188 
FOREST AND STREAM 
(_Feb. 22, lb! 6 
benefactor he has been. Without such confidence one 
may not hope for a revelation of the true character of a 
people. That the author of the Story of the Indian has 
penetrated to the realities of Indian life and character is 
manifest on the volume's every page. 
The book is marked throughout by the stamp of gen- 
uineness. It is written at first hand; this quality gives it 
dignity and importance, and enlists our interest at the 
very beginning. There is here that charm, of truth which 
characterizes Borrow's books about the Gypsies, a faith- 
fulness of portrayal like that which has given Oatlin's 
pictures place among t he treasures of the National Museum. 
The scenes described, Mr. Grinnell tells us, are those 
which he has seen with his own eyes; but there was no 
necessity to assure us of this, for there is in the book itself 
abundant evidence of the comprehensive and minute 
knowledge which could have been acquired in no other 
way than by a long personal experience. The first chapter 
shows the master hand in its picturing of the round of life 
as it goes on in the prairie village through the summer 
day. A charming picture it is of the circle of lodges on 
the river bank, with the people gathered in the shade; 
some of the men smoking, chatting or sleeping, and 
others engaged in the noisy stick game; the women tan- 
ning hides, sewing lodges and preparing food; the chil- 
dren romping through the camp in their boisterous play; 
while apart from the village are seen the motionless 
figures of men praying or meditating or sentineling the 
camp. Later in the day the hunters return from the 
buffalo hunt and the women bring in the meat; then 
comes the night with its feasts. It is all sketched with a 
firm hand; the picture is wonderfully graphic and real, 
because drawn from the life by one familiar with its 
every detail. Take a single paragraph — and it is but one 
of many which might be cited — as an illustration of the 
detail which gives the life to the pages: 
As darkness settles down over the camp the noise increases. The 
shrill laughter of the women is heard from every side, partly drowned 
now and then by the ever-recurring feast shout. From different quar- 
ters comes the sound of drumming and singing, here from a lodge 
where some musicians are beating on a parfleche and singing for a 
dance, there where a doctor is singing and drumming over a sick 
child. Boys and young men are racing about among the lodges, 
chasing each other, wrestling and yelling. In front of some lodge, in 
the full light of the Are which streams from the open doorway, stand 
two forms wrapped in a single robe— two lovers, whispering to each 
other their affection and their hopes. Dogs bark, horses whinny 
people call to each other from different parts of the camp. The fires 
Shine through lodge skins, and showers of sparks float through the 
moke holes. As the night wears on the noises become less. One by 
°r e the fires go out and the lodges grow dark. From those where 
dancing is going on or a party of gamblers are playing the noise and 
light still come, but at last even these signs of life disappear, the men 
disperse and the silence of the camp is broken only by the occasional 
stamp of on uneasy hoof or the sharp bark of a wakeful dog. 
We have space here only to indicate the scope of the 
volume. A very full knowledge of Indian life and cus- 
toms may be gathered from the chapters which describe 
his Home, Recreations, Subsistence, a Marriage, the 
War Trail, Fortunes of War, and Prairie Battlefields; 
Implements and Industries. There is a vast fund of 
curious and extremely interesting information respecting 
the savage interpretation of natural phenomena, with an 
exposition of the religion of the Indian, and his beliefs 
regarding his creation and a future life. As here described, 
the Indian is shown to have been in his way quite as 
religious as other men, and more than many others was 
he given to prayer for divine assistance in his enterprises; 
for instance, while it was not customary for the white 
killers of buffalo to pray for help in the hunt, the savage 
hunter regarded a preliminary invocation as essential to 
his success, and it was never omitted. 
The chief purpose of the book is to present the human- 
ity of the Indian, by which is meant the quality of being 
human. 'We are apt to forget," says the author's pref- 
ace, "that these people are human like ourselves; that 
they are fathers and mothers, husbands and wives 
brothers and sisters; men and women with emotions and 
passions like our own, even though these feelings are not 
well regulated and directed in the calm, smoothly flowing 
channels of civilized life. Not until we recognize this 
common humanity may we attain the broader view and 
the wider sympathy which shall give us a true compre- 
hension of the character of the Indian." 
In this design of showing us the Indian as a man Mr. 
Grrinnell has succeeded admirably. The volume will take 
its place with the two previous works from the same pen 
as the most faithful portraiture we have of the American 
Indian. We may be grateful that one so equipped was 
found to write the "Story of the Indian." By giving us 
such a book the author has put under new obligations 
both those who shall read it and those of whom it is 
written. We have alluded to Mr. Grinnell's practical 
services m behalf of the Indians; among them we are to 
count the writing of the three books which bear his 
name for m these volumes he has presented their human- 
ity— their human nature— as it has never before been 
shown. This of itself must be reckoned a service of in- 
calculable advantage to a people who cannot hope to be 
treated justly until they shall be understood. 
Scientists are just now telling us of the newly discov- 
ered x rays of light which by their wonderful properties 
pass through solid substances, illuminating that whioh 
iswithm, and by the aid of photography revealing it to 
our eyes. What the arc light and the camera are accom- 
plishing thus m the material world an author who has 
the gift may do with the subject of which he writes- he 
may show us the heart of things. The insight, the dis- 
cernment and the sympathy which have given us this 
book have pierced as rays of light through the ignorance, 
the prejudice i and the hostility which have hitherto envet 
oped the real Indian and concealed him from our view 
and have shown him forth, revealed to us as he is. Mr 
Grmnell's study of the North American savage, 'carried on 
tnrough many years of close association with him in his 
home life, has discovered in him more than that warlike 
savagery which has been the only characteristic seen bv 
most writers, and he shows us the man of nature, a merrv 
companion, a devoted friend, a kind husband and an 
affectionate father; but always a savage. 
The book belongs with the permanent literature of 
Anaencan history. When we shall seek to know the 
Indian we shall not turn to the records of the War De- 
partment, the archives of the Indian Bureau, nor to the 
files of an irresponsible press, but to these books written 
by George Bird Grinnell, C B R ' 
lie MmmL 
FIXTURES. 
BENCH BHOW8. 
Feb. 19 to 22.— Westminster Kennel Club's twentieth annual dog 
show, Madison Square Garden, New York. James Mortimer, Supt. 
March 3 to 6.— City of the Straits Kennel Club. E. Humffrey 
Roberts, Sec'y, 6 Merrill Block, Detroit. Entries close Feb. 20. 
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. 
May 6 to 9.— Pacific Kennel Club's fifth annual show. H. W. Orear, 
Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Sept. 2.— Morris, Man.— Manitoba Field Trials Club. John Wootton, 
Sec'y. 
Oct. 28.— Greene county, Pa.— The Monongahela Valley Game and 
Fish Protective Association's second annual trials. S. B. Cummings 
Sec'y, Pittsburg, 
New York. 
MY DACHSHUND. 
I have a dog I love full well, 
He's not quite three feet long— 
Unto the moon 
He sings a tune, 
He has no other song. 
A dachshund by^his pedigree, 
He wears his legs quite short; 
Though they are bowed, 
He walks pin-toed, 
And style is not his forte. 
All other dogs look down on him 
(Because they stand more high), 
And when he plays 
He runs sideways, 
His tail aimed toward the sky. 
His hindlegs move with greater speed 
Than do the for ward, ones, 
But just the same 
They never catch 
No matter how he runs. 
He has the greatest appetite; 
He's downed all he could get 
Each night and morn 
Since he was born, 
But he's not filled up yet. 
And every one at his expense 
Some joke is forced to tell— 
I do it too, 
But though I do, 
I love my dog full well. 
J. B. Burnham. 
THE FIELD TRIAL CHAMPION ASSO- 
CIATION'S STAKE. 
The interest in this stake brought out a full attendance 
of field trial admirers. Some of them were enthusiasts of 
the earlier field trial days, gentlemen who had not at- 
tended a field trial in years. 
The judging was in charge of experienced gentlemen : 
Messrs. W. S. Bell, Pittsburg; J. D. King, Jackson, 
Tenn., and A. Merriman, Memphis. It is regrettable that 
such experienced men should have brought the stake to 
an absurd conclusion. 
The irregularity in the numbers of birds in different 
parts of the grounds seemed to be ignored by the judges 
in establishing their data and in making their award. 
Dogs which ran and made a good showing where birds 
were abundant and which ran in the early morning and 
late evening hours when the conditions were favorable, 
and dogs which ran on barren grounds in the midday 
hours, were rated according to their performances regard- 
less of whether opportunities or conditions were alike. 
There was no attempt made to establish a reasonable 
equity or even any equity at all. Apart from any matter 
of equity, considering the competitionas a competition, the 
judges' decision was not a true and just result of the com- 
petition. The award was a forced award. There was ab- 
solutely nothing to justify it. It was arrived at with 
laborious awkwardness and perversity of competition. 
The dogs which ran in the final were not the brace 
evolved legitimately by the competition, and their 
wretched work, the worst done by any brace in the stake, 
was not a legitimate conclusion of the stake. 
Good dogs were given but a part of the showing which 
they merited, while less deserving dogs were giv^n much 
more opportunity than they merited, The line of compe-. 
tition did not accurately bring the beBt dogs forward; it 
gradually frittered to an absurdity. There seemed to be , 
an independent disregard of the work, whether good or 
bad, and of the purposes of the trials. 
In the constitution of the Association is the following 1 
canny satire on the judges' efforts: "The Field Trial 
Champion Association is established for the purpose of ! 
demonstrating more fully the field qualities of the pointer \ 
and setter than can be afforded in the running of the reg- | 
ular stakes of the various field trial clubs; and also to give 
the prize winners in the different stakes an opportunity to 
compete directly against each other, and to determine I 
definitely a champion field trial winning pointer or setter 
of the winners in America," Had the judges every hour ', 
or so read this proclamation of the club's mission, they, 
might have known what they were engaged for, and might, 
if they so pleased have acted accordingly. They would 
perhaps have realized that it was a competition of all the 
dogs in the stake instead of apart of them, and that it also 
was to determine which dog was the best. 
When the judges' award was announced at lunch, Mr. 
Seale called for "Three cheers for Count Gladstone I" A> 
cold silence was the response. Not a cheer was uttered. 
In the group of sportsmen no one seemed enthusiastic. 
The award was an outrage to the competitors, a blow to 
field trial interests, an affront to the intelligence of all 
beholders. When the final heat ended so ridiculously, 
the judges should have called up Tony Boy and Jingo or 
some others. 
It is very probable that there was an absence of unanim- 
ity in the judges' estimates and choice of dogs in the run- 
ning. Indeed it is safe to say that the decision was not 
arrived at without much disagreement on the part of the 
judges before the award was made. Their debates were 
long and earnest, and their manner implied that they 
were not alike convinced. If there was a dissenting judge 
these strictures do not apply to him. 
Thus three eminent judges, or at least such of them as 
were responsible for the decision, finished a stake in a 
manner as foreign to the purpose of the stake as it was 
foreign to rule, justice and common sense. Their expe- 
rience makes the mistake the more inexcusable. Three 
earnest men with a smattering of field knowledge would 
have done better; they could have done no worse. 
The judges were not equal to the occasion in any part 
of the stake. After running eleven dogs two hours each, 
they took nine into the second round. Of the two left 
out, Cynosure should have been retained in the compe- 
tition, and moreover of those kept in several should have 
been left out. It was a confession of incompetency or 
a lack of independence, or gross unconcern, was this run- 1 
ning of all the dogs over again except two. But the 
judges said they had plenty of time; that is, till the last 
heat was run, then they did not have so much time to 
run further. 
Thus a competition which promised so much and was 
organized with great labor and expense and which excited 
so great an interest was ended in a solemn absurdity by 
eminent judges. 
The stake was intended as the highest exposition of 1 
field trial competition, the finished work of successful 
dogs made famous by many trials. It was expected to 
show what field trials had done in producing a champion 
dog. It might also show what the highest type of a 
practical working dog should be. The final heat was very 
much what champions should not be. From beginning 
to end, from the effort as to how to misinterpret a rule to 
the finish of the stake, there was much that could have 
been improved. 
There were a large number of sportsmen in attendance, 
among whom were Messrs. G. O. Smith, Wheeling, W. 
Va.; H. K. Spencer, Chester, 111.; Ned Fay, Florence, 
Ala.; E. B. Coe, L. M. Levering, Baltimore; F. A. Grider, 
Scot Thompson, H. W. Simmons, Winona, Miss. ; W. H. 
Hammond, Theo. Sturges, New York; R. 1). Morgan, 
Peter Lest, Capt. Bond, J. N. Seale, S. D. Gorham, Jack- 
son, Tenn.; W. H. Beazell and Reid Kennedy, Hemp- 
stead, Pa.; S. B. Cummings, Pittsburg; B. W. Colweil, 
Cherry Creek, Miss.; W. B. Robinson, St. Louis; R. E. 
Hinchey, De Soto, Mo. ; J. D. B. DeBow and Capt. J. H. 
Dew, Nashville; R. B. Morgan, Gibson's Wells, Tenn. ; G. 
R. House, Trenton, and many others. 
The running of the Field Trial Champion Association's 
first stake began on Monday, Feb. 10, on the grounds of 
the U. S. F. T. Club at West Point, Miss. The eleven 
starters were run in the following order; 
Avent & Thayer Kennels' b. , w. and t. setter dog Top- 
sy's Rod (Roderigo — Topsy Avent), J. M. Avent, handler, 
with N. T. DePauw's 1. and w. pointer dog Jingo (Main- 
spring — Queen III.), N. B. Nesbitt, handler. 
Charlottesville Field Trial Kennels' 1. and w. pointer' 
dog Delhi (Rip Rap — Queen III.), C. D. Buckle, handler, 
with Avent & Thayer Kennels' b,, w. and t. setter bitch 
Cynosure (Roderigo — Norah II.), J. M. Avent, handler. 
N. T. Harris's b,, w. and t. setter dog Tony Boy (An- 
tonio — Laundress), D. E. Rose, handler, with W. H. Bea- 
zell'8 b., w. and t. setter dog Harold Skimpole (Whyte B. 
— Nettie Bevan), Geo. E. Gray, handler. 
Charlottesville Field Trial Kennels' 1. and w. pointer 
dog Tippoo (Rip Rap — Monterey), C. E. Bucfcle, handler, 
with Avent & Thayer's b,, w. and t. setter dog Count 
Gladstone IV. (Count Noble— Miss Ruby), J. M. Avent, 
handler. 
E. O. Damon's b. and w. pointer dog Strideaway (King: 
of Kent— Pearl's Dot), Geo. E, Gray, handler, with R. V. 
Fox's b., w. and t. setter dog Tony's Gale (Antonio — 
Nellie G.), J. H. Johnson, handler. 
J. L. Adams's 1. and w. pointer dog Lad of Rush (Rush 
of Lad— Topsy L,). 
Count Gladstone, the winner, is well known to those 
who are interested in field trials. It would be a pleasure 
to say that he won on an excellent performance, thor- 
oughly beating all competitors. He did not do so. The 
character of his work is mentioned in the heats which he 
ran. He was not entitled to run in the second series after 
his first heat; his second was mixed, some good work, 
some sloppy; his final was very poor. It is needless to 
repeat in detail the faults of his running. As a champion 
stake the manner of its conclusion will probably depreci- 
ate its value. It will carry little weight with the public 
further than the mere dry record. As a champion Count 
is one now in fact no more than he was before the con- 
test. 
Monday. 
The weather was clear and cool in the morning. The 
afternoon was oppressively warm. Birds were in abun- 
dance in parts of the grounds, in others scarce, This, 
