EeB^. 12, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
123 
miss flattening my nose against the show windows of 
the gun stores that I pass in my morning walk down 
town. If the spirit of evil ever tempts me to steal, it is 
this class of gems that will be missed. What offers a 
greater temptation than the display of the show window 
of the dealer in "sporting tackle"? And how cheap 
everything seems by comparison with prices a few years 
ago. I remember paying $25 for ray first split-bamboo, 
and now that amount will bvty five as good. And how 
dainty and tempting they look, and what jewelry eqitil 
to those beautiful reels? 
In one window a dealer displayed a lot of trunk rods. 
I know he did it just to aggravate me. I did not need 
a trunk rod. I had at home rods innumerable; yet no 
young woman ever envied the possession of a love of a 
bonnet in a milliner's window more than I one of those 
rods. But day after day I resisted, for I am fiot rolling 
in wealth. In this frame of mind I was turning from 
the Avindow, and stumbled over a friend also staring 
in the window. "Hello, Charley, what arje you doing 
here?" 
"What am I doing? I was looking at those little trunk 
rods, and resisting the temptation to buy ojie, although 
T have rods and rods at home, and can't get away to 
go fishing once a year." 
"Well," said I, "here is a pair eif us, Let us put our 
heads together and sec if we can't make $5 each extra 
in some way. We are both newspaper men and yachts- 
men — ^let us each write something to-day ior the Exam- 
iner." 
We did, and each owns onfe of those trunk rods to add 
to the collection, and which we will probably get an 
oDportunity to use— the Lord only knows when — al- 
though trout streams galore are to be found within two 
hours' ride of the city. But I put mine together occa- 
sional!}^ of a Sunday, go out in the back yard, make 
casts and in imagination fill a lolb. creel, and in that way 
get my money's worth. 
What an exasperating condition of things it is to haA'e 
that "off" leg chained to the desk, and see your friends 
coming home from a day's shoot with a bag full of 
canvasbacks and mallards, or half a dozen salmon, artd 
you not able to steal of? for a day. And such bags 
as the boys are making! The season here has been 
exceptionably good. The markets are overflowing with 
an excess of suppl}'' of ducks, geese, quail and snipe. The 
market shooters are getting in their deadly work, snaring 
and trapping with impunity. We have game and fish 
wardens, it is true: but they make a farce of doing their 
duty. In consequence all sorts of devices are at work 
to destroy. Men go about the streets with backloads 
of game, ofYering it from house to house. There are 
days when canvasbacks sell at 40 cents a pair, and mallards 
for 25 cents; quail and English snipe at 50 cents a 
dozen; honkers 30 cents, and so on. And yet there are 
people who will pa}-^ 75 cents for a skeleton chicken 
with a breastbone like the fin keel of the present day 
freak, rather than indulge in the toothsome canvasback 
at half the money. They are usually the same class of 
people who drench themselves with genuine mineral 
spring water made in the basement of the drug shop, 
instead of drinking pure nature claret at 50 cents the 
gallon. 
Speaking of fishing, it is a wonder to me that an 
Englishman will take himself off to Norway and come 
home happy if he has taken half a dozen salmon in sev- 
eral weeks' persistent fishing, when in the same time 
and at no greater expense he could come to California 
and have such fishing as he never dreamed of. All along 
the coast, wherever a river reaches the sea, at certain 
seasons the salmon run in by the thousands, and a couple 
of hours' ride lands you on the banks or at Santa Cruz, 
just below us. Open sea fishing from a boat is rare sport, 
provided the fisherman has confidence in his stomach 
and can keep his boots from rising to the occasion. 
The "swells of ocean" have no respect for the swells 
of the city, with the result that the salmon themselves 
are fed instead of becoming food. It is astonishing in 
such cases how the fisherman loses his interest in pis- 
catorial pursuits, and how much greater his admiration 
for the sea would be viewed from the shore. Man may 
propose, but the stomach indisposes. Podgers. 
The Chestnut Ridge 
And Along its Foot.— XI. 
Dr. Wii-i.iAM Elder, a native of Somerset, in the 
Ridge region, in die preface to his book, "Periscopics," 
1854, says: "The primitive piety and politics of my na- 
tive mountains are, to my thoughts, the very blood and 
breath of their life. I wish they had a portraiture an- 
swering to their worth. I suppose somebody will be 
born in time for this use, but till his advent those who 
have the sense that feels this want must wait and wish." 
I am sorry that the anticipated "somebody" has not 
yet appeared, though a whole generation has passed 
away since the Doctor wrote. 
Notwithstanding the somewhat severe characteriza- 
tion of the mountaineers by Dr. Jackson, as I quoted in 
my seventh article in this series, there were numbers 
of estimable and excellent men among them; fully as 
high a percentage as was to be found elsewhere. Still 
those who live isolated lives and commune much with 
themselves become more or less odd and angular, and 
are entitled to stand in the ranks of the "peculiar people." 
I recall some queer specimens of the genus Ridger. 
One of them was a little old fellow who was a combina- 
tion of the canal boatman and farmer. A personal pe- 
culiarity of his which I remember was that he was blind 
of one eye and wore a pair of spectacles that had but one 
lens, and the lens came over the blind eye. It is related 
that once when he fell over a wheelbarrow on the street 
he took off his spectacles to see what he had fallen over. 
He was a great controversialist on Scriptural subjects, 
and when being hot pressed his opponent quoted St. 
Patd as against him, he replied, "Dear man, no! St. 
Paul wasn't the man he ought to be. Dear man, no; 
whew!" this last being a prolonged half whistle, as 
Hamlet would say, a "windy suspiration of forced 
breath." In this estimation of the great Apostle he dif- 
fered from the fine old Somerset man, Gen. Ogle, whose 
character is excellently drawn by Dr. Elder. Gen. Ogle 
vyas famous in his day, a member of the State and na- 
tional legislatures for forty years. He, his son and his 
grandson had the peculiar honor of representing in suc- 
cession their district in Congress. On one occasion the 
General sent his compliments by a dying friend to St. 
Paul, with the assurance that he approved his writings 
generally, and entertained for himself as a man the high- 
est regard, affection and esteem." This, I think, was a 
unique act. I wonder if the message was delivered; and 
if so what St. Paul thought of it. 
But Gen. Ogle deserves a more extended notice. He 
was a man of commanding presence, of great eloquence, 
and of a ready, homely, trenchant wit. His control over 
his rude constituency was almost absolute. His style 
of oratory was exactlj' fitted to the level of his hearers. 
"My dear fellows," said he, in the course of a speech, 
"you don't understand it, but it is as clear as light to the 
children of light that the Lord reigneth and the devil's 
a fool. Stretch yourselves up into the light. If you go 
nosing about in the dirt for a living and dozing in the 
mud for enjoyment the shadow of a leaf will hide the 
whole heaAren from your sight. Pdiots and drivelers 
think the world is coming to an end when worn-out 
forms and worn-out' things are blown up; but such 
dotai'ds are but first cousins to the beast that perishes. 
Such cattle have about the same right to scratch their 
heads for anything there is in them as so many mon- 
keys, and very likely will make as much by the operation. 
Of all people in the world, fools have the least sense, 
and the best way is as good as any; and when I was a boy 
I discovered that nothing less than too much is plenty. 
.That's the difference between a man of faith and the 
snobs that do all their traveling in a treadmill." I have 
ventured to quote tliese few passages, taken a little out 
of their connections, both to illustrate the manner of 
Gen. Ogle and the style of public .speaking that used to 
take with our fathers. 
I well recall another of the old-timers of our neck of 
woods who was somewhat of an oddity. One of his 
queer observations deserves to be put on record. He 
was a genuine Pennsylvania Dutchman, a man of con- 
siderable wealth, and a pillar in the church of which 
he was a member. When he was called upon to sub- 
scribe something toward putting up a lightning rod 
on the church, inasmuch as it was thought the spire 
offered a specially attractive point for the subtle fluid, 
he refused, saying, "It is the Lord's house, and if he 
wants to t'under on It, let him t'under on it." Sure enough 
the Lord did "t'under" on it: it was struck by lightning 
and considerably damaged: but I presume the honest 
old Dutchman considered the loss was the Lord's alone. 
The early settlers on the Apalachian ranges in Penn- 
sylvania — that is to say, the Alleghanies, the Laurel 
Hill and the Chestnut RidQC — were generally a patient, 
laborious, earnest race. There were of course among 
them, as in every community, some who were rather off 
color; but with these we need have nothing to do. The 
hillsides were and still to a great extent are covered 
with dense forests, and to clear away the timber and open 
up their farms, to build their humble cabins, and to fence 
and cultivate their rude fields, occupied most of their 
energies. Schools and books were for a long time practi- 
cally unknown. They lived at remote distances from each 
other, so that much social intercourse was impossible. 
Yet they had frequent occasions for meetings — flax- 
scutchings, wood-choppings, log-rollings, house-rais- 
ings and corn-huskings. They made the most of these 
opportunities, and all the neighbors for miles around 
were invited, and they all made it a point to be present. 
Whatever the nature of the gathering, it invariably ended 
with a "frolic" — that is, a dance and general merry-mak- 
ing. The "fiddler" Was an important character in the 
earl}' settlements, and his art was in frequent requisi- 
tion. 
"A Ijlessiiig on the cheery gang 
Wha dearly love a jig or sang, 
Arid never think b' right or wrang 
■ By square and rule, 
But as the clegs o' feeling stang^ 
Are wise or fool !" 
The means of growing rich in those days were very 
limited. Stephen Girard. -"'th his 8,000,000 or 10,- 
000,000, stood through a generation as the grand mogul 
of wealth. In these days of Vanderbilts, Astors and 
Rockefellers he would scarcely be noticed. Things are 
only relatively great or small. The Ridger was com- 
pelled by his environment to a life of toil and frugality. 
His fields, the forests and the streams furnished him 
with the bulk of his necessaries. Whatever superfluity 
he might have was bartered at the country store for the 
few groceries he needed and the items of clothing which 
his own flock or flax patch did not supply. Tailor-made 
clothes were highly prized, and coats and hats were 
.handed down as heirlooms from father to son. This 
frugality extended rigorously to the use of ammunition. 
There was then little reckless firing of guns. The prac- 
ticing marksman selected for his target a tree or a stump, 
such that he could afterward cut out the flattened bul- 
lets and mould them over again. Bullets and fixed am- 
munition could not then be bought as now, but every 
man was obliged to mould his own bullets. I very well 
remember my father's ladle and bullet moulds, the latter 
looking something like a modern nut-cracker, by which 
one bullet at a time could be cast. Moulded in this way, 
every bullet had a long neck to it, which had to be cut 
off with a knife. Bullet-making was thus a slow and 
tedious performance, and few shots were recklessly 
thrown away. All guns were then muzzleloaders, few of 
them double-barreled; yet the advance by percussion 
caps upon the old-time flint-locks was so great that any 
further improvement in firearms was for a long time 
unthought of. I remember that my father had in his 
small "armory" a flint-lock rifle and a flint-lock horse- 
pistol, the latter, I believe, a relic of the war of 1812. The 
pistol, which was intended to be carried in a holster by 
a "horse marine," from its size and weight was entitled 
to rank with the heavy artillery. It required a strong 
man to hold it out at length and fire it with any steadi-, 
ness or precision of aim. 
In these observations I have tried to delineate the 
character and manners of our fathers, so far as my own 
recollections and my reading go. To one looking back 
to those days of simplicity, there seems to hang over 
them a haze as of Indian summer, as though they were 
filled with romance and enjoyment; but in the passing 
they were no doubt heavy and dull and trying enough. 
But we honor the memory of the pioneers because they 
were patient and patriotic, hopeful and undaunted, in 
spite of their labors, their privations and their daily 
perils. T. J, CiiArMAN. 
Pittsburg, Pa. 
The Red Squirrel Again* 
Sprtngfield, 111., Jan. 19. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The red squirrel's portrait seems to be getting a pretty 
thorough retouching in Forest and Stream just now, 
thanks to your correspondents. 
Whichever way we may view it, it is certainly a very 
interesting subject. 
What a pleasing reflection if some of those corre- 
spondents who only look upon our nimble rover as 
"vermin," "buccaneer," "Ishmael," etc., would be imbued 
with a little of that kindly spirit exhibited by "Hermit," 
whose contribution on the subject in Forest and 
Stream of last week reads like a page from Thoreau! 
Well do I know the squirrel's frequent transgres- 
sions, particularly a penchant for robbing birds' nests. 
But how about the bluejay, the crow, the various hawks, 
the owls, the eagles, the shrike, the pet cat of the house- 
hold, the small boy, and many an old boy, who frequently 
lean in the same direction? I, for one, prefer to deal 
gently with the red squirrel. Fain would I begrudge his 
joyous existence. The old woods surrounding my native 
village in western New York, with its loved memories 
of boyhood days, would seem indeed empty and forlorn 
without the presence of these sprightly little animals. 
For a certain pessimistic correspondent who designates ' 
our clean, beautiful red rover as "vermin," I have only 
a world of pity. He would exterminate one of the droll- 
est, most interesting and most picturesque of little wood 
creatures. 
The red squirrel's reputation as a pilferer is of a high 
order, and he sustains it well. But he goes about it in 
such an artistic, audacious, droll manner as to excite 
our admiration and wonder more than our wrath. One 
fall my brother and I gathered several bushels of but- 
ternuts and spread them on the roof of the woodshed to 
dry. A week later we noticed, with considerable trepi- 
dation, that our nuts were disappearing in some man- 
ner, as large, bare places here and there attested. Who 
was the depredator? Putting this and that together, we 
finally centered on the red squirrel, roving specimens 
of which occasionally strayed away from the nearest 
woods to visit the village. While we were not loath to 
divide our spoil with him, yet when it came to the ques- 
tion of the major portion, opposition set in. A few 
days later, while we were engaged in that pleasant (?) 
occupation, wood sawing, under a large apple tree stand- 
ing beside the shed, we heard a slight noise above us. 
and looked up just in time to perceive a red squirrel 
run along a limb and land on the shed, where he quickl}^ 
singled out a nut and started on his return. Instead of 
taking the tree route he ran down the shed, and with 
the greatest audacity came toward us. He passed me 
within a few feet, gained the woodpile with a leap, and 
with a few flirts of his tail ran along the entire length 
of five cords and then to the ground again. Having 
recovered from his astonishment, my brother gave chase 
— through the yard, across the street, through a neigh- 
bor's garden and then into a pasture, where, with an- 
other defiant flirt of his tail, reddy gained a great oak, 
and the race was ended. He made a gallant dash for 
liberty, and I felt like cheering him. But never did 
a squirrel give fuller vent to his derision than upon this 
occasion._ He exhausted all the snickers, chatters, laugh- 
ter and jests in the whole squirrel category. His tri- 
umph was complete. And he further celebrated the event 
by ensconcing himself on a prominent limb, beyond 
reach of sticks and stones, and with his tail conforming 
to the curve of his back proceeded calmly to shell his 
nut and begin the sawing process. 
After this occurrence we missed him from the neigh- 
borhood, probably from the fact that shortly afterward 
his rendezvous was discovered by chance. One of the 
neighbors had occasion to clean out the attic of his barn 
where, strewn about, he found a bushel or more of imf^ 
many of which were rifled. Entrance was effected 
through a large knothole under the eave. T M S 
Wild Dogs of Juan Fernandez. 
Capt. Dewae, the English yachtsman, in his Voyage 
of the Nyanza gives an interesting description of Juan 
Fernandez as it is to-day, and says that the wild animals 
on thei island are goats, cats and dogs. Speaking of 
the dogs, Dewar says: "They are a kind of mastiff, 
descended from some which were turned loose by the 
Spanish for the purpose of keeping down the goats." 
The history of this race of dogs is a curious one. 
This island was discovered by x'ernandez in 1563, and 
on his second visit the discoverer turned ashore a few 
goats. These animals being undisturbed, increased 
rapidly, and by the latter part of the seventeenth cen- 
tury the island was well stocked. The buccaneers of 
that period going through the Straits or around the 
Horn for a raid on Spanish shipping and coast towns 
arrived in the Pacific with their vessels in a crazy con- 
dition and crews scurvy stricken. Fernandez was the 
first landfall tried_ for by these rovers, being well clear 
of the coast and giving them a chance to put vessels and 
crews in condition before proceeding to business. The 
goats' flesh was very acceptable; the old journals say 
that it was equal to good mutton, and salted down made 
good sea store. After a time the Spaniards realized 
what this open market was doing for their coast, and 
the dog idea followed, Lord Anson reached Fernandez 
