Jan. 12, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



487 



a shapeless, ragged bit of blue cloth and bluet- cotton 

 batting lying in the middle of the floor. 



" 'What is it?' I asked, assuming an indifference I did 

 not feel. 



" ' "What is it?' exclaimed she in a tone of voice that 

 plainly indicated she was not indifferent to the little pile 

 of chewed-up blue cloth and blue cotton batting. 'It's 

 little Simon Peter's cap that cost a dollar and a. half, that's 

 what it is, all chewed up by that nuisance of a pup of 

 yours!' 



"I did look at tbe rained cap— J had to; but by promis- 

 ing to get another that afternoon just like it, I managed 

 to cahn my wife down. Sbe insisted, however, that I 

 should tie the dog up, and so to please her I passed a cord 

 about his neck and hitched him up to a post in the back 

 yard. But Jab wasn't used to standing hitched, and long- 

 before night he was racing back and forth over the 

 grounds in all tbe joyousness of young puppyhood. 



"In two or three days after we went from home on a visit 

 to be gone over night, and it became a question to know 

 what to do with Jab. Nancy proposed that we fasten 

 him up in the servant's room, and it was done. On our 

 return I hastened to that room to release the prisoner. 

 Good gracious! What a muss that room was in. to be 

 sure. He had clawed and pulled at a thick, heavy com- 

 fort that was on the bed until he had got at the cotton 

 with which it was lined, and bits of cotton were scat- 

 tered all over the room. It looked like a snowstorm had 

 come in our absence. That evening I brought up from 

 the store a brand new comfort to replace the one Jab had 

 so mercilessly torn up. 



"I think it was about a week before there was another 

 outbreak. Not that the dog ever behaved himself for a 

 whole week during his minority, for I am sure he did not, 

 but he had not been in the family long enough for us to 

 find out his tricks. One of my slippers was missing that 

 week and one of baby"s stockings, both of which were 

 found the following spring badly decayed in the rasp- 

 berry patch. Also one of the children's books was badly 

 rumpled and torn, but as no one had seen Jab with the 

 book, he could not justly be charged with it. What 

 Nancy may have thought about it she did not say, and I 

 did not ask. 



"At the end of the week succeeding the comfort per- 

 t formance I went home one afternoon an hour or so be- 

 I fore my usual time, and instead of going in at the front 

 ■ door I passed around the house, where a sight met my 

 1 eyes that was truly amazing. Jane bad that day washed 

 the bedclothes and the clothesline had been covered from 

 end to end with snow white sheets and counterpanes. A 

 smart breeze had sprung up and sheets and counterpanes 

 had been swaying and flapping as if they actually en- 

 joyed the day out of doors. What better fun for a young 

 dog than to lay hold of one and pull and tug and shake 

 and growl, as only a young dog could? Jab may have 

 imagined that they were hung out for his special delecta- 

 tion: at any rate he made the most of his opportunity. As 

 fate would have it he selected the largest and handsomest 

 , counterpane — the very one of all that Nancy prized tbe 

 most, for it was a present from her mother — pulled and 

 tugged at it till in one corner w T ere a hundred slits and 

 shreds. Every other article on the line had received a 

 worrying at his teeth, but he had dona his level best at 

 the big counterpane." 

 "What did Nancy say?" interposed Sang impatiently. 

 "Say! Why she was too mad to say anything. She 

 just jerked the things off the line and threw them all in 

 a heap, while I lambasted the pup within an inch of his 

 life. I whipped him and whipped him until my arm 

 fairly tired out and then I went and tried to comfort 

 Nancy, but I soon quit. She was mad as a hornet and 

 I've found out that when she is that way the best thing 

 to do is to let her alone. 



"After that we tied Jap up on wash days and saved 

 our clothes. Several days passing without any com- 

 plaint, I began to flatter myself that the dog had sowed 

 his wild oats and that there would be no more trouble. 

 But alas! The time had now come to sow the flower 

 seeds, when Jab concluded to sow more oats. The way 

 of it w-as this: Nancy had a flower garden all to herself, 

 in which she succeeded so well in raising flowers that she 

 was the envy of all the women of the town. As the sun 

 began to lengthen his stay and the spring days to come, 

 Nancy called in old Hugh, and between them they 

 worked over her flower garden till it looked like it had 

 been sand-papered. The marigolds and the Johnny -jurnp- 

 ups and all the other things that grow in flower gardens 

 had been planted in the pretty beds, and it was left for 

 1 the sun and rain to finish the work so prosperously 

 begun. 



"Had the two industrious mortals only looked under the 

 branches of the gooseberry bushes close by they might 

 have seen the bright inquisitive eyes of a very mis- 

 chievous puppy watching with great interest the progress 

 of the work; but they didn't, and so, when their work 

 was done and the coast was clear, all that mischievous 

 puppy had to do was to walk boldly out and take up the 

 work where they had left off; and he did it. The way 

 he wallowed and rolled and scratched and dug over and 

 over those beautiful flowerbeds beggars description. That 

 garden was a ruin, a waste, and verily I thought Jab's 

 last hoiu- had come. The outraged woman insisted on 

 him being led out to execution at once, and I stood dumb 

 before her, unable to utter a plea in his behalf. But Jab 

 always was the smartest dog that ever was, and if he did 

 not understand what she said, we have always given him 

 the credit of it, for do sooner did she say it than he ran 

 up to her and looked her steadfastly in the eye with such 

 a beseechhig confident look that she relented and forgave 

 him on tbe spot. 



"I do believe that the dog tried to mend his ways and 

 do better. For nearly two weeks he gave us no cause of 

 complaint, but on the contrary endeared himself to us all. 

 Whenever Nancy would step out of doors he was sure to 

 be at her heels, and he made a great show of being a sort 

 of body guard by running the chickens and pigs and 

 cows from her path, and you know there is no woman 

 who is not susceptible of attention, even from a dog. 

 And he also romped and played with the children to 

 their great amusement, and in other ways made himself 

 useful. 



"But in an unlucky moment temptation came in his 

 way and he again fell.' A few months before one of our 

 neighbors had provided Ms wife with a baby carriage, 

 which was considered by her and her 'set' as a little ahead 

 of anything in that line which had ever been brought to 

 , our town. Not long after its advent it became necessary 



for us to have a vehicle of the kind, and although I could 

 not very well afford it, I nevertheless bought one so much 

 better and handsomer than our neighbor's that her 'set' 

 even were known to admit it. This carriage was a source 

 of a vast deal of solid pleasure to Nancy, for she liked 

 above all things to slip little Ted into it and wheel him 

 around town, and especially past the door of our neigh- 

 bor's house, for to confess the truth the two families stood 

 on a sort of war footing toward each other. One after- 

 noon she had been out, and coming in, had left the car- 

 riage for a minute or so, as she at the time intended , on 

 tho front porch, but her minute lengthened into an hour, 

 and when she did go out, not only the porch, but the 

 whole front yard was strewn with bits and shreds and 

 patches and "strings of cherry-colored silk, moss, piled 

 cloth, patent leather and all the other things that go to 

 make up the finish and style of a fine baby wagon. The 

 beautifully painted wood work looked bke it had been 

 riddled with shot, and the whole thing was a most 

 miserable wreck of its former self. 



"Jab's doom was sealed and no mistake. At least you 

 would have thought so had you gone into the woodhouse 

 as I happened todo within ten minutes after the discovery. 

 Nancy had taken the clothesline and made a running- 

 noose on one end whish she slipped over his head, while 

 the other end had been thrown over a beam and was in 

 her resolute hands. The boys had assisted her thus far, 

 but as she began to tighten the noose and the dog to 

 struggle the children one and all set up such a lamentation 

 and bsgged so lustily for the life of their playmate, that 

 she was driven to relent and substitue banishment for 

 the death penalty. She proposed to Tobe that if he would 

 carry the dog to the country — away off on the other side 

 of the Poor House — and leave him there she would not 

 hang him. and Tobe assenting did so, but he had hardly 

 got back ere the dog, as I expected, came sneaking back 

 too. But I flunk he was a. wiser dog than ever he had 

 been before. He seemed to understand that he was a 

 criminal, and hung around the barn and in the further 

 side of the garden. The boys and I carried food to him 

 in the days of his disgrace, and although Nancy knew of 

 his reappearance and our Samaritan-like conduct, yet she 

 held her peace, pretending to know nothing of it. 



"Thence on, I must say he never meddled with any of 

 Nancy's belongings. He ceased 'setting' and crushing 

 with his paws her chickens; he robbed no more her hens' 

 nests — in a word he let her and hers alone. But dear 

 me, how he did worry one or two of the neighbors. Old 

 Mrs. Bouncer charged him with enough crimes to have 

 justified the hanging of half the dogs in town, while Mrs. 

 Fenceroper actually laid out poisoned meat for him, 

 which the Bouncer dog ate to his death, Mrs. Caplow 

 accused him of stealing a ham off her kitchen table one 

 day, a story so improbable I refused to believe it unless 

 she herself would say she saw him do it, which she would 

 not, but not long after I discovered Jab gnawing in our 

 back yard on a recently unearthed ham. and I had no 

 doubt then but it was the Caplow ham. If he let Nancy's 

 things alone he did not mine. The devil seemed to be in 

 him. He actually raided one night a half dozen choice 

 young apple trees I had recently set out and killed them 

 as dead as herrings. Taking the trunk of a tree between 

 his teeth he ran round and round till he ringed it as 

 neatly as I could have done with a knife. Old Fence- 

 roper heard him growling in the night and walked over 

 to my fence to see what he was at, and was so tickled 

 with the performance that he never mentioned it till the 

 next day. O, if you think a pup is no more trouble to 

 raise than a chicken just get one and trv it awhile. 

 That's all I" 



"I think I'll buy my dog full grown,'' said Sang, after 

 a short pause. 

 "And I think I'll go to bed," said Peleg. 



D. D. Banta. 



Khaxkxin, Ind. 



NOTES FROM THE PARK. 



MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Dec. 29.— The condition 

 of the Park at the present time presents a marked 

 contrast to that of last year at this season. The snow 

 fall to the present time has been so light that horseback 

 travel over the whole Park has scarcely been impeded. 

 The most of the large game still remains in the moun- 

 tains, though scouting parties report the slopes of Speci- 

 men Eidge fairly lined with elk. The elk are also re- 

 ported in other mountain resorts in undiminished num- 

 bers. Last year at this time the borders of the Park were 

 surrounded by professional hunters ready to pounce upon 

 any unwary elk or deer that might stray outside, or to 

 take advantage of any lack of vigilance on the part of the 

 soldiers to venture a short distance inside. Now the Park 

 appears to be almost entirely free from this annoyance. 

 Several causes have combined to bring about this changed 

 condition. The difficulties experienced last year in mar- 

 keting the meat, discouraged many old hunters, and the 

 excellent law passed by the Legislature of Montana at its 

 last regular session has added to their disgust. This law 

 gives an open season from Aug. 15 to Dec. 1 only, and 

 absolutely forbids the killing of any animal for his head 

 or hide alone or for sale or speculative purposes. 



The mining camp at Cook City, located at the northeast 

 corner of the Park, and whose people have heretofore 

 almost subsisted during the winter off of the game killed 

 by hunters — who are indifferently hunters or honest 

 miners, according to the season of the year — has become 

 so reduced In circumstances that scarcely twenty people 

 remain in the place where there were several hundred a 

 year or two ago. It is expected, however, that this place 

 will again become prosperous upon the completion of the 

 Rocky Fork R. R. . and it will doubtless always give the 

 Park much trouble. 



The arrest of several hunters within the Park during 

 the past two years, and the confiscation of their outfits, 

 has doubtless contributed in some degree to the present 

 improved condition of the Park. C. C. 0. 



Deer and Dogs on Long Island.— Marvelous stories 

 are told of the performances of the deer that was recently 

 chased by dogs through Say ville, L. I. , two men declar- 

 ing that they saw it clear a 2ft. ditch, a 4ft. board w^alk 

 along which runs a hand rail 3ft. high, and finally a 66ft. 

 road, all at a single bound. Such a leap would be over 

 70ft. The poor creature finally ran into the bay, where 

 it was oauglit by some bay men and brought to shore. It 

 was so exhausted, however, that it only lived for a short 

 time after being captured. 



MAINE LARGE GAME. 



THE season for moose, deer and caribou shooting in 

 Maine legally expired on the first day of January, 

 1888. The record of deer and caribou killed is not large 

 but that on moose, if all stories are even one-half true, is 

 surprising. The Maine Fish and Game Commissioners, 

 who make no report this year, for the reason that there 

 is no session of the Legislature of that State, are reported 

 to have said that the increase in the large game, moose, 

 deer and caribou, has been wonderful. This is true, if 

 the record of the killed is also true. This increase has 

 gone on in spite of all the illegal hunting that has been 

 done, and which the last Legislature neglected to appro- 

 priate money enough to punish. These facts go to show 

 what a paradise of game that State might become, were 

 the State wise enough to provide the means for enforcing 

 the game laws, as they should be enfoi-ced. None know 

 better than the worthy Commissioners of that State that 

 the game laws are but feebly enforced at tbe best, and 

 this for tbe want of means. The Commissioners do not 

 need to be told in the columns of the Industrial Journal, 

 by Jock Darling, that the game laws are not enforced as 

 they should be in Hancock county, but the only reason 

 Why they do not have a sufficient number of officers and 

 wardens down there to really protect the game is for the. 

 want of means. The State is a great one, with an enor- 

 mous tract of unsettled territory to be looked after, as 

 well as a large tract of thinly settled districts on the 

 borders of the unsettled wilderness. It would require 

 nearly an ariny of wardens and patrolmen to fully protect 

 the entire State, so the work of the Commission has had 

 to be narrowed down to the worst plague spots, and Mr. 

 Jock Darling can readily see in what light his neighbor- 

 hood is regarded by the Commission by the amount of 

 work they have put in there. 



* But, as noted above, the killing of moose in Maine has 

 been remarkable, even if the stories are only partly true. 

 In the first place the record of moose killed in the open 

 season embraces ten or twelve, the last ones having been 

 killed in Franklin county the other day, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Tun and Bartlett lakes. There were two killed 

 by the hunters from the herd of four or five. One of 

 these, so said the reports in the daily papers, was an 

 enormous fellow, whose age indicated by his antlers must 

 ha ve been 14 years. He was killed by A. B. Douglass, 

 but the reports in the papers say that this moose must 

 not be confounded with the other one killed by A. P. 

 Douglas early in the fall. What does this means? Are 

 there two Douglas moose hunters ? Evidently somebody 

 is trying to save somebody from the odium of the law, 

 which provides that only one moose, two caribou and three 

 deer shall fall to the lot of the same hunter in the same 

 season. But the item does not entirely screen the slayer 

 of the moose from the name of breaking the law, for it 

 goes to say that the horns and steak of the moose "are on 

 the way to Boston, where it cannot fail of bringing a 

 good price." Now it really looks as though Mr. Douglas 

 or somebody had been law-breaking, for the newspapers 

 nearly give him away as having killed two moose this 

 fall, besides shipping the animals, or parts of them, out of 

 the State. Besides it was true that the other great moose 

 killed by Mr. Douglas early in the fall, concerning which 

 the Forest and Stream has already had an account, 

 found its way to Boston; for it was shown at Messenger's, 

 on Bromfield street, this city. It is well enough for Mr, 

 Douglas to be emblazoned in the papers as the slayer of a 

 great moose, if he delights in such notoriety, but it is 

 shameful for him to kill more than his legal share and 

 then ship them out of the State in defiance to the law. 



But the record of moose illegally killed in that State 

 the past year is a bad one, even if half of it is true, whde 

 at the same time there is no good reason for doubting the 

 entire story. A gentleman, thoroughly acquainted with 

 moose hunting hi Maine, and acquainted with a number 

 of the best guides in the Moosehead region, has kindly 

 made up a record of the moose killed, generally illegally, 

 that he has heard of in that State the past year. The 

 record embraces 12 of these noble game animals, and 

 since they were nearly all killed out of season, it shows 

 how great the need is of better protection than the Com- 

 missioners, with the limited appropriations of the State, 

 are able to give them. The record includes 1 moose 

 killed between Chesuncook farm and Pine Stream, 1 

 killed at Spencer Pond, 1 at Lobster Lake, 1 at Neilhodus 

 Stream, 1 at Tomhegan Pond, this one after Oct. 1; 3 at 

 Harrison Lake, 1 at the thoroughfare between Eagle 

 Lake and Churchill Lake, 1 at Sunset Brook, near Eagle 

 Lake — the hide and meat were both to be seen by those 

 who knew where to look for them; 1 at Ellis Brook, this 

 one after Oct. 1; 1 in the neighborhood of Loon Lake. 

 Besides his record shows a caribou killed at Mud Pond. 

 The above game killed illegally, was chiefly killed in the 

 spring, either by crusting or late in the spring for bear 

 bait. The gentleman thinks, and his reasons are sound, 

 that the bounty on bears in that State is a curse to the 

 large game. To kill a deer or a moose in the woods in 

 the spring and leave the carcass where it fell, simply 

 stripping it of the hide, is sure to attract all the bears of 

 the vicinity. In this work the bear trapper or hunter is 

 doubly sure if he drags the carcass some distance before 

 it is done bleeding. The bear scents the blood, and 

 quickly trails it to the point where the carcass has been 

 fastened to a sapling, but he cannot reach it without fall- 

 ing into the trap set to catch him. But the hunter must 

 have some large game animal, and there are few to 

 answer the case but moose, deer or caribou. Of the 

 above-mentioned moose the meat of but two or three ever 

 came out of the forest. It was used for bear bait gen- 

 erally, and suffered to rot if not eaten up by the bears. 



The trappers are generally poachers. They go into 

 the woods, ostensibly after furs, but they take all the 

 game a,nd fish they desire, either for bait or for their own 

 food. They do not scruple in the least to bring down a 

 moose if a single mess of steak is wanted. Such poaching 

 is hard to reach, and add the amount of it to the number 

 of moose and deer killed by the lumbermen and the 

 hunters who follow them every winter. It is a wonder 

 that the large game of Maine has not long ago been 

 exterminated. And yet at the close of the year the Com- 

 missioners are able to say, with truthfulness, that there 

 ! has been a great increase in the number of moose, deer 

 and caribou in Maine. This only goes to show what a 

 paradise for sportsman that State might become, in only 

 a few years, if only the proper protection could become 

 a fixed fact. But the moose, even if they have shown a 

 marked increase in the sections where the game laws are 



