Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Teems, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy, i 
Six Months, £2. < 
NEW YORK, APRIL 6, 1895. 
[ VOL. XLIV.— Ko. 14. 
[ No. 318 Broadway, New York. 
For Subscription and Advertising Rates see Page ix. 
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£• jacksnioe Coming: In. "He's Got Them" (Quail Shooting:). 
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CONCERNING A CRANKY SUBJECT. 
The crank is always an enthusiast, with an abiding 
faith in the superior usefulness of his hobby and a firm 
conviction of its ultimate recognition and universal ac- 
ceptance. However much the family of cranks may 
differ as to the mar its of their hobbies, they possess alike 
and in common the qualities of enthusiasm and unfailing 
hopefulness. 
To the lay mind, that of the careless and unthinking 
part of mankind, the term crank implies a measure of 
ridicule. The crank's singleness of purpose to a hobby, 
or idea, or devotion to a mission, is so enthusiastic and 
unceasing, in season and out of season, that people of 
staid and jplodding ways look upon him either as a bore, 
or a person whose mental equilibrim is not in true poise. 
Yet the crank is the true pioneer in the path of dis- 
covery, or the fearless advocate whose labor and loyalty 
force a conviction of truth to the heedless minds of the 
multitude. Of course, cranks vary in ability and in their 
usefulness of purpose quite as much as do the rest of man- 
kind, but their tireless industry and love of their work 
accomplish much more than the perfunctory efforts of 
the average worker, who looks upon his labors as a weari- 
some task. The crank is devoted, and from his efforts he 
derives unlimited pleasure. His labor is pastime. His 
constant application to his subject brings to him a high 
order of skill both in theory and practice. But the en- 
thusiast who is a crank at the start may at a later period 
be the great inventor whose mechanisms have revolution- 
ized the industrial world, or the great scientist whose 
discoveries have blessed mankind. Without the love and 
enthusiasm for their work, combined with a devotion to 
it which excludes all else, their success could not have 
been so great, even if it were success at all. 
In the realm of sport, the crank is specially numerous, 
and he is an indispensable factor in vitalizing and im- 
proving whichever branch wins his fancy. Thus there is 
the rifle crank, who talks to you of rifles, with the collat- 
eral details of twists, trajectories, point blanks, penetra- 
tions, powders, calibers, weights of bullets; of the thous- 
ands of experiments which he has tried, and the improve- 
ments he has discovered on existing methods. Who but 
a man who is in love with his hobby would show such 
endless devotion? 
The crank who thinks the shotgun is the only and su- 
perior weapon is imbued with the same cranky stimulus 
for progress and improvement. He is ever alert to show 
the superiority of his favorite weapon and his favorite 
sport. He scoffs at the claims of the riflemen whose 
pleasure is in seeking big game, and the big-game 
hunter has a feeling of charitable pity for the man whose 
sport taxes not his skill or endurance or courage. Yet 
each in his way is advancing the general progress of 
mankind. 
Then there is the dog man, who will talk dog all day, 
and the angler who will talk fish all night, and when 
these good fellows happen to meet, one will talk dog and 
the other will talk fish, so that the conversation in its two 
halves is of dog on one side and fish on the other, yet 
they are the men who educate the world in the beauties 
of their pleasant and useful hobbies. To the dog crank 
the world owes the numerous breeds of dogs, useful and 
ornamental, dogs symmetrical and strong, which are 
useful in the chase, and beautiful dogs for the adornmen 
of the home, and bold dogs to guard it. 
To the fish crank, we owe the thousand refinements in 
the delightful art of angling— rods, reels, lines, hooks, 
flies, etc. And from the research of skillful anglers 
comes a knowledge of fish culture, a direct benefit to al 
mankind, one of the most important in adding to the 
food products of modern times. 
The crank, too, is a generous fellow, for, not content 
with enjoying his pleasures selfishly, he insists that you 
must know what they are and how they can be gotten. 
If he cannot talk to you of tnem, he will write you. He 
will tell you where the best fishing waters are, or the 
best waters for cruising. If he knows where quail or 
snipe or woodcock, or any game is abundant, he tells his 
friends, and often writes the information to his favorite 
sporting journal so the world may know it. Thus, from 
his indefatigable activity, the world at large is a gainer. 
Everyone cannot be a crank, for a crank is a man with 
ideas, who is honest and faithful in furthering his work, 
and has confidence in its genuine worth; who is not dis- 
heartened or discouraged by failure, and one who, when 
he at last does succeed, has benefitted the world more 
than he has himself. But, at least, all can appreciate his 
true worth. 
PHILOSOPHER, FROG AND MAN. 
' In our Natural History columns a correspondent relates 
how, once upon a time, in an arid desert, seeking to ao- 
pease his thirst, he was beguiled and deceived by a mock- 
ing bird's note, which simulated that of a wild fowl, and 
seemed to proclaim the grateful presence of water where 
all was dry and parched. The incident has an interest- 
ing parallel in one that happened some 2,300 j r ears ago, 
and has come down to us in one of those perfect verse 
flowers that make up the.Greek Anthology. The hero was 
no less a personage than the philosopher Plato. This is 
Dr. Garnett's translation: 
l Naiads, your frog, hoarse minstrel of a strain 
Aquatic, leaping lover of the rain, 
Imaged in brass, I dedicate, well pleased. 
To ye, in gratitude for thirst appeased. 
Faint was I wandering, when the welcome croak &i 
Loud from a nigh sequestered hollow broke, 
And, following the inviting voice, I found 
The twinkling spring clear- welling from the ground. 
It is related that after hearing Socrates talk, Plato 
burned his poems. We should be thankful that this one 
escaped destruction, for in this picture of the thirsty 
wayfarer turning aside at the water cry of the frog, we 
have more' of Plato the man than may be found in all the 
writings of Plato the philosopher. 
CHANGING SENTIMENT, 
It is not so many years since interest in game protec- 
tion was for the most part confined to the Eastern States , 
and advocates of such protection were chiefly Eastern 
men. This was natural enough, for the game was exter- 
minated first in the east, where the settlement was most 
dense, but as the centre of population moved further 
west and game extermination followed settlement, the 
notion of game protection followed too. 
It is interesting to see the spread of this feeling in the 
northwest as shown by laws recently passed, or under 
consideration by the Legislatures of North Dakota and 
Minnesota, and to note the strong push which is being 
made among the sportsmen of the latter State to abolish 
spring shooting. The usual arguments are used for and 
against this change in the law. Those who wish the 
spring shooting to continue urge the ordinary and ex- 
tremely short-sighted argument, that if residents of Min- 
nesota do not shoot the ducks some one else will. Those 
who are in favor of the proposed law seem at present to 
have decidedly the best of the argument. 
There are especial reasons why the abolition of spring 
shooting would be a benefit to Minnesota, as indeed to 
any one of the northern tier of States. Many of the mi- 
grating fowl, which, under ordinary conditions, pass on 
to Canada to breed, would, if undisturbed, breed now as 
they did twenty -five years ago, in Minnesota and in North 
Dakota. Old residents of either of these States can re- 
member a time when wild fowl hatched their young in 
enormous numbers within their borders, and if they no 
longer do so it is because they have been driven away by 
being shot at just at the time when they are about to lay 
their eggs. 
It is well known that in some large preserves in Ohio, 
Illinois and Michigan, the wild fowl which once passed on 
in spring to more northern breeding grounds, have, since 
spring shooting was abolished in these preserves, begun 
to stop there and to rear their young. Such families of 
ducks, remaining in these localities until the fall flight be- 
gins, form the best possible decoys and draw down thous- 
ands of migrating birds to share their resting place. A 
correspondent tells us that precisely this thing occurs 
on some preserves in Minnesota. 
There can be no doubt that before very long the senti- 
ment of sportsmen generally will so have changed that 
spring shooting will no longer be regarded as sportsman- 
like, and while this may not come for some years yet, it 
will surely corner 
NEW LA WS FOR MAINE. 
The Maine Legislature has adjourned, and on another 
page we print the game laws passed at the session just 
ended. 
An examination of them shows that the power of the 
commissioners have been greatly enlarged, and that 
many desirable amendments have been made. The com- 
missioners are given authority , on petition of five or more 
citizens of the State, or whenever they may deem.it wise, 
to regulate the times, places and the circumstances' under 
which game and fish may be taken, and they may even 
entirely prohibit the taking of any kind of game or fish 
in any part of the State for a term of years, not exceed- 
ing four. This is a power which we believe has never be- 
fore been delegated to the fish commissioners, and one 
which may well be entrusted to them. It is to be noticed , 
however, that they cannot authorize the taking of game 
or fish at a time when it is prohibited by law. Thus the 
power of the commissioners resembles those possessed by 
county commissioners, or county supervisors, of- certain 
counties of various States. 
The absolute prohibition of the killing -of female or 
young moose at any time is a noteworthy step in advance, 
as is also the prohibition of the use of jack lights in hunt- 
ing moose, deer and caribou. 
Anglers will be gratified to note the amendment 
which reduces the limit of land locked salmon or trout 
to be caught at any one time from fifty to twenty five 
pounds. 
In looking over these amended and jimproved laws, the 
inquiry at once suggests itself, how far can they be en- 
forced? This, of course, depends altogether on the 
character of the men selected for fish and game wardens 
It will be observed that such wardens as may be ap- 
pointed can be removed, and that they are obliged to give 
a bond for the faithful performance of their duties. This 
should insure a class of men who can be depended on 
to faithfully perform their duty. The residents of Maine, 
and all who visit that State for the purpose of camping, 
fishing or shooting, will read with satisfaction the 
changes recently made in the law. It should be re- 
membered that most of these changes were suggested by 
the commissioners, who. having how received from the 
Legislature all that they asked for, having had their sal- 
aries doubled and their appropriation for the enforce- 
ment of the law doubled, will now be held by public 
opinion to a strict accountability for the enforcement of 
the law. 
ALTHOUGH, 
A clergyman who writes from the West and explains 
that he has become an admiring reader of Forest and 
Stream, through the fortunate circumstances of having 
annexed a son-in-law who was a subscriber, adds: "Al- 
though I have been for twenty-five years a minister of 
the gospel, I greatly enjoy the forest and hunting. " 
We are at a loss to understand the pertinency of that 
"although." It implies that there is something unusual 
in a clergyman's enjoying the woods and the sports of 
the field, and we are free to confess that in our opinion 
any such notion would be foolish and unworthy. A 
clergyman who has refrained from the enjoyments of 
forest and stream recreations,has denied himself their in- 
nocent pleasures, and deprived himself of the good they 
have in them for body and soul, has made a grievous rni£- 
take. If shooting and fishing were recreations unfit for a 
clergyman they would be unfit for other people as well; 
if they may be participated in by laymen they may be 
by the clergy, unless we are to accept as a guide for men 
of that profession the gloomy restrictions and repressive 
rules under which Pusey endeavored to go through life 
with never a smile. _ . 
