 

 and preempted land on the prairie here, having Uttle 

 beyond willing hands and courageous hearts to start with, 

 perhaps being, too, a little behind our neighbors in the 

 race, as we were city bred and not accustomed to rough 

 it. But God prospered us, and in three years we had got 

 on BO well that my husband was elected County Treasu.rer, 

 an office in those days with rather more honor than 

 emolument attached to it. It was more of a com.pliment 

 to us, however, as the previous incumbent had levanted 

 with a considerable sum of money, and, as his bondsmen 

 were irresponsible, the loss had fallen on the county. I 

 had my misgivings about the advisability of his accepting 

 the position, but, like a dutiful wife, yielded to his judg- 

 ment. All went well for a time. One September morn- 

 ing, however, WiU came into the sitting room and said, 

 "Nellie, I must drive into C. this morning and bank this." 



As he spoke he displayed a roU of bills, and like two 

 babies with a toy, we sat down and counted the sum, 

 pleased to handle the money even if we held it only in 

 trust. 



"Oh, Will," I said, "Just think; there's six hundred 

 and thii"ty dollars. My! if it were only ours." 



"Which it is not, little woman," he replied, "So go 

 fetch me my large pocketbook, and let us put it out of 

 sight and you out of the temptation of breaking the 

 Tenth Commandment." 



To see Will handle such a sum with indifference excited 

 my admiration, and when he indignantly refused to allow 

 me to pin up the mouth of his jacket pocket where the 

 treasm-e reposed, I felt that nature had intended him to 

 be a millionau-e. As for me, if I had had to cany such a 

 precious parcel ten miles over the prairie, I should have 

 wanted it sewn in a leatlier belt and never would have 

 dared to take my hands off it all the way; but men are 

 so different. 



Just before he started he said, "I'll take the brown pup 

 with me, for the run will do him good and we may by 

 chance get a bird or two on otu- way back." 



"So I would, dear," I said, "But whatever you do, do 

 not stop for anything tiU you reach the bank and deposit 

 the money." 



"All right, Mrs. Timidity," he laughed, and was gone. 



Seven hours afterward I was up-stairs sewing and 

 heard something moving in the room below. 1 hurried 

 down, fearful of tramps, and there at that table sat my 

 husband, with his forehead buried in his hands, sobbing 

 as though his heart would break. In a moment I was 

 beside him. 



"What is it, WiU?" I cried, "Oh, whatever has 



happened V" 



i shall never forget the ashen hue of the face he raised 

 toward me. 



"Oh, Nellie," he gasped, "I am a fool, a madman. I 

 have lost the money — lost it on the prairie!" 



This was all I could get from him for a time, for he 

 was as one distracted, but at last the whole sad story came 

 to light. He had driven toward C. with Ciuiy rmi- 

 ning beside the buggy; but they had not gone far before 

 the dog started some chickens and scattered them in all 

 du-ections, which was too much for Will's patience, who, 

 forgetting for a time his great trust, leaped down from 

 the carriage and gave him a good hour's drill in pointing. 

 Suddenly he remembered the gravity of Ms errand, and 

 drove off to C. at full speed. He reached the bank all 

 right, but, Avhen he put his hand in his pocket, a cold 

 chill ran down his back, for the money was gone. Gone! 

 and, though he had retraced his steps as well as he could, 

 there was no sign of it to be found. 



I shall never forget tlie rest of that miserable day, nor 

 the night which followed it. Of course we were 

 irretrievably ruined, for we had no means of replacing 

 such a sum, and who, after what had occtured, would 

 believe Will's story? And, what was worse, we dragged 

 down in our fall oui- kind old neighbor, Adam Clark, who 

 had signed my husband's bond, I believe the thought of 

 this misf ortime broke us down even more than our own 

 great trouble. 



Early next morning Will set out with a sore heait to 

 announce the loss to the good old man. 



Now, during the long, restless hours of the night I had 

 been matming a plan which let in a little ray of hope, 

 though the chances were many against me. As soon as 

 my husband's back was turned I began a game of hide- 

 and-seek witii Curly, who was as proficient at such sport 

 as he was stupid at pointing chickens, and the object we 

 used at om- play was an old leather pui-se something like 

 the one Will had lost. For a full hour I kept hiding it and 

 he kept bringing it to me, getting rewarded with caresses 

 and a slice of meat every time he succeeded in his search. 

 When I thought he was prepared for the experiment, I 

 started across the jirairie with him, though 1 dared not 

 go so far as to lose sight of our corn patch, the last land- 

 mark which would guide my wandering feet home again. 

 Then I sent the dog out to hunt, but all in vain. Once 

 he set my heart beating by bringing in a piece of dry 

 root and laying it at my feet. 1 was in despair, but I 

 made one last appeal to the dog's intelligence. I took 

 his beautiful face in my hands and spoke to him as 

 woman never spoke to dog before. I believed he under- 

 stood my pleading voice and streaming tears, and I let 

 him go; but my hopes were dashed to the earth by seeing 

 him scamper over a hill out of sight, and I knew that 

 the faithless creature had scented my husband's track 

 and left me to my fate. But when I reached the house, 

 to my surprise, Will had returned. 



"Have_you seen Mr. Clark?" I asked, tearfully. 



"Yes, i'have seen him," he replied, with agi'oan. 



"And what did he say?" 



"Oh, Nellie, if he had only abused me for my wretched 

 carelessness I could have stood it better, but the old man 

 just tinned as white as a sheet and said: 'God's will be 

 done.' That was aU." 



Then we sat silent for a long time, for neither of us had 

 any comfort to offer. 



Presently there came a scratching at the front door, of 

 which we," for a time, took no notice; but at last, nervous 

 at its repetition, I opened it. 



Could I believe my senses? Had trouble tm-ned my 

 brain? There stood Curly with head erect and brown 

 eyes beaming with pride, holding in his moutli the lost 

 pocketbook! 



I believe I fainted, for the last thing I can remember 

 was seeing Will fling himself on his knees beside the 

 brown pup and hug him and kiss him with passionate 

 emotion. Fortune has smiled on us since that time, and it 

 would not make om- hearts ache to lose as many thou- 

 sands as we did hundreds then; but neither Will nor I shall 

 ever forget those two terrible days nor the debt we owe 

 this dear old doggie. 



Such was the story; and I am sm-e the superannuated old 

 setter knew the import of his mistress's words, for, as she 

 finished, lie gave a confirmatory wag of his tail and 

 glanced with a defiant gaze at me, as much as to say, 

 "What do you think of that, eh? Not quite such a fool as 

 I look, am I, sn?" B. B, 



"That reminds me." 

 201. 



ABOUT three years ago I went to the southwest part of 

 Georgia hunting and fisldng. The land there is 

 composed entirely of sand and requires fertilizers spread 

 over the ground in order to make crops of any kind re- 

 munerative. I was stoijping in a town on a well-kno\\'n 

 stream in that part of the countiy. One day while sitting 

 in chairs in front of the hotel a party of us were talking 

 over the prospects of hunting and fishing in the vicinity, 

 when a man came hj with a catfish weighing about 51bs. 

 The size of the fish was commented on so much that I 

 concluded to say something and remarked that a catfish 

 of that size was nothing to sjjeak of, I had seen a catfish 

 caught out of the Mssissippi River that weighed ISOlbs. 

 and after hearmgthe expressions of doubt, I thought "to 

 mend on it" a little and said he not only weighed that, 

 but when opened he had a ham bone, two half bricks and 

 a gunny sack inside of him. A man of about fifty years 

 of age who had been sitting near for some time — whose 

 dress gave every indication of his being from the countiy, 

 homespun clothing, j)antaloons too short, straw hat %vith 

 part of the rim gone — squirted a moutliful of tobacco 

 juice against a China tree and said, "Say, Mister, 

 what is a gunny sack?'' I replied that it was a sack sim- 

 ilar to those in which guano was shipped to that section 

 of the country. "Well, all I've got to say is that gunny 

 sack must have fertihzed that fish powerful." Thelaugh 

 was on me and I "set 'em up." Issaquena. 



AdHrcss all coramvnications to the Forest and Stream PuT}, Co. 



CONFIDING CHIPMUNKS. 



A WRITER in a recent number of Forest and Stream 

 gives his idea of the way the chi]omunk builds his 

 nest or constructs his bmrow, so as to leave no mound of 

 fresh earth near the entrance. His explanation is a very 

 ingenious one, but I fear is not bound out by the facts. Pos- 

 sibly he has made the acquaintance of one of the family 

 possessed of more cimning than most of his tribe; or per- 

 haps the chipmunk he describes, having been frequently 

 disturbed, has had to take peculiar caution to liide his 

 nest. 1 have never yet formd the burrow of the chipmunk 

 without two entrances, a front and back door, and Chas. 

 C. Abbott, in his "Rambles of a Naturalist," states the 

 same fact. 



I have always been much interested in watching the 

 cheerful little fellows, and have had abundant opportuni- 

 ties to do so. Our summer house is situated on the very 

 edge of the forest primeval, and when -we come to it in 

 June we always find a number of chipmunks that are 

 making themselves very free about the woodhouse and 

 door yard. At first they seem much disturbed at sight of 

 the family and scamper away with the appearance of 

 having guilty consciences. But in a very few days they 

 learn that I am not an enemy. By avoiding any quick 

 motions, and by dropping corn where it can be seen by 

 them, I win them so that they very soon become quite 

 tame. Our maid-of -all-work was at fii'st quite horrified 

 that I did not wish to kill them, but when I assured her 

 that we could spare the little they would eat, and she saw 

 that they recognized me and ran to meet me as soon as I 

 stepped out of dooi's, even she began to tliink it pleasant 

 to have the little fellows show confidence in mankind. 



Dm-ing the past season there has been one of them 

 that very soon knew the pocket in which I carried a sup- 

 ply of corn or nuts, and would hop upon me when I was 

 walking past him and dive down into my pocket. In an 

 instant his head would pop out, and he would take an 

 observation to satisfy himself that there weie no enemies 

 near; then he would return and fill his pouches, till he 

 looked like a very bad case of the mumps. He soon 

 knew the hammock where my wife used to lie in a shady 

 corner of the i>iazza, and if he did not see me arormd, he 

 would hop into the liammock. I do not think ho was 

 ever quite able to master the mysteries of a woman's 

 pocket. (There is now and then such a thing.) But he 

 usually found something to lewai-d him. There was one 

 other chipmunk that became nearly as tame: but Chippy 

 No. 1, as we called him, was very jealous of any rivals, 

 and if he chanced to raise his head from my pocket and 

 see No. 2 at my feet, he would make one spring for him, 

 chase him into the woods, and then return to the pocket. 



I believe there is as much difference in the dispositions 

 of the little animals and bnds about us as there is in 

 men. Chippy No. 1 always came with an air that seemed 

 to say, "Come, huny up. I's^e got to get in my provisions 

 for the winter and must be about it." He Avas never 

 satisfied with a few grains of corn, but wanted the last 

 one his cheeks would hold, often having to stuff them 

 in with his paws. On the contrary No. 3 would stand 

 upon his hind feet with a very pleading look, take one 

 kernel and stand very patiently for anollier. No. 1 must 

 have carried to his nest nearly half a bushel of corn. 

 The first cold days in September he was missing, and 

 we feared he had fallen the prey of Eome dog or boy; 

 but he was soon about agam as lively as ever. He 

 retired for several days a number of times, the last about 

 Oct. 10. No. 3 remained until the 20th, and a few of 

 the more wild ones were out some days later, even with 

 snow on the ground, showing that the time of their 

 retreat depends somewhat on the state of their store- 

 houses. 



The burrow of No. 1 was on a wooded bank north of 

 the house. The two holes were about five feet apart, the 

 lower one showing quite a mound of fresh earth. I did 

 not intend spinning out so long a letter when I began, but 

 the funny doings of Chippy would easily fill a volume. 

 We hope he will remember us when we retm-n in the 

 summer, though he will have been out many v.'eeks, if no 

 weasel or other enemy discovers him. He will, doubt- 

 less, be sm-prised when he wakes from his long nap to find 

 the house closed and empty. 



One other fact in natural history I've been interested in 

 this season. It is very likely known to others, but was 

 new to me, that the humming birds were attracted by 

 color. They would come daily to the bright-colored 

 cushions we kept in the hammocks, and seemed much 

 sui-prised that there was no honey. Perhaps, though, 

 they had the "balsam craze," and it was that, not the 

 color, that called them. X. X. 



Thb Adirondacks. 



Hares for Restocking.— i/dtYor Forest and Stream: 

 In your issue of Dec. 16, under the heading of "Belgian 

 Hares for Maine," yom- con-espondent "A. C. H." says; 

 "The large white hare {Lepus americayius) has disap- 

 peared from the sea coast of the State (of New Hamp- 

 shire), and all attempts at re breeding have been failures." 

 I have fiu-nished live white hares— alluded to above— for 

 parties in different States for the past thi-ee years, and 

 they have successfully bred in different parts of Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut, New York and many inland States, 

 as well as on islands of the Atlantic sea coast. Large 

 orders were sent to Mr. Chas. B. Corey, of Boston, who 

 stocked islands near Cape Cod with good results; also to 

 Messrs. Gildersleeve, of Gddersleeve, Conn., who are 

 well pleased with the results, and many others with Uke 

 good success. I cannot see why the same success might 

 not attend planting the same animal in New Hampshire 

 as has been done in many other States, especially as this 

 hare is indigenous to the Canadas and Maine, and other 

 border States. If "A. C. H." wishes to tiy the experi- 

 ment, I will send him by express any number he may 

 desh-e, with the full belief of satisfactory results.— J. G. 

 Rich (Bethel, Maine). 



Senate Bill 8,436, providing for preservation and gov- 

 ernment of the National Park, ought to go through the 

 Senate and House by an overwhelming^ majority. 



