Apstt S, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
27S 
THE CALIFORNIA CLUBS' TEMPEST. 
The storm center of the dog world seems to be perma- 
nently fixed la California, with the point of greatest disturb- 
ance at San Francisco. Much of it seems to be the result of 
personal spite and disappointed ambition on the part of one 
man or more, much to the discomfort of many others. 
The acute stage of conflict and acrimonious personality 
was reached when recently the Pacific Kennel Club ceased 
to exist, and made the Olympic Gun Club legatee of its good 
will and some of its belongings. The Olympic Gun Club, a 
gun club pure and simple, with a doggy afterthought as lega- 
tee, and which as a club it recently repudiated, applied for 
membership in the A. K. C, trusting that an informal pre- 
tense to an interest in dogs and bench shows would make it 
eligible to membership. The constitution which the Olym- 
pic Club submitted with its application for membership to 
the A. K. C, was neither in letter nor spirit what was re- 
quired by the A. K. C. ; and said application, as it then stood, 
could not have been accepted by the A, K. C. under any 
circumstances. 
It is a waste of effort to dwell on what the club intended 
to do later in the way of amending its constitution. The A. 
K. C. could only officially recognize what it really sub- 
mitted. 
Coincident with the application of the Olympic Gun Club 
came an application from the San Francisco Kennel Club, a 
new club occupying the same field as had the defunct Pacific 
Kennel Club, eligible in every way and with a constitution 
which fully filleil all the exactions imposed by the A, K. C. 
It further had the favorable recommendation of the Pacific 
advisory board What was the result? There could be but 
one, and the San Francisco Kennel Club's application was 
accepted. 
The membership of the new club is strong both in numbers 
and the standing of its personnel. It is folly for a handful 
of disappointed seekers of power to denounce the new club 
and the Pacific advisory board and the American Kennel 
, Club, and all else which interposes between their personal 
ambitions or likings and the canine world at large. It they 
are right, it is extraordinary what a number of 'clubs and 
what a number of good men have gone wrong in a matter in 
which most of them are entirely disinterested ; and on the 
other hand, if they are right it is not at all remarkable that 
they should be so when we consider their long schooling, 
numbers, high standing and capabiliiy. It would be expect- 
ing too much of these men that they would interest them- 
selves personally in the personal prejudices or enmities of 
factions, and officially such matteis are irrelevant. It is pos- 
sible that for the personal factional bitterness they care noth- 
ing. 
In the Breeder and Sportsman of March 13 Mr. Crowd 1 
presents a garbled report of the last A. K. C. meeting, and 
draws some false and malicious inferences from it. He 
denounces Mr. A. P. Vredenburgh in particular as being the 
prime came of the rejection of the Olympic Gun Club's 
application. He seems to think such rejection was an infa- 
my. He is even more severe in his denunciation of the 
Pacific Advisory Board. He gives a list in part of the mem- 
bership of the late Pacific Club — though the club is now out 
of existence and therefore immaterial to the matter— and 
also a list of the members of the Olympic Gun Club, and 
eulogizes them. Of the A. K. C. he says: "Regarding the 
A. K. C. end of the question, our readers should remember 
that the delegates took their cue from the secretary, Mr. A. 
P. Vredenburgh. This infamous action must be laid at his 
own door, as he, and possibly the membership committee, 
are the only ones fully acquainted with both sides of the 
question. To this man Vredenburgh may be laid the 
entire success of the scheme which was so cleverly 
laid at this end of the line. Afraid of the lash 
of the "mischief maker" and only too glad to wreck his ven- 
geance against the P. K C. for a fancied wrong, he not only 
presented the report of the advisory boal-d in as favorable a 
light as possible, but hoodwinked the membership committee 
and deliberately withheld the correspondence of the Olym- 
pias. M. C. Allen, secretary of the O. G. C, wrote to Vre- 
denburgh (in the same inclosure that contained the constitu- 
tion of the club), that holding a bench show was not the 
object of the club when it was first organized, but that cir- 
cumstances had arisen which had caused the members, as 
lovers of the dog, to desire to incorporate bench shows with 
their other objects, and that the board of directors would add 
any clause suggested by the A. K. C. or its secretary. 
Much in the foregoing is absolutely false. Mr. Crowell 
admits that the constitution of the Olympic Club was lack- 
ing in the very first essential of what the club should be as a 
member of the A. K. C. If the members loved the dog so 
dearly, they surely could have said so in their constitution. 
They knew all the A. K. C. requirements in this respect 
when they made their application, and truly it seems far- 
fetched to blame the A. K. C. for their own negligence. 
"Why should the Olympic Gun Club expect more of the A.' 
K. C. than any other club? Because of its title? Mr. Vre- 
denburgh presented the matter of the Olympic Kennel Club's 
application in precisely the same manner that he presented 
other matters of business for the consideration of the A. K. 
C. He gave his best thought to it. There was no "in- 
famy" whatever in an officer of the club performing his 
duty, and it is an unpardonable libel on the officers and dele- 
gates of the A K. C. to assert that any infamous action 
would receive thtir sanction or countenance. In asking for 
the respect and consideration he claims for the body of men 
he assumes to represent, he should not forget that respect is 
also due to others. A mere reading of the list of officers and 
delegates presect at the last A. K. C. meeting is all that is 
necessary to refute the malicious misstatement uttered by the 
Breeder and Spwtsman. 
The reason which prevented at the A. K. C. meeting a 
reading of the full correspondence of the S. F. K. C. and O. 
G C. matter was that the A. K. C. had a large amount of 
business to consider, and had a long session. The matter 
had been thoroughly considered by the membership commit- 
tee. In that way it had full official consideration. In view 
that the Olympic Gun Club was not eligible, that alone ad- 
versely settled its application, and was so accepted by its 
representative, Mr. Bargate, and all its correspondence would 
not change that fact. There was nothing which required 
that the correspondence be read at ihat^ime. If it was 
couched in the delicate language and picturesque forceful- 
ness employed by Mr. Crowell, it might have been interest- 
ing as an unique contribution of mental lawlessness, but 
nothing more. 
The next stage of official importance was the action of the 
St. Bernard Club, of California, which resolved that it would 
not support the San Francisco Kennel Club's show. In 
plain words, the latter had declared a boycott on the new 
club. The St. Bernard Club, as a club, had no standing in 
the issue between the Olympic and San Francisco clubs. Its 
gratuitous action therefore was entirely arbitrary, and could 
proceed only from the personal ill-feeling of a part of its 
memberfi. Its unfriendly action was deplorably ill advised, 
placing it in open and declared hostility to a feUow mem- 
ber with which, as a club, it had no grievance, and in 
rebellion to the ruling of. the central body, the A. K. 
C. If its insubordination is permitted, there is an 
open road to swift disorganization of the whole A. K. C. 
structure. If the St. B. C. of C. had a grievance, the A. K. 
C, has a regular procedure tor considering and passing 
upon it and all other club grievances. As a club member, 
it had pledged itself to the support of the A. K, C. and an 
observance of its laws To take the law into its own hands 
and oppose the A. K. C, and declare war on a fellow mem- 
ber in good standing, is contempt and rebellion and injustice 
of the most flagrant kind. The hand of the A. K C. should 
be laid upon the St. B. C. of C. with a firmness that will re- 
adjust it on right lines of loyalty oi out of the A. K. C 
entirely. It is contrary to all the ethics that the tail should 
wag the dog. 
POINTS AND FLUSHES. 
Mr. Thomas Johnson, Winnipeg, has published in the 
Daily Nor'wesier a challenge for a match race between one 
of his pointers and anything an unknown, who conceals his 
identity under a nom deplume, can produce. For directness 
and serious purpose his challenge is in sharp contrast to the 
columns of serials, stuffed with advertising and inflicted on 
the American public up to two years ago After recounting 
some particulars, Mr. Johnson slates his challenge as follows : 
"I would suggest that Anti-Humbug procure a pointer dog 
from any part of the world that can beat a dog in a field 
trial now in my kennel, bred by myself, for any part of 
$1,000. As an evidence of good faith I have placed in the 
hands of Mr. John Baird $100 to bind the match, and I will 
give another $100 to the Winnipeg General Hospital if I do 
not prove your correspondent as lacking in nerve as he is in 
veracity." 
Mr. William Brailsford, under date of March 1.5, in a let- 
ter deploring the sad loss by death of the late owner of the 
Ightfield Kennels, informs us that it has been decided that 
the whole Ightfield Kennel of setters and pointers shall be 
sold at Aldridge's in June or July In consequence of his 
employer's death, none of the Ightfield dogs will compete in 
the coming spring trials, but he further adds that the latter 
have numerous entries, and there will doubtless be a strong 
competition. 
Mr. R. B. F. Randolph, who is in the Department of Bac- 
teriology, Hoagland Laboratory, Brooklyn, N. Y., has been 
experimenting with the bacillus of distemper with a view to 
discovering an effective remedy for the disease. The follow- 
ing paragraph, taken from his recent letter to us, will explain 
his needs in the matter. Any one who can furnish the needed 
subject will do a good work in promoting investigation by a 
thoroughly qualified and competent gentleman, and contrib- 
ute toward the discovery of specific knowledge concerning 
the most destructive disease which afflicts the dog, and 
toward a remedy for it. Of course it is desirable that the 
subject be as near Brooklyn as possible. Mr, Randolph 
writes: "I am very anxious to get a dog with distemper, and 
would like most of all to have access to the body of one that 
has died of it, as soon after death as possible. It will not be 
necessary to take the body to the Laboratory, as if I can 
learn the whereabouts of the animal I will go myself and 
make the necessary cultures. It is important that these be 
made as soon after death as possible, for if decomposition 
sets in other bacteria will invade the tissues and complicate 
or render futile my search for the bacillus." 
The Alameda County Sportsmen's Association, Oakland, 
Cal., recently disbanded and a new club was organized 
under the title of the Oakland Kennel Club. The reasons 
for this action were local, and the new club is largely the 
old club under a new name. 
Mr. J. J. Lynn, Port Huron, Mich., secretary of the Inter- 
national Fox Terrier Club, writes us that the first show of 
the club will be held at Port Huron, Mich., April 31, this 
year. 
Mr. Belmont is having presumably a pleasant time in the 
West, with just enough of adventure to put a mild spicing 
to the pleasure. The following, from the New York Times, 
recounts the delights of a mountain ride which he enjoyed: 
"Denvbk, Col., March 27.— The Denver and Rio Grande 
express from the Pacific coast pulled in nearly two hours 
late last night, the delay being due to an adventure of 
August Belmont, who arrived m the luxurious private car 
Oriental. The car contained Mr. and Mrs Belmont and 
Mr. and Mrs. H. V. R. Kennedy, of New York When tne 
train stopped at Leadville yesterday for dinner, Mr. Belmont 
seized his kodak and hailing a cab started up town at a brisk 
pace to "take" a few natives. When he returned to the sta- 
tion he was amazed to find that his train had gone. The 
Rio Grande officials, learning of the New Yorker's predica- 
ment, ordered the tram to be held at Malta, and Mr. Bel- 
mont boarded a swich engine and started down the moun- 
tain side. The speed around curves and over gulches be- 
came loo swift for his nerves, and handing a $20 note across 
the boiler head, he shouted to the engineer to go slow and 
let the train continue to wait. When he overtook the ex- 
press an hour's time had been lost, and the train was delayed 
just one hour and fifty minutes in arriving in the city. 
"Some men," said Uncle Eben, "kin train er dog ter do 
anyt'ing dey tells 'im an' at de same time raise de mos' dis- 
obejintesl chillun in de neighborhood." — Washington Star. 
KENNEL NOTES. 
NAMES CLAIMED. 
Mr. T. C. Moxhatn claims the name King Krueger for beagle dog 
whelped Sept. T, 1896, by champion Koyal Krueger— champion Elf. 
BRED. 
Mr. T. C. Moxhatn's Marguerite, beagle bitch, Feb. 28, to champion 
Royal Kjueger. 
Aiiss Sadie U. Spooner's Bloom, pointer bitch, Feb. 4, to chamoion 
Lad of Kent. 
Mr. J. Danforth Bush's 
OarelesB, bull bitch, Jan. 28, to His Lordship II. 
Duchess of Leinaler, buU bitch, Jan. to His Lordship II. 
Communications for this depurtment are requested. Anything on 
the bicycle in its relation to the sportsman is particularly desirable. 
THE FIRST LESSON. 
For several months I had been trying to persuade my wife 
to learn to ride a bicycle. She put it off on one pretext or 
another that seemed trivial to a confirmed wheelman like my- 
self till a week ago, when much to my gratili cation she s.aid 
she was ready to begin. The occasion for this change of 
heart was my birthday, and it was in honor of the event that 
the date had been chosen. 
I had already selected the riding school where she was 
to learn and had gotten her tickets, but at the last moment 
before leaving the house the tickets were nowhere to be 
found. 
I was feeling a trifle nervous at the responsibility of intro- 
ducing my wife to the new world of the wheel, and 1 am 
afraid I spoke irritably about the loss of the tickets and 
blamed Nellie for their disappearance, though, to tell the 
truth. I knew I had put them somewhere myself and couldn't 
be sure whether it was on my bureau or in the drawer of the 
writing desk; but Nellie was serene and gracious and did not 
pick me up or attempt to demonstrate my error. 
Of course her equanimity made me ashamed of my attempt 
to shift the responsibility, and 1 endeavored to atone by tell- 
ing her what a good little girl she was to give up her engage- 
ments and home interests just to please me, and then 1 pic- 
tured to her the good times we would have on country roads 
together, and lastly I remembered that 1 had another reason 
for being grateful to her for going this day, as she had re- 
cently complained of pains in her back and bones and limbs, 
which in connection with a certain feverish glow on iier face, 
which I had noted suggested grip, and I mildly expostulated 
at her venturing out in defiance of that dismal disease. 
Nellie assured me that she-felt in no danger of the grip, 
but as we neared the school she grew manifestly nervous. 
Several times she asked me if 1 considered learning to ride 
an easy thing, and wlien I told her yes she did not seem 
thoroughly assured. Thinking it would give her confidence, 
I told her that, aside from learning to mount, she would have 
no difficulty whatever. 
"A woman's wheel is so easily managed, and the instruc- 
tors so careful, " said I, "that there is no possible danger of 
falling or hurting yourself." 
Contrary to my expectations, she did not accept this as the 
oracular utterance of wisdom, though as a rule she believes 
implicitly what 1 tell her on subjects with which she is noc 
familiar, and I must confess that for a moment 1 felt 
ashamed of her lack of grit and lack of confidence in me. 
The next instant, however, I saw that the nervousness she 
felt at taking up this new and untried art was beyond her 
control, and that it was partly due to a desire to do well and 
appear well before me and a fear that she wouldn't, and so 
1 passed it over, and also her request not to be introduced to 
any of my friends or acquaintances who might happen to be 
present at the school. 
It did not occur to me till after we had reached the place 
and she had disappeared in the dressing room that 1 had not 
made an engagement for her. I am not accustomed to such 
lapses, but Nellie's decision to take this first lesson had been 
somewhat unexpected, and I had hardly had time to figure 
out the matter in all its ramifications. Fortun>itely the 
manager thought he could work her in without any serious 
delay, and to make sure 1 walked over to have a few words 
with the young lady clerk at the desk. 
At this moment, however, Nellie appeared from the direc- 
tion of the dressing room clad in a very becoming costume, 
which I had not seen before, and I waited an instant to com- 
pliment her on her appearance. Then I turned to the clerk, 
but that young lady for some occult reason appeared suddenly 
to have lost the good sense that a moment before character- 
ized her comely face. Instead she was laughing in an inane 
kind of way that at once lowered her a good many notches 
in my estimation. I began asking her about the previous en- 
gagements on her books, but before I could come to any un- 
derstanding an instructor came up and said that he had half 
an hour's spare time to devote to a lesson, and accordingly I 
gave up trying to get any satisfaction from the young lady. 
As we walked across the hall I heard the instructor say to 
my wife, ' 'Will you have the same wheel you had yesterday ?" 
She turned and looked at him in a rather odd way, and he 
at once begged her pardon and explained that be had mis- 
taken her lor another lady he was teaching. The incident 
slipped from my memory for the time being, but later on it 
was recalled. 
I sat and watched Nellie as the instructor walked beside 
her till she had made several circumnavigations of the place. 
She seemed to sit on the wheel remaikably well, and 1 tnok 
pleasure in thinking how sweet she looked. Pieaently the 
instructor got his own wheel, and holding on to her handle 
bar with one hand, hopped along for a few steps and then 
slipped easily into his own saddle. I could hardly believe 
my eyes to see the feat accomplished and to see Nellie riding 
there, guided only by a slight touch on the steering tar of 
her wheel. As the two came around, pedaling at double the 
ordinary speed and passing other riders neatly, I could not 
help applauding; and Nellie looked over at me and smikd, 
when, according to all precedent, her gaze should have been 
stonily fixed on the front wheel of her mount. 
And so she made the circuit half a dozen times. Then my 
eyes were distracted to the scene of a slight accident at the 
other end of the hall, and when I looked for her again — 
could it be true? — she was riding alone. Yes, silling up 
straight, with a somewhat strained expression on her face. 
Nellie was guidmg her wheel unaided among the other 
riders and around the padded pillars, while the instructor 
jogged along at a dog trot and made short cuts to keep with- 
in reasonable distance in case of emergency. 
She gave up after a few more turns, and as she came op- 
posite me dismounted. 
To say that I was proud and happy at her performance 
would be putting it mildly. I gave the instructor 50 cents 
for cigars, and congratulated the manager on securing the 
services of so competent a man ; and I told more than one of 
my friends who were present that it was the first time my 
wife had ever been on a wheel. 
She meanwhile seemed strangely demure and quiet, and it 
was not till we reached the young lady at the desk that I 
understood the reason. It came like a bolt of lightning in a 
clear sky, 
"I want to ask your pardon," said my wife to-this person, 
"for the way I made faces at you when my husband asked 
I 
