818 



FOREST "AND • STREAM. 



[Deo. 14, 18$5. 



THE BLIND ANGLER OF HADLEY. 



Mr, Clarence E. Hawks, who is popularly known as 

 the "blind poet of New England," and whose verses are 

 current in leading magazines and journals, has just issued 

 a volume of collated poems, under the title of "Pebbles 

 and Shells," which has hit the public taste exactly, the 

 first edition being sold before it came off the press. 



Its contents are presented in six parts, devoted respect- 

 ively and first to nature, second to war and patriotism, 

 (including that graphically heroic poem entitled "The 

 Last Charge at Gettysburg"), the third to love, the fourth 

 to thoughts of childhood, the fifth to idyls of New Eng- 

 land, and the sixth to miscellaneous effusions. The vol- 

 ume is delightfully original all through, and its title is in 

 touch with the proclivities of those who love nature. 



Sportsmen in particular will read it with keen sym- 

 pathy and at once become eager purchasers as soon as 

 ever they understand that the interesting young author 

 is not only an expert angler, but that the deprivation of 

 his eyesight came from a charge of shot in the face while 

 he was afield with a companion, and that this calamity 

 followed the amputation of a leg which had been injured 

 by jumping a fence. 



Although so seriously handicapped, his ardor is not at 

 all abated, and he sings and recites again with cheery 

 voice the active parts he has enacted; and all the time his 

 sunny pictures seem the more vivid for being physiolog- 

 ically developed in the dark I One thing is certain, and 

 no less remarkable, that few habitues of the mountain 

 streams which thread his native hills in northwestern 

 Massachusetts are more deft in casting the fly or worm, 

 or handling a captive fish and bringing it to creel. We 

 can conceive it to be simple enough for a blind man to sit 

 in a punt and fish over the side with a hand line, but 

 trout fishiDg enlists more active faculties. This marvel- 

 ous gift of young Hawks, which seems to centralize and 

 stimulate all the remaining senses to supply the ones de- 

 stroyed, is certainly inexplicable; and it applies to all his 

 walks and pursuits in life. The loss of his eyesight seems 

 rather to enhance and intensify the pleasure which the 

 other perceptive faculties afford. A psychological analy- 

 sis of this rare gift is given in a preliminary chapter of 

 the book, as well as a biographical sketch of the author, 

 whose life history is phenomenal and intensely interest- 

 ing. 



The volume is illustrated by Elbridge Kingsley, one of 

 the most eminent artists of his guild, and the introductory 

 chapter is by Charles Hallock, the pioneer editor of 

 Forest and Stream. 



Altogether it is the most attractive book of poems that 

 has been issued in many a year, and would be a fitting asso- 

 ciate in the library for Isaac McLellan's "Poems of the 

 Rod and Gun." It is being circulated in aesthetic literary 

 circles, and the author has already received an autograph 

 congratulation from ex-Secretary Robert P. Lincoln. It 

 is published by the Picturesque Pub. Co., Northampton, 

 Mass. Price $1.50. H. 



California's New Salmon Station. 



Baird, Cal., Nov. 30. — An event has occurred this season 

 in California which will probably revolutionize the work of 

 salmon breeding on the Pacific coast. It is the establish- 

 ment by the State Fish Commission of their station on Bat- 

 tle Creek near Ball's Ferry, and the phenomenal success 

 which has attended their operations at that point during 

 the last month. Salmon eggs have never been taken before 

 in this country so quickly, so easily and with so little ex- 

 pense as they have just been taken by the State at Battle 

 Creek. A comparatively very small force of men took 

 10,000,000 eggs in eighteen days and within a period of 

 twenty-one days in all. The creek below the rack was a 

 moving mass of ripe fish. It took but three men to haul the 

 seine, and they caught enough fish the first haul to keep the 

 force at work the rest of the day taking their eggs. Such 

 expeditious and inexpensive salmon spawning was never 

 known in this country, and probably not in the world. 



The discovery of this extraordinary place for taking 

 salmon eggs and the turning of it lo practical use is due to 

 Mr. John P. Babcock, the chief deputy of the California Fish 

 Commission, who recommended it to the Commission, who 

 in their turn showed their wisdom and foresight by adopt- 

 ing Mr. Babcock's recommendation and building the station 

 this last summer. 



This station will doubtless be able in future to stock both 

 the Sacramento and the Columbia with fall run eggs, but it 

 must not be forgotten in this connection that it is the sum- 

 mer fish that support most of the great canneries of the 

 Sacramento and the Columbia, so that however great the 

 success of the Battle Creek Station may be, the United States 

 Station at Baird on the McCloud Paver, which is the only 

 station on the Pacific slope which turns out any large num- 

 ber of eggs from the summer run of Quinnat or Chinook 

 salmon, will still have an excuse for its existence. 



Livingston Stone. 



he Menml 



FIXTURES. 



BENCH 8HOW8. 

 1896. 



Feb. 19 to 22.— Westminster Kennel Club's twentieth annual dog 

 show, Madison Square Garden. New Y/oris. James Mortimer, Supt. 



March 10 to 13.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Club's bench show. 

 John L. Lincoln, Sec'y. 



March 17 to 20.— St. Louis Kennel Club's show, St. Louis. W. 

 Hutchinson, Sec'y. 



April 20 to 23 —New England Kennel Club's twelfth annual show. 

 D. E. Loveland, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIAL8. 



1896. 



Jan. 20.-Bakersfleld, Cal.— Pacific Coast Field Trial Club. J. M. 

 Kilgarif, Sec'y. 



Jan. 20.— West Point, Miss.— TJ. 8. F. T. C. trials. W. B. Stafford, 

 Sec'y. 



Feb. 3— West Point, Miss.— Southern F. T. O. seventh annual trials. 

 T. M. Brumby, Sec'y. 



Feb. 10 or later.— West Point, Miss.— The Field Trial Champion 

 Association's first trial. W. B. Stafford, Sec'y. 



Sept. 2.— Morris, Man.— Manitoba Field Trials Club. John Wootton, 

 Sec'y. 



Business. 



I sold the two dogs advertised in Forest and Stbkam, namely, Mol- 

 leen (Henmore Shamrock— Daisy), wiener, divided third I. S trials, 

 1892, and Alice Kent (Inchiauin— Onota Belle), winner of many prizes, 

 to Mr. Bernon Ogden, of Oi-cago. F. L. Cheney, 



COON HUNTING IN CONNECTICUT. 



In those days, back in the 50s, I was but a lad in my 

 teens, living in that rugged section of the State adjacent 

 the Naugatuck River where I became acquainted with 

 that whole-souled, genial old gentleman, Squire Calvin 

 L., who delighted in chasing to bag those ever alert little 

 animals, coons, and with whom I experienced my first 

 knocks and bruises, together with sundry contusions inci- 

 dent to an all night among fallen timbers, tangled myr- 

 tles and jagged boulders, not to mention the many sur- 

 prises from hidden burrows, which occasionally would 

 swallow a leg, often threaten the whole boy, and seldom 

 failed to test the strength of my vertebra. 



It was only in these rustic surroundings that I found 

 coons holding their entertainments, or if they ventured 

 far from home it was only for a short vacation of pleas- 

 ure — maybe on a trip to some neighboring creek to in- 

 dulge in a little recreation at frogging, or perchance to 

 some nearby cornfield to sample the succulent ears in the 

 general interest of coondom and their own; at all events, 

 whatever fancy stirred their brains, they always kept an 

 eye on things at home in their mountain fastness, seem- 

 ingly that in case of failure in their outside speculation 

 they could have the satisfaction of being the possessors of 

 a home to return to, and thus avoid being If ft out in the 

 world, subject to its cold charities, of which their appre- 

 ciation for seemed but small in its most magnified pre- 

 sentments: but, like the higher order of animals, they did 

 sometimes make a mistake in calculation, and it was such 

 an occurrence that Squire Calvin and myself, in the new 

 combine, were permitted to appear upon the scene. 



The Squire had often talked about a coon hunt, and had 



Eut about as much coon into my head as it could well 

 old. I was fairly aroused with the idea by his faithful 

 description of how Tiger could tree them and then kill 

 them when they were shaken to the ground; and what an 

 easy thing for a lad like me, "so fond of climbing," to go 

 into the tree and shake them off, and then to get down 

 and see Tiger finish them, sometimes two or three in one 

 evening. 



That settled it, I must go a- coon hunting and see my 

 intimate friend old Tiger in his glory. Only a few 

 weeks more when on some suitable night we were to go 

 and I was to be informed in time to be on hand. 



Now, my friend Tiger was a good dog, worthy of the 

 name of friend. He was good every way, and his sense of 

 propriety and duty was never questioned by any boy in 

 the village. He would mind his own business and be con- 

 tented with so doing; but if set upon by dogs of less sense 

 he always came out best. It is told to his credit he saved 

 the house of his master from being burned to the ground 

 by pulling the clothes from his master's bed and escort- 

 ing him to a fire well under way in the kitchen, where 

 in a few moments more it would have been beyond con- 

 trol. On another occasion he aroused; his master in a 

 similar way and stealthily led him to a stable in time to 

 save the horses from thieves, who fled from the unlocked 

 door without having secured their booty. 



To him coon hunting seemed to be conducted upon prin- 

 ciples instinctively and peculiarly his own, as I never 

 heard that any one ever trained Tiger; but that he had no 

 peer in all New England for this sport all who knew him 

 will willingly vouch. Then here was to be the new com- 

 bine—the Squire, myself and Tiger. After waiting a 

 full moon or more the time seemed favorable — corn was 

 big enough to tempt coons, and repcrb was that one field 

 had received their visits, as the ears plainly showed their 

 work. And the damp night so long waited for had ar- 

 rived, and the Squire had located a field of corn, one 

 lying wtll upon the side of the bluff back of the present 

 village of B. F., a field which looked well advanced, with 

 adjacent large timber upon the one side, the home of 

 coons — so reported — with a good growth of small trees 

 below and on the opposite side of the cornfield. This 

 would afford excellent retreat and they could be easily 

 climbed whenever a coon should be silly enough to ven- 

 ture there in our presence. 



Ten o'clock, the hour of starting, was announced by 

 the Squire. Supper being over, the Squire and myself 

 busied ourselves cleaning up an old single-barrel muzzle- 

 loader, looking up ammunition, getting candles for the 

 old tin lantern, putting up luncheon and a bottle of hard 

 cider, walking to and fro waiting for the hour of 10 to be 

 rung out on the gong within the 7ft. clock standing in the 

 corner of the kitchen— did time ever move so slowly or 

 hang half so heavily? 



At length the little gray horse was brought out all sad- 

 dled and bridled, as the first move; then Tiger caught the 

 fever and begged and coaxed for us to wait no longer, and 

 as the night was quite dark and a fog was settled over the 

 lowlands, we concluded to make the start without waiting 

 the full time of 10 o'clock, and thus we departed at 9:45, 

 the horse carrying the Squire, the lantern (not lighted), 

 the gun, ammunition and luncheon, while myself and 

 Tiger ran along together beside the horse — all in the high- 

 est glee, with a clear mile and thi-ee-quarters before us. 

 After the usual stumbling and interruptions to be found 

 on a country road on a dark night, we at length reached 

 the turn and left the main river road, following one bear- 

 ing toward the woods, with knolls and hills rapidly suc- 

 ceeding one another, until at length we reached the bars 

 on S.'s farm which stood guard to an ancient cart path 

 leading off across the lots into denser darkness. Here 

 the Squire called a halt and gave me his load; then, 

 dismounting, hitched the little gray; then calling Tiger 

 to him he caressed the dog and talked to him for a 

 moment, telling him "he was a good dog, and must 

 show up a good lot of coons." Turning to me he said: 

 "You take the lantern and keep the door closed so as 

 not to lose the candles. I will carry the gun. The lunch- 

 eon we will leave right here. All ready? Now move 

 carefully and still." And as we, a procession of three, 

 moved to the timber line above the cornfield, the quiet 

 was almost painful. At length, reaching a knoll above 

 the cornfield, which was faintly outlined below Us, Tiger 

 was bid to "Go look 'em," and the Squire and myself took 

 seats near to each other and awaited further develop- 

 ments. Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed, and no re- 

 port, not a sound; but as the Squire and myself were 

 whispering our disappointment the faithful Tiger re- 

 turned and begged us to go up the hill toward the timber, 

 in all probability recollecting some former experience 

 thereabouts. We unhesitatingly did as indicated, as we 

 must have a coon near that place, although disappoint- 

 ment met us where we had pictured so much success. We 

 were out for coons, and we must go to where they were. 



The dog was let go again, and we followed among the 

 trees into the woods where darkness was made darker, 

 over roots and broken limbs of trees, with no pack to 

 guide us. Moving on until well up the bluff, halting a 

 few moments here and there, we moved as silently as 

 possible. When the dog returned he was again dis- 

 patched further up the bluff. The Squire and myself 

 took seats on a fallen tree and awaited the sound of a 

 start with expectant ears, the Squire whispering, "This 

 beats all ; this is good ground for 'em; they are always 

 here. But if they get started for the big ledge there will 

 be no use of spending much time with 'em, for every coon 

 that gets in there is a safe coon sure. I suppose just to 

 our left for a hundred rods or so I have run in a dozen 

 under that ledge and never got one out up to this day. 

 Hark! Hear that? Mark the sound! That is Tige and a 

 coon, but only a track yet. There he goes! Now he sees 

 him and is close on to him! But ain't he hazing him! 

 Tige never barks like that unless he has had a sight of the 

 animal. He understands that if he rushes him he won't 

 run far before he trees. But it will suit me just as well 

 if he turns a little further down the hill, for if he gets 

 into one of those big chestnuts up there he is about as 

 good as lost to us unless we camp till morning, as they 

 are too big for you to climb and thick enough at the top 

 to shelter any amount of coons such a night as this." 



I felt a little anxious to be a-moving, but the Squire 

 said, "No, just wait; I'll tell you when to start, Tige will 

 give the signal when to come, let him alone for that. 

 Only last fall I had one up that big shingle oak just over 

 there (pointing close across my nose) in the gully, and I 

 got him, a big dog coon, the darkest colored one I ever 

 saw. I maneuvered all night around that tree, but no go, 

 I had to wait till daylight. Then !— we must be going 

 now." 



And go we did, with the Squire chatting on: "And 

 then I shot him. It took three charges to knock him out, 

 but I did it. The rascal got away out on the largest limb 

 he could find, one that runs out on the down-hill side, as 

 far away from the ground as he could well do, and the 

 nearest I could get to him left me to shoot straight up in 

 the air, and the limb was a good shield for him, but the 

 second shot made him hitch along a little, and I got the 

 next charge in all right, and down he came." 



Tiger was now barking in good earnest, doubling his 

 former efforts, and at a much higher key, the Squire 

 urging "more speed" and puffing loudly, "He is either in 

 a tree or under that ledge, and I am afraid under that 

 ledge, for Tige don't bark right. Now you follow close 

 to me. I know the ground and can go straight to him." 



"But why not light up the lantern," I suggested, which 

 only brought forth the reply: "That won't do, for if 

 Tige sees the light he will stop barking before we get to 

 him." 



And so we stumbled and hurried, and I took my first 

 genuine "header" over a rolling stone and laid low listen- 

 ing to the rattle of the old gun as it fetched up against an 

 oak sapling, and heard the Squire grunt as a fallen limb 

 doubled him with a blow below the belt; but I was up 

 and to the rescue just in time to hear again the fierce 

 bark of Tiger, which sounded just a little to the left, only 

 a few rods further on, when Squire Calvin ordered "less 

 haste," the wind being much taken out of him climbing 

 the steep and rough bluff covered with stones innumer- 

 able. 



I willingly adopted the new and better tactics, as I too 

 was getting a little short of breath and much heated, the 

 sweat starting freely; but we did not stop, only let up a 

 little ; and here we were close to Tiger, as he whined not 

 a rod away. The Squire with saddened words said, "I 

 fear it is all up. That blasted coon has played it on us. 

 He is in that ledge sure." And so it was. There we 

 were standing under its overhanging side and there was 

 Tiger throwing the dtf t and gravel over the leaves at a 

 rate that would have done credit to a steam digger. We 

 lighted the lantern and by its dim rays explored the situa- 

 tion. There was the rock, as big as a meeting house, 

 with a cavern under one side of it which I easily crawled 

 into for several feet; and there were burrows extending 

 from its several sides with no visible means of finding the 

 other end of either of them. After spending a full half 

 hour punching sticks into the one which Tiger claimed 

 contained the coon, and with no better result, we deter- 

 mined to let that coon remain. 



The Squire coaxed the dog to follow, and after taking a 

 good look with the aid of the lantern at the big specter- 

 like figures and shadows before us, we blew out the light 

 in the lantern and took step3 on our course to the smaller 

 timber below, where we hunted without results for nearly 

 an hour when we concluded to retrace our steps homeward, 

 believing we had scared all the coons out of the woods for 

 the time being, but agreeing to come again at no distant 

 date; and so journeyed on to the horse at the bars, where 

 we had left him. 



The Squire being hungry and dry proposed a lunch, 

 which was quickly agreed to and as quickly consummat- 

 ed, thus doing away with that much of the load. Lunch- 

 eon being over the bars were let down and the Squire 

 mounted the gray and took possession of the lantern and 

 gun, and leading the way started on the road homeward 

 with saddening thoughts that the new combine had 

 utterly failed in their first expedition. 



Moving on in sad procession, we had not gone to exceed 

 a quarter of a mile when Tiger quickly left my side where 

 he had been trotting along and bounded over the low, half 

 tumbled down stone wall topped up with a few rails d la 

 Virginia, he gave voice which was fast crossing the pas- 

 ture. The Squire reined up with true military precision, 

 and we both listened with hopes rising to catch the sound 

 of conflict. 



"Coon, sure," came from the Squire. 



"Ours, sure," said I. 



"Thert!" says the Squire, "that is something like it. 

 That is our coon. No ledges there. Just you trot to the 

 bars at the foot of the next rise and let me through and 

 we will cooper that fellow." My part was quickly done 

 even at the trot. 



On the opposite side of this pasture not forty rods from 

 us was a fair-sized brook, which led into a small pond 

 some 200 rods below, but which from long neglect showed 

 only a tumbled down heap of an old stone dam, but it suf- 

 ficiently stopped the water course to cause % or 8ft. of 

 water to cover nearly a quarter of an acre of poor land. In 

 front, and as our course lay, across this brook was a high 

 bank as steep as the roofs of the houses hereabouts, and 

 this bank was covered for a few rods with a thick growth 

 of very tall hemlocks with branches from the ground up- 



