560 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 16.. 1896, 



f$M ffparteum jurist 



"SPORT" IN FRANCE.— I. 



If I were a Frenchman and were to write an article on 

 sport in France as Frenchmen look at if , I fear that either 

 you would not publish it, or else you would soon be in 

 hot water with the Social-purity Society of New York. 



As a matter of fact the Latin races are not endowed 

 with the sporting instinct, it is the Teutonic blood that 

 bears with it the love of field sports. I came across a 

 curious illustration of this quite recently. The French 

 authorities, becoming alarmed at the continued deterio- 

 ration of the national physique, sent a committee of in- 

 quiry to England to look into the school and nursery sys- 

 tems. The committee reported that the fine physique of 

 the English was due to the ardent devotion of the grow- 

 ing boys to field sporfcs, especially football. A supply of 

 footballs was thereupon distributed among the schools, 

 and it was solemnly enacted that all the boys should be 

 obliged to play football for one hour per day. Those who 

 see it say it is a ludicrously sad spectacle when the un- 

 happy boys are marshalled and "crawl snail-like unwil- 

 lingly" to play; and play, truly for they must, but watch 

 the clock and gladly escape the moment the hour is 

 struck. There is nothing more significant than the fact 

 that all sporting terms here are borrowed from the Eng- 

 lish, e. g., "jockey," "club," "bulldog," "steeplechase," 

 "cross-country," "tennis," "cricket," "trot," and the 

 word "sport" itself. 



The taste that in one phase of its development leads to 

 a pursuit of sport and in another or natural science is so 

 far exotic of this country that while the French are lead- 

 ers in all mathematical, chemical, mechanical, engineer- 

 ing and philological sciences, they have to look to Ger- 

 many, America, England, etc., for investigations in geol- 

 ogy, zoology or kindred pursuits. 



Nothing shows the state of popular taste more than the 

 books it is supplied with. In America and England, first 

 class text books, right up to date, are the fodder of the 

 classes, for the most part, but the books one sometimes 

 meets with here are so extraordinary that it is best to 

 suopose they are not seriously meant. 



On picking up a popular work of adventure that I saw 

 on a book stall one day, I was regaled with something 

 which very freely translated was about as follows: "But 

 though mounted on his swift little steed, Jacques was not 

 yet safe. Suddenly the horse was dashed to the ground 

 and his rider was projected into the bushes. They had 

 fallen on one of tbe cables of the gigantic tropic spider of 

 Senegal. The horse's neck was broken, and Jacques 

 hastened on afoot. Within ten minutes he heard a 

 strange swelling sound behind hirn. What was it? In- 

 stantly he grasped the situation. There could be no mis- 

 taking that blood-curdling chorus of roars rapidly ap- 

 proaching. He was pursued by a pack of tigers. But 

 Jacques was swift of foot as he was stout of heart, and 

 settiug off at full speed he soon left his terrible pursuers 

 far behind. At length he saw a path, and on following 

 it he came to a great fortress. Never doubting that he 

 would be hospitably received he made for the door. But 

 alas! it was filled with villainous treacherous English- 

 men: cowards! dastards! Scarcely had he appeared, 

 when a hundred muskets were leveled at his breast. 

 Quickly he gathered about him the supple folds of his 

 rhinoceros hide mantle, and none too soon, for a perfect 

 hail of lead rattled upon its impervious folds, and fell 

 broken and harmless at his feet. Turning with a yell of 

 scorn he dashed again into the jungle, preferring to face 

 the savage brutes to the yet more savage and brutal Eng- 

 lish. But soon in tbe tropical darkness which had set in 

 he saw a large space illumined as by an electric light. 

 What was it? It was the light from a panther's eyes. In 

 another instant the ferocious monster was upon him. 

 With all his force he brought down his heavy axe on the 

 creature's skull. But the impervious bristling hair and 

 the flinty hardness of the skin caused the keen weapon 

 to glance aside as from a wall of adamant, and before he 

 could recover himself the rapacious monster with one 

 stroke of its immensely powerful tail laid him mangled 

 and bleeding on the ground," etc. 



Another book which I picked up at one of the innum- 

 erable book stalls on the Quai, is perhaps more faixiy to 

 be taken as a gauge of French sport. This work, now 

 before me, is called the "Hunter's Note Book," and the 

 first thing about it that strikes one is a blank game record, 

 with columns for everything, from wild baar downward, 

 for every day in the year. One column marked simply 

 "Divers" is understood to be for thrushes, sparrows and 

 warblers. There is a chapter devoted to the game laws, 

 and the first notable thing about it is the last section. 

 The book is dated 1886, and the laws given are supposed 

 to be now in force, and yet this last section runs thus: 



"The decree of the 4th May, 1812, and the law of the 30th April, 

 1790, are abrogated. . . . Given at the Palace of the Tuileries, 

 tne 3d day of May, 1841.— Louis Philippe I." 



There's a paralyzer for our game legislators — two alter- 

 ations in a century. The French Legislature must surely 

 have something else on which they put in their time 

 tinkering, as perhaps they care nothing about game laws 

 good or bad. 



Another item of interest is that no shooting or hunting 

 is allowed when the ground is covered with snow. 

 Throughout the book itself one is impressed with the 

 notion that "Venus rather than Diana is the Goddess of 

 the Chasseur Francais. One of the first pictures in it is 

 called "A Happy Meeting," and represents, not a fortu- 

 nate chance at big game, but a lovely maiden taking an 

 ankle bath in a brook, just as a gunner in all the toggery 

 of the dude sportsman bursts on the scene. One cannot 

 look at even the picture of "An Evening in Springtime," 

 which represents a group of rabbits at play, without 

 noticing that the real subject is a distant "spooning" 

 couple, in black relief against the rising moon. 



A large proportion of the illustrations of this sporting 

 book bear such purely sporting titles as "WoL" ! Wolf r 

 "A Lesson in Shooting," and represent episodes in love- 

 making, without any connection with what we should 

 call sport excepting that the hero wears leggins and 

 carries a gun. 



Talking about national victories, and before we leave 

 the boulevards I wish you to conjure up in your mind the 

 latter with all their thronging gaiety, and remember that 

 these make Paris, indeed are Paris. I wish you to take 

 in well this lively scene of life al fresco, and to realize 



that the whole thing would be impossible but for the 

 trees, and finally that those species are all of an Ameri- 

 can species. The Platanus occidentalis is the father of 

 the French boulevards. Its wonderful trick of casting 

 its overcoat each spring when it is soiled and dirty gives 

 it a power of withstanding the inevitable fumes of the 

 city, while other trees are slowly poisoned or are simply 

 choked by the dirt on their bark, and fade away. The 

 European plane has the same habit, but in a less degree, 

 it seems, for, as one of the professors of the Jardin des 

 Plantes told me, the American tree is the one alone that 

 thrives perfectly in the city, and it is the real father of 

 the famous boulevards. 



Again, kind reader, I wish you to stand where I stood 

 last October on the margin of the famous Forest of Fon- 

 tainebleau, and watch the loveliest autumn scene I ever 

 saw. It was a gorgeously colored landscape — so beauti- 

 ful that I was forced to admit that I had never seen 

 finer autumnal tints in America. Not quite so loud, 

 perhaps, as in the New World, but more exquisite in 

 harmony, I thought, as indeed we always think about 

 the last seen of such effects. Softly blended purples, 

 grays and blues were shot with gold and shaded with 

 green and brown in a manner of marvellous delicacy. 

 But the focal point of the whole panorama was a blaze 

 of scarlet and crimson that enveloped a little chateau 

 and gave the final touch, the real force to the whole 

 scene. At length I drew nearer to understand this burn- 

 ing bush that was not consumed — and lo and behold! the 

 crowning glory of this European landscape was a great, 

 straggling, imported American Virginia creeper. 



One word in conclusion, as the preachers say. I was 

 in an office while a Frenchman used the telephone. He 

 rung, and his challenge word was — what do you supposf ? 

 It was "Hello!" much incrusted with French accent 

 truly, but still unquestionably "hello." "Where did you 

 get that word?'' I exclaimed; "it is not French, is it?" 

 "No!" he replied, "it came here with the telephone. I 

 hear them say it is American." Ernest E. Thompson. 



Pabis, 1892. 



MINNESOTA BASS WATERS. 



Promising: in my last communication to Forest and 

 Stream an account of a fishing excursion to the wilds of 

 Minnesota, I had let the matter entirely escape my 

 memory until I discovered a photograph of some bass 

 taken on one of my "up country" trips, and was thus 

 reminded of my promise. 



Having told many stories to friends here about the boss 

 fishing I had enjoyed in Aitkin county in past years and 

 being accused just as often of being a fish liar of no mean 

 ability, I determined to take a party with me on my next- 

 trip, and by announcing a date some weeks ahead, had 

 no trouble to make up the party. We proceeded from 

 here to Aitkin, and after sundry preparations in which 

 we were ably seconded by the hospitable citizens, we 

 were enabled to get away and fairly started upon the 

 road for the lake, which is twenty miles north of that 

 place. 



Our party was quite large, consisting of W. S. and G. 

 W. L„ of Aitkin; G. J. M., W. W. B., K. C. B., E. and 

 L. E., 0. F. T. and the scribe, of Duluth, all of whom 

 were packed into two lumber wagons, provided with 

 spring seats, and as we had sent our boat and duffle on 

 early in the morning we were not overly crowded, and 

 thus disposed of, we started out on a ride which was any- 

 thing but smooth. After proceeding along at a jog for 

 several miles the boys in the rear wagon persuaded their 

 driver that the head team was not setting a lively enough 

 pace and a suitable piece of road being convenient, he 

 needed no urging to attempt to pass. After a short race 

 we succeeded in gaining the road ahead of tbe other 

 team and were loud in our laughter and derision when 

 the wagon, striking a bad "chuck hole" broke an axle 

 and deposited us all in a heap at the side of the road, not 

 damaged at all seriously but considerably broke up over 

 the prospect of having to walk several miles to the next 

 house. 



Making up our minds to make the best of a bad bargain, 

 we unhitched the team from the disabled wagon , and 

 putting the driver on one of the horses, sent him on ahead 

 to find a wagon and return for us, while we managed to 

 crowd the entire party into the other rig and started on. 

 Two miles further we met our driver with his team 

 hitched to a heavy lumber wagon, and our old positions 

 were once more resumed, but, alas, under what different 

 conditions; off of a spring seat on to a board laid crosswise 

 of the wagon box, and a drive of six or eight miles over 

 very rough roads ahead of us was something we hadn't 

 bargained for. But as there was nothing better to be 

 had we braved our fate and drove on into the wilderness. 

 We reached the river bank and the end of our journey by 

 wagon at 7 o'clock and quickly unloading we put our 

 boats into the water and ferried ourselves across, and as 

 we still had two miles to go and the duffle to carry, 

 advised a temporary camp for the night, but the party 

 was crazy to proceed, so after making arrangements with 

 a settler to haul our boats through that night with his 

 cattle we loaded the various members of the party with 

 packs, and W. S. and the scribe with a boat we pushed 

 on for the lake. How the boys groaned and "cussed" 

 their loads, what hard work they made of the carry and 

 how heavy that boat got before W. S. and I finally 

 abandoned it. But all things have an end, and so did that 

 trail, and just at dusk we came out upon the shore of one 

 of the finest little lakes in Minnesota. Too late to do any- 

 thing but make camp, we soon had our force at work, 

 tent pitched, supper cooked and disposed of, and after 

 pipes had been smoked, stories told and sougs sung we 

 stretched ourselves out upon our mossy beds and were 

 soon asleep. 



A faint gray tinge covers everything as we arouse our- 

 selves the next morning, heralding the approach of day. 

 W. W. B. and G. W. L. depart with guns after duck, 

 while C. F. T., L. E, and I rig our poles and lines and, 

 after securing some frogs from the marsh, make our way 

 out upon a rocky reef into the lake, were soon casting for 

 bass. T. was the lucky man and was soon fast to a beauty, 

 closely followed by E., while I brought up a good third. 

 There we were, each playing a fish atone and the same time 

 within 20ft. of each other, and each of us finally landing 

 his bass without mishap. Good 3A-pounders each of them, 

 and so near alike we could not see any difference. In a 

 short time we had secured several, and hastening back 

 to camp, dressed our fish and, as the boys had returned 

 without duck, we seated ourselves down to our first fish 



breakfast. We were all hungry, and the way tbe fried 

 fish disappeared was a caution. 



As the boats had not arrived, W. S. T. and I took tbe 

 trail back to ascertain what was detaining them, but 

 after going a short distance met tbe settler coming in, 

 who informed us that the big horse flies were so bad that 

 he had been obliged to abandon the boats about a mile 

 from the lake and send his cattle ou£ Here was a pretty 

 mess. Boats we must have, and the only way to get them 

 was to carry them in, so fixing up a harness, in an hour 

 had succeeded in taking the boat W. S. and I had 

 abandoned the night before to the lake. Calling the others 

 from the reef where they were fishing, we soon had the 

 boats and duffle at the lake, and, after eating our dinner, 

 we moved our camp to the north shore, where we set up 

 housekeeping in a deserted lumber camp and soon had 

 everything very snug. 



After starting the boys out for the evening fishing W. 

 S. and I took the small boat and paddled down to the 

 edge of a small grass island, and after anchoring had 

 hardly wet our lines when we were each fast to a fish 

 and the battle was on. How gamy these bass were; 

 what a rush and jump they would make, throwing them- 

 selves clear from the water and shaking their mouths in 

 the futile effort to dislodge the hook, again making a 

 bold, determined effort to reach the grass or burrowing 

 straight down till one would despair of ever turning his 

 fish; but soon the rush and struggle would become 

 weaker, and carefully reeling in we would gently bring 

 our fish alongside and slip a hand under him and by a 

 dexterous flap land him in the boat. Time and again we 

 enjoyed that electric thrill that communicates itself to a 

 man when a fish takes the hook. All the tricks and 

 wiles bass are prone to these fish were past masters of, 

 and our sport was indeed royal. We were each using 

 12 foot split bamboo rods that bad never before been 

 tried and the first wild rush of our fish was a trying one 

 for us, as we knew not how much dependence to place 

 upon the rods; but our fears were short-lived, we had 

 rods that were equal to any ordinary strain and our 

 enjoyment of the fishing was enhanced by the feeling 

 that we were properly equipped. After an hour of sport 

 that I have never seen equalled we reluctantly paddled 

 away from the enticing spot and made for camp. Our 

 string was heavy with bass, and after placing them in the 

 "lifebox" we visited the camp, and as we were the first 

 in proceeded to start the supper, and by the time every- 

 thing was ready the boys came straggling in and soon 

 the click of knife and fork against tin plate was the only 

 sound that broke the stillness. As the sharp edge of 

 appetite wore away the boys found time to 6peak, and by 

 the time supper was disposed of conversation was under 

 full way and each was ready to tell of the sport he had 

 had, and with pipe alight we streached ourselves out 

 and enjoyed that full, self-satisfied feeling that comes 

 to the successful sportsman after a hearty meal in the 

 woods. Jest and story passed the time quickly away 

 and by 10 o'clock we had all sought our blankets, and 

 with a generous supply of spruce boughs under us were 

 soon asleep. 



At the first peep of dawn I awoke and upon looking 

 around discovered M. immensely tickled over the antics 

 of E., who, sound asleep, was doing some ground and 

 lofty tumbling in his wild endeavors to get away from 

 the mosquitoes. E. would raise up on his hands and 

 knees, and after burrowing his face into the boughs roll 

 over only to immediately repeat the maneuver again and 

 again. As the mosquitoes were not at alljbad it was very 

 laughable. Thinking it time to turn out a lusty yell 

 closed the performance and brought the boys up in quick 

 order, when after a hasty lunch, we were soon into the 

 boats and out into the lake. 



What a glorious morning; how pure and sweet the air; 

 not a sign of fog and the east just beginning to show a 

 rosy blush, heralding the uprising of the sun, bow we 

 congratulated ourselves that we were alive, and thus 

 favored by being here. One such morning as this is 

 compensation for many months of work in the city. 

 But to our fishing. This time I have for a companion T. , 

 and a good one he proves to be; an adept with the paddle, 

 equally as good I find him with the rod and line; we soon 

 have all we can attend to taking care of our fish and 

 keeping them from mixing our tackle up. We take bass 

 after bass, running in weight from 3f to 51bs., and each 

 and every one of them puts up as gamy a fight as was 

 ever enjoyed. As day draws on the fishing gets slow and 

 by 8:30 we are back at the landing with a goodly number 

 of the black beauties which join their kin in the life 

 box. 



Day succeeds day of perfect weather, perfect bass fish- 

 ing and perfect enjoyment, as can be had nowhere else 

 on the eastern half of the United States, and I speak from 

 experience. It would be only a repetition to detail each 

 day's pleasure, and already I hear the reader say will he 

 never stop. 



Just one more and then I am done. Between the hours 

 of fishing it was customary for the cards to appear, and 

 we amused ourselves and passed the time away by play- 

 ing tbe great American game. Now the scribe, having 

 been "cleaned out" of all ready cash, and the boys being 

 tired "staking" him, was fired from the game; so for 

 revenge (?) and to amuse himself he, out of a burnt cork 

 and some straws, proceeded to manufacture an enorm- 

 ous spider. After completing the job to his satisfaction 

 he carefully fastened the object to the end of a thread, the 

 other end made fast to a long stick, and silently approach- 

 ing B., who is horribly afraid of spiders and was intent 

 upon the game, carefully lowered it in front of his face. 

 What an explosion! How he yelled! B, turned over 

 backward with feet elevated and hands wildly clawing 

 the air, while the crowd hugged themselves and roared 

 with laughter till they cried. Thus was I revenged and 

 the time sped by until all too eoon we had to leave, and 

 after an uneventful passage we were back to Aitkin, and 

 another summer's outing was numbered with the things 

 of the past. 



I have said nothing about the number we caught and 

 so save myself a drubbing at the hands of "O. O. S. ;" 

 and as in a few weeks we shall probably try the same 

 lake I would extend a hearty invitation for him to join 

 us and try his luck among the "fish hogs" of upper Min- 

 nesota. To all Eastern anglers I would say if you ever 

 have an opportunity wet your line in any of the small 

 lakes in northern Minnesota and you will be amply re- 

 paid. You will always find ardent anglers to accompany 

 you and the supply of bass inexhauatible, E. J, L, 



Dtjxuth;, Minn., Juue 8, 



