482 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 19, 1894. 



true and too prevalent, of free kennel advertisms, so that in 

 mentioning one case of a most remarkable character and ot a 

 dam which nearly every dog of note in America graces i back 

 to, I shall free myself from any aspersions of that ratine 

 The one I allude to is the late Mr. Thos. Statter's Rhoebe 

 (1537 E K.S B.). To the uninitiated a record of a portion or 

 the progenv of this marvelous matron may be mterestitig. 

 Bruce, by Dash-Rhcebe, won the champion cup at Shrews- 

 toy in 1870. Dan, by Duke-Rhcebe, won the same stake 

 in 1871. Rob Roy. by Fred-Rhcebe, repeated m 18<2, and 

 Daisy, by Dash II.-Rhoebe, capped the climax in i 187U 

 Thus her progenv, by different sires, won for the fourth con- 

 secutive year that much-coveted trophy This remarkable 

 record was repeated in the Shrewsbury Stakes four years m 

 succession. One winner was sired by D^K™^. 1 ^^^ 

 three by Fred II. , the Ave being accounted for by two of the 

 latter's get being equal first and second m 1S73. Her most 

 noted progeny, and all field trial winners, were Bruce, Dan, 

 Rap, Rob Roy, Rock, Rake, Dora, Daisy, Die, Darling. Rose 

 and Ruby and her progeny in the second generation are 



le f)ne of the greatest proofs, to my mind, that the excellent 

 field qualities of this noted strain were transmitted from 

 Rhoebe, lies in the fact that when bred to that handsome 

 duffer, Prince, who, when Mr. Llewellyn ran him at Devon 

 in 1873, could not go fast enough to make his tongue moist, 

 yet this breeding to a dog of Prince's noted mediocrity, pro- 

 duced, among others, Mr. Arnold Burges's Druid and Mr. 

 Luther Adams's Drake and Duke, and they in turn have 

 scores of descendants that have never been excelled as field 

 does. The photo of Rhoebe, in my possession, taken from 

 thl original in the possession of the late Mr. Statter's family, 

 shows her to be about two-thirds black, balance white, with 

 tan markings. The tan markings were claimed to come 

 from her alleged cross on the Gordon setter, through her sire 

 Rake, whose great-grandsire was Mr. Fred. Burdette s 

 Brougham. This illusion was no doubt m consequence ot 

 Brougham being erroneously registered in the first volume 

 of the English Kennel Stud Book under the heading of 

 black and tan setters. The proof of this inaccuracy is in the 

 fact that Brougham won first prize for best English setter at 

 the Birmingham show in 1859. I hope Messrs. Titus and 

 Bryson will give me credit for sincerity, when I say their 

 names are not used in a spirit of antagonism, but with the 

 most kind and fraternal feeling. , ^ , 



I always have, and hope I always shall take, a keen interest 

 in the pleasurable study of dog breeding, and in an endeavor 

 practically to improve the setter and pointer; and, while I 

 admit that I would sacrifice type for field ability, yet the two 

 are essentials, one and inseparable. I only hope that those 

 who do not give a button will be charitable enough to accord 

 her that which the old saying says even his satanic majesty 

 should be credited with— viz., her due. Thos. Johnson. 



Winnipeg, Man. 



DOG CHAT. 



The death of Mr. Hanks's Russian wolfhound Leekhoi at 

 Louisville must be a sad blow to that gentleman's kennel 

 interests. George Thomas had the Seacroft Kennels dogs 

 in charge and, as we can testify, was most attentive to their 

 wants on the journey down. The crate, however, was too 

 solidly built for this weather, and though the doors were 

 kept open all the time it was found when the building was 

 reached that Leekhoi was in bad shape— overcome by the 

 heat. Everything was done for him that suggested itself 

 to the vets and doctors in attendance, but the dog died at 

 4:10 A. M. on Wednesday morning. The symptoms on 

 examination pointed to sunstroke as the cause of death and 

 the lungs were also congested. Mr. I Roger Williams skin- 

 ned the animal so that his beautiful coat will be preserved. 

 Leekhoi was a magnificent hound and his death is a dis- 

 tinct loss to the fancy. His career in this country is too 

 recent to require recapitulation. He was bred in Prince 

 Galitzin's kennel and was by Reizvee out of Labideka; he 

 was only four years old. He was a success as a sire, count- 

 ing such good ones as Colonel Dietz, Zlobellis, Leekhoi II., 

 etc., among his get. 



Mr. W. J. Tulk, who is associated with Mr. Kent in the 

 Terra Cotta Kennels of Hamilton and Toronto, came down 

 with a nice string of dogs. This kennel means to make a 

 strong bid for greyhound honors, and to this end Mr. Tulk 

 purchased champion Gem of the Season and Wild Rose, pay- 

 ing a good price for the pair. He tried for Maid Marian, but 

 she was held too high. The latter will be bred to Gem. We 

 were sorry to hear that Mr. Tulk had passed through a se- 

 vere illness during winter, but he is all right again now. 

 The Hamilton Kennel Club recently voted him $50 in recog- 

 nition of his services as assistant secretary to the club. 



As usual, the handlers' prize led to a good deal of talk at 

 Louisville. Messrs. Blanken baker, Howard and Green had 

 evidently prepared for the struggle and showed plainly the 

 tactics which these prizes are responsible for. Their names 

 were attached to pretty nearly every local dog in the cata- 

 logue, and the committee in one case had to make out a list 

 of the dogs the handler was agent for, as he did not know 

 himself. Mi". Howard's dogs were counted as local in several 

 instances, as the German-Howard Kennels were given as 

 Louisville, Ky. Ben Lewis won with 63 dogs, George S. 

 Thomas second with 51, and Al. G. Eberhart third, with 46 

 dogs. 



The local prize fell to T. W. Blankenbaker, who had 101 

 dogs, and W. C. Green was second with 70. Not counting 

 19 local dogs T. A. Howard's list was 38. The committee de- 

 serves credit for the stand they took in the Solomonic decision 

 they came to. It cost Ben Lewis $118 to get his dogs to the 

 building, in expressage alone; while Geo. Thomas had to pay 

 about $156 from Boston. This is a serious outlay before a 

 cent is won in prize money. 



"Jim" Robinson, manager of Wbodlawn Park Kennels, 

 and Geo. S. Thomas journeyed down to Louisville on the B. 

 & O. flyer and the heat was such that they dared not leave 

 their dogs but rode in the baggage car the whole distance. 



Mr. Norvin T. Harris, who is so well known in field trial 

 circles, does not confine himself to setters exclusively, as he 

 has something of pretty nearly every terrier breed, for he 

 loves a terrier. During the show he purchased the winning 

 fox-terrier dog, Arrandale Mixture, from Mr. LeRoy Jones. 

 This smart terrier should prove a, good investment in this 

 new country. Sales were slack at Louisville, the people are 

 scarcely educated up to modern prices yet. 



Mrs. Lee, while not succeeding in selling any of her new 

 dogs, sold a bitch at home and took orders for several pup- 

 pies. 



Mr. Eberhart's mastiff Tiger was claimed by Judge Sim- 

 rail, of Louisville, as a dog that he had lost some time since. 

 There was no evidence to prove this outside of his assertion, 

 but he succeeded in getting an attachment on the dog and on 

 Saturday the sheriff seized it. The dog is of little good as a 

 show dog, and Mr. Eberhart having only given $10 for it, 

 will make no great fight for its recovery. 



Dr. Lougest's case over Beaufort's Prince is expected to be 

 tried this week. 



Mr. F. W. Chapman has sold his two basset hounds 



Rodeur (28,079) and Bow (2,261). Rodeur won firsts at Paw- 

 tucket and Gloversville and second at Elmira, and hrst in 

 the field trials for bassets and dachshunds at Oxford, Mass., 

 in 1893. and therefore claims to be the only field trial win- 

 ning basset in the world. Bow won at Wilmington, Del., 

 and Washington, D. C. Mr. Robert H. Watson, Alleghany 

 City, Pa., is the purchaser. 



Mr. A. C. Waddell, of Coffey ville, Kan., will judge most of 

 the classes at the Oakland, Cal., show. 



Mr. Dan P. Ritchey, of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, was the 

 whole reception and "entertaining committee, and was most 

 kind and attentive to the visiting exhibitors at Louisville, 

 showing them the many beauties of the town, etc. Mr. 

 Ritchey is quite an athlete, being a fast man on the cinder 

 path. He is a pointer man and attended the U. S. trials last 

 fall. He will run his Don again this year. 



Thenoted pointers Devonshire Cream and Devonshire John 

 are bound for this country. Cream is said to be a very good 

 one. The purchaser is not known. 



Dog owners in New York city should carefully read the pro- 

 visions of the new law in force in this city, which will be 

 found in our kennel business columns. Mr. Wiggm offers 

 the noted St. Bernards Judith and Judith's Ruth for sale; 

 this is a chance for some one. T. H. Garlick also offers 

 Scotch terriers and Drawer 356, cockers and St. Bernards. 



The Des Moines (la.) Kennel Club will hold a show Sept. 

 4 to 7. 



We draw the attention of field trial men to the notice in 

 our business columns of the P. K. C. Derby Stake. The 

 prizes are $300, $200 and $100. First forfeit $10 to accompany 

 the nomination, second forfeit of $10 payable Sept. 1 and $10 

 to fill. As the trials will be run in conjunction with the 

 Eastern the stake should fill well. The judges are Dr. 

 Davis, Charles Heath and W. Tallman, all three zealous, 

 hustling men who know a field dog. 



Mr. Morris writes us that he did not refuse to give up the 

 spaniel bitch Zola to Mr. Preston, but merely stated that he 

 would first have to know definitely whether the dog he 

 arranged to get for him had been secured, that this dog was 

 arranged for to come by a certain vessel, but Mr. Preston's 

 failure to pay the money in time caused this vessel to be 

 missed twice, and she has not been in port since, conse- 

 quently he (Mr. Morris) actually had not an opportunity to 

 get the dog over. Further, that the sense of the offer of the 

 bitch in place of the dog was subject to failure to import the 

 dog. hence no contract has been broken, and Mr. Preston's 

 action in seizing the bitch may now lead to counter charges 

 against Mr. Preston. 



Mr. J. R. Oughton's well-kno.wn Gordon setter bitch 

 Dwight Effie has just whelped eight pups to her owner's 

 Heather Lad. ^ 



punting m{A ^on\ning. 



short. This year El Chlco, brought back to New York, has been re- 

 sold to go to Owasco Lake, near Auburn, and Nemadjy has gone to 

 join her. Pyxie has had her sail plan increased, so that she is outside 

 the limit of her class, and Nameless and Folly are left alone. 



Whether or not the limits of 25ft. sailing length was the best pos- 

 •sible, the class was a good one, and should have received a more gen- 

 eral and cordial support from the many yachtsmen about the west 

 end ot the Sound. That it has now disappeared, like the 21ft. class in 

 Boston, is due not to any special defects in the boats built for it, but 

 rather to the apathy of racing men, and to their readiness to discard 

 one toy for another. As it goes out, the new limited 21ft. claBS comes 

 in, to run the same course for a year or two, and then to give way to 

 something newer, but probably no better. 



There is a need for a permanent class of keel and centerboard boats 

 of about 25ft. l.w.l., both in New York and Boston, craft of reasonable 

 cost, fair speed, and of such accommodation as may be suitable to the 

 many hardy Corinthians, who take a delight in caring for themselves. 

 The way to the establishment of such a class under limitations 

 which will insure its life beyond two or three seasons, and will limit 

 the expense to a reasonable figure, is not yet plain, the experiment of 

 the 25-footers has been a failure, and the chances of success grow less 

 each year as the cost of construction becomes greater, and the re . 

 quirements of speed continue to cut away displacement and to en- 

 courage the fin type. 



The run of the schooner Lasca from New York to the Irish coast 

 is the fastest passage made by a yacht in recent years; leaving New 

 York in the afternoon of April 21, she passed the Old Head of Kin- 

 sale at 2:25 P. M. on May 7, or 15 days 6 hours. The best passage 

 on record is that of Sappho, in July-August, 1869, of 12 days, 7 

 hours, 36 minutes over the same distance, Sappho, however, was 

 122ft. l.w.l., as compared with the 90ft. of Lasca, and she was re- 

 markably fortunate in meeting only smooth water and a S.W. wind, 

 at times quite strong. The performance of Lasca reflects credit on 

 her designer, Mr. A. Gary Smith, as #ell as on Capt. Rhodes, her 

 skipper. 



Mr. Nichols writes from Mitchell, S. D.: "I have just re- 

 ceived word from J. H. Rew, of Artesian, S. D., that the 

 handsome and clever young greyhound Miss King, who ap- 

 peared at Huron this spring in the Sapling Stake, has been 

 poisoned. Those present at this meeting will remember how 

 closely she worked her game. She was by Sir Hugo (Lord 

 Neversettle— White Lips) out of Fleet (Master Rich— Black 

 Bess),, and was very promising." 



puttying. 



FIXTURES. 



MAT. 



19. Baltimore, Opening, Baltimore 28. Atlantic City Cor., Trophy 

 19. New Rochelle, Cabin Cats, L. I. Race, Atlantic City. 



Sound. 30. So. Boston, Open, City Point. 



19-20 San Francisco Cor., Cruise, 30 Racine, Opening, Racine, Wis. 



Vallejo. 30. San Francisco 0or., Annual 



24. St. Lawrence. Squad. Cruise. Cruise, Tiburon 



~\ San Francisco Cor., Sail to 30. Fall River, Open Regatta. 



Quarry Cove. 30. So. Boston, Open, Boston Har. 



26. Portland, Oruise. 80. Douglaston, Open, L. I. Sound. 



27. San Francisco Cor., Sail Out- 



side. 



As the details of the recovery of the Kearsarge relics hecome better 

 known, the generous and spirited action of the owner of Intrepid 

 appears in even a stronger light than in the first brief reports. The 

 jacht was lying at Kingston, Jamaica, when the U S. Consul at that 

 port, Mr. Q. O. Eckford. received a despatch from the Secretary of 

 State instructing him, if possible, to secure some relics of the wrecked 

 Kearsarge. The island homes of the wreckers were some 300 miles 

 from Kingston, the eonsul had no funds for the charter of a vessel, 

 and no vessel was available save the schooners owned by the turtlers, 

 who had plundered and burned the ship, some of whom were then in 

 Kingston. Mr. Phoenix was prepared to continue his cruise in another 

 direction, but on learning the wishes of the Government he at once 

 placed the yacht at the service of Consul Eckford. When this was 

 done, late in the evening, the yacht was in harbor trim, with fires out, 

 but at 4 o'clock on the following morning she was under way for the 

 islands. Not only were the entire expenses of the expedition borne 

 by Mr. Phoenix, but as the articles recovered were hidden and held 

 for ransom, it is probable that his generosity extends much further 

 than is yet known. 



Again we are called to note the sad demise, at the early age of 

 three years, of a promising racing class, the 25-footers, generally 

 miscalled 25-raters. The class was started in 1891 in the building of 

 Smuggler by Mr. L. J. Boury, its limits being 25ft. sailing length by 

 Seawanhaka rule, equivalent to the 2^-rating class abroad. As 

 originally Intended, it was a most excellent class, the boatB being 

 fast under a small rig, capable of good racing, and yet offering ac- 

 commodation for a crew of three amateurs in cruising, or in fol- 

 lowing the races from place to place After Smuggler came Name- 

 less and Needle, by the same designer, Mr. Gardner, and in 1892 

 came Pyxie and Nemadjy, also by him. The first four were keel 

 cutters, but the last one was a fin-keel, to meet El Chico, of that 

 type, built by the Herreshoffs. Last year the class was increased 

 by the Stewart & Binney fin-keel Folly. With these specially-built 

 boats as a nucleus the class has produced some very good racing, 

 and other boats of about 25ft. have come in. The course of build- 

 ing, however, has been in the usual direction as compared with the 

 first boat, Smuggler, of increased cost and decreased accommoda- 

 tion and general utility in the attempt to gain speed. 



The decline of the class begun early, after a very successful first 

 season, Smuggler was sold to a non-racing owner; Needle gave up 

 the fight early and was sold up the Hudson. El Chico was sold after 

 her first season, 1892, her owner being busy with the international 

 races last year, and she too went to fresh water. Pyxie and Nameless 

 have been the mainstay of the racing, Nemadjy's career being very 



The Language/of the Sea. 



In a late number I saw an inquiry as to the origin of the word mos- 

 quito as applied to a fleet of small craft. Happily the word is one 

 that can be readily found in the pristine flusli of its nautical appear- 

 ance. That portion of the eastern coast of Central America which 

 lies in the region of f en degrees north was for three hundred years 

 after the discoverv the home of a freedom-loving and warlike race of 

 Indians. Almost unapproachable in their swampy fastnesses, they, 

 for generations, defied fiercely and successfully the rapacious Spanish 

 soldiery and those no less inveterate enemies of primitive freedom, 

 the fanatical warriors of Catholic Rome. When Spanish cruelty and 

 Spanish greed drove the simple cattle raisers of the Tortugas into 

 insurrection against the mighty power whose flag covered the largest 

 and fairest portion of the Western Hemisphere, the half savage herds- 

 men and the wholly savage hunter joined arms against the brutal 

 tyranny that threatened the existence of both. In the deep bays and 

 tree-hidden creeks of the Mosquito coast the buccaneers found shelter 

 and assistance. From those harbors they sailed out in their small 

 craft to worry and plunder Spanish commerce, and unhappily to com- 

 mit tho-^e awful crimes which have branded the names of Morgan 

 and L'Ollonois with ineffaceable infamy. To the picaroon craft, prob- 

 ab y as descriptive of their lurking place, the mariner first applied 

 the name mosquito; afterward it was generally applied to small 

 shore-haunting pirate craft the world over. 



In 1804, when Napoleon's burlesque threat against England roused 

 the fears of the timid, Pir Edward Pellew, afterward Viscount Ex- 

 mouth, spoke in Parliament in defense of the naval measures. In his 

 speech' he used the term, "I see a triple naval bulwark composed of 

 one fleet acting on the enemies 1 coast; of another stationed in the 

 Downs, but ready to act at a moment's notice, and a third close to the 

 beach— as to these gunboats, this mosquito fleet, they are the most 

 contemptible force that can be imagined." 



When or where the term was first applied to a fleet of pleasure 

 vessels I am unable to say. The word is frequently used by British 

 writers to desiguate small craft, but has not, I believe, been officially 

 affixed to any organization in trans-Atlantic waters. 



The word is undoubtedly of Spanish origin; it is one of the many 

 terms that have been picked up by our sea-roving ancestors and ap- 

 plied in the usual haphazard style. A learned German, once upon a 

 time, in my hearing, rather inelegantly and sarcastically compared 

 the English language to a patch-work quilt, to produce whose chro- 

 matic alsorder the rag bags of a neighbor had been ransacked. But 

 we, who love our language, grammarless a^d imperfect as it is, would 

 rather compare it to one of those massive yet graceful temples whose 

 ornate domes flash a golden presence under the warm white skies of 

 the Buddha-worshipping East. A structure wherein unschooled art, 

 acting the hand maid to unflagging zeal, has brought together, in one 

 beautiful and imposing whole, the product of the forest, the tribute of 

 the mine; an edifice upon whose lofty walls and superb interiors 

 generations have toiled; to whose erecting has been contributed the 

 treasure of the great, the mite of the humble; within whose fabric 1b 

 incorporate all that is delightful in color, all that is precious in 

 material, all that is beautiful in form. 



But our temple is not and never will be completed. It shares with 

 the race, whose idiom it is, that indomitable and aggressive spirit 

 which aims to universality. Whatsoever it, touches it colors; whatao 

 ever it conquers it absorhs. Thus the vagrant way in which our 

 language adapts itself to circumstances and surroundings, and the 

 negligent manner in which it assumes the habiliments of foreign fab- 

 rication, is illustrative of its marvellous flexibility and unceasing ex- 

 pansion. Were the nautical division of it incomposite, there would be 

 little or no difficulty in tracing sea terms to their source, and in as- 

 certaining the time and manner of their first application. 



As it is logical to infer that man lived and used a language upon the 

 land before he took to the sw, we may dogmatically assert that all 

 sea terms are land terms applied to nautical objects or actions. This 

 is true in a measure. Such words as yard, forecastle, block, etc , are 

 undoubtedly words of that class; but there are others which must 

 have been sea-born, as nothing analagous to them exists in the primi- 

 tive tongue from which our language is derived. It is not only cred- 

 ible, but undisputed, that many of our sea terms are un derivable from 

 any known tongue. I he former attempts of over-zealous etymolo- 

 gists to fix their derivations are infelicitous gambols of the scholastic 

 mind. 



The early seaman, environed by an unfamiliar element, surrounded 

 by strange objects, and comp iled to take recourse in novel expedi- 

 ents and methods, was in the position of a child incapable of convey- 

 ing its thoughts or of carrying out its active intentions through the 

 want of a proper and efficient vocabulary. Therefore it is reasonable 

 to suppose that the mariner, finding his land language in«dequate, or 

 inapplicable to the occasion, invented terms to meet the exigency. 

 These terms by personal intercourse were rapidly diffused through 

 the profession, until custom, no laggard at recognizing technicalities, 

 stamped them with a mark of aprroval, 



The mariner and his strange tongue went on shore together; his sea 

 talk was part and parcel of himself. The terms he used when sailing 

 the ocean he employed when traversing the land. Upon the ear of the 

 landsman the language of the sea must have fallen with the weird dis- 

 sonance of a barbarous and unfamiliar melody, whose strange tones 

 at first hearing awake only surprise and inquietude, but which when 

 repeated call forth those agreeable sensations wherein wonder mingles 

 with pleasure. Combining brevity with force, musical with the wlld- 

 ness of untutored sound, quaintly picturesque in its grouping of famll- , 

 iar and unfamiliar ideas, strong in spirited metaphor, ard abounding 

 in amusing simile, it was not the less striking or interesting because it 

 fell from the bearded lips of sun- bronzed and rough-voiced adventur- 

 ers. It was redolent of the sea, of its moods, of its mysteries, of its 

 thousand and one perils. It was the child of a constant and intimate 1 

 communing with nature; it had shaped its diction under the stars; it 

 had caught the harsher tones from the roar of the elements; it 

 sparkled with the salt of twenty seas; it laughed with the wit of 

 twenty nations. Born in freedom it bowed to no master. Cradled in , 

 danger it feared no censor. Its laws were its own; the mighiy cou. t of 

 precedent was powerless to veto or revoke them- 



That such a language should have a great and lasting effect upon a 

 national tongue is not strange. First, in mockery of the men who used 

 it, the landsman picked up and repeated the words and expressions of 

 the mariner. Our early English writers amused the worid with hits 

 at Jack Tar. His costume, his manners, and above all his speech were 

 ridiculed a d laughed at. He was pictured as a rough, uncouth brute, , 

 who was never happy on shore except when drunk, and never happy 

 •at sea except when fighting. But, despite the lampooning of the poet- 

 aster and the reviling of the playwright, the mariner's language grew* 

 in popular favor. His favorite expressions became a part of the com- 

 mon tongue, his rough terms swelled the vocabulary of the merchant, 

 and added strength and beauty to the passages of the scholar and the 

 verses of the poet. 



