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FOREST AND STREAM. 
{Aug. 13, I§9§. 
Days and Nights in West Virginia. 
As I stepped into the Continental in the middle of 
June my hand was grasped by a Southern friend, who 
immediately proceeded to take possession of me. When 
I informed him that I was worked out, in his cheery way 
he remarked: "Come and go home with me, and I will 
knock off work and go fishing with you." The affec- 
tionate request was again repeated, and in an hour's 
time my arrangements had been made to go South with 
my friend, who is one of the figures in politics and busi- 
ness in that country. On the splendid Chesapeake & 
Ohio by 4 o'clock in the evening I was flying toward 
West Virginia, "of which State my friend had been the 
preceding Governor. The trip was most enjoyable as 
we sped through the historic battlefields of Virginia to 
the scene of Stonewall Jackson's great battles, and then 
over the Alleghany Mountains into West Virginia. We 
alighted ere long on the banks of the Kanawha River 
at the beautiful old town of Charleston, which is situated 
at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers. I 
was immediately taken to the home of my friend, and 
the next day we were to go fishing. 
One of the first things to remind me as I entered 
the home of my friend, that I was no longer in my 
Northern city home, was my introduction to the blood- 
hounds. It was my first experience with these strange 
animals. My friend explained that the inspection which 
was made of me by them was one of curiosity alone. 
First came majestic Bevis, a huge, tawny, lion-like 
looking fellow; the inevitable day and night companion 
of my friend. Soon he was reinforced by Jason, a long- 
eared, solemn, red-eyed fellow. They smelfed me, sniffed 
at my clothes, looked me over, and walked around, 
making a most thorough investigation of me in everv 
way, but never allowing me to touch them. By some 
influence it was soon known that a stranger was in the 
house, and Malta, another beautiful one of the same 
breed, added her presence to the company of long-cared 
inspectors. Her coming was the signal for another 
thorough investigation from all three. I was evidently 
in dog life being thoroughly "taken over," and when my 
friend showed me to my room, as is the Southern cus- 
tom, the whole crowd trooped up the stairs with us. It 
seemed to be accepted as a matter of course, and when I 
merely suggested injury to carpets and rugs my friend 
remarked with somewhat injured voice that "My wife 
will only allow four of them to come into the house." 
This old-fashioned house, surrounded by trees, with its 
broad porches, big rooms and wide hall, filled with the 
souvenirs of campaign and field, would delight the heart 
of Mr. Hough. My friend is a mighty hunter and great 
fisherman. Huge fish spears, fishing nets, guns, and 
boating oars, and heads of fish and towl adorn almost 
every part of the lower house. He has a great collec- 
tion of the old-fashioned mountain rifles, famous in 
Kentucky and Virginia as being the best guns ever 
laid to a man's shoulder. He has a magnificent weapon, 
6ft. 2in. in length, which belonged to the grandfather of 
the famous Anse Hatfield, of whom more anon. 
Another one played the chief part in a strange and 
terrible tragedy, which my friend related to me, and 
which some day I will give to the Forest and Stream. 
I asked him to allow his collection of rifles to be shown 
next year at the Sportsmen's Exhibition at Madison 
Square, and he has consented to do so. He has here an 
elephant gun, weighing 5olbs, and carrying a 2j/Soz. 
ball, being one of the guns carried by Stanley on his 
second African expedition. 
I was interested in one piece which hung upon his 
wall. It was an Irish shillalah, from Donnybrook, Ire- 
land. I for the first time found that the shillalah had 
to be made within certain lengths and weights: Not 
over 2ft. 2in. in length, 2j^in, in diameter, and 4lbs. in 
weight. A strong leather thong is passed through the 
end which is run up half-way to the elbow, and the stick 
is grasped like a quarter-stick. At some future date I 
will give the readers of the paper an account of some of 
the adventures from Florida to the Rocky Mountains 
which my friend .graphically related to me while sitting 
surrounded by those souvenirs, 
On the next day the Governor's private car and a 
railroad flat, upon which were two boats, were hitched 
to an engine, and there was a shriek of the engine, a 
rattle of the wheels, and we were carried into the 
wilderness. We were taken without stop into Clay 
county, where the car was put on a siding and left in 
one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. This 
seemed to me the paradise of the lover of the forests and 
the idealism of the life of the hunter. We were in the 
absolute depth of the mountain forest, yet having with US' 
the conveniences of a beautiful home, the best cookery 
and the most pleasant beds. We immediately began put- 
ting the boats in the river. When I saw the Rushton 
boat, double ended, copper riveted, shoved into the 
river, I Was carried back to my old'St. Lawrence home. 
The Governor could not fish with me to-day, and I was 
turned over to the tender mercies of his fisherman, an 
ebony-hued son of Ham by the name of Frank Lee. 
Soon my friend bade me good-bye, and I was left to his 
tender mercies. The plan was for me to go up the river 
and in the evening catch my host, who was engaged in 
professional matters about six miles up, and then we 
would come down together, 
I used the fly exclusively. My boatman, one of the 
most magnificently built men I have ever seen, knew 
every rock of the beautiful river. With a deft stroke he 
took me to the most inviting places. Without looking 
he seemed to know where lay the bass, and the sport 
was as fine as I have ever witnessed on any of the 
waters of the United States, 
Before we were out of sight of the car I struck, and a 
splendid black warrior came out of the water with the 
"Baltimore" hanging to the edge of his lower jaw. 
"You hev jes' got him an' no moh," remarked Frank, 
and I knew it. Up the river and down he went with 
75ft, of line out. With a quick side jump up, and a cross- 
wise fall back, he tried to get away. I have never as yet 
determined whether this sidewise fall back on the line 
was the result of accident or design. It was marvelously 
like design, but it did not work this time. A peculiar 
feature of the black bass of this section is that there 
is no sulking. It is with a rush and a fight to the end. 
So it was here. There was not a minute of the twenty 
that I was engaged in this fight with this splendid fel- 
low that he was not in it with a rush. Every art was 
tried. He sent the swirls of the line cutting through 
the water, and then with a dive in the pools, once clear 
under the boat, when he nearly got my line. But the 
inevitable end was at hand. The boat was allowed to 
drift into quieter waters out of the rushing swirl of the 
shoal, and just under the lay of a big rock, and with 
the bright sun glinting through the trees, Frank deftly 
captured him in his net. He weighed 2. l / 2 \bs. In any of 
the quiet Western or Southern waters a fish making such 
a fight as this would weigh 4 or 5lbs. When I met my 
host in the evening he told me that the difference be- 
tween the bass even in the nearby rivers was perfectly 
perceptible. His experience was that the bass from the 
Ohio River, where the waters were quiet and somewhat 
warm, was a heavy, thick-shouldered and short fish. 
That the bass up the Elk River was longer, thinner and 
more like a fighting machine. The bass in the Guy- 
andotte, which stream is cooler and more rapid than 
either the Elk or the Ohio, is a gamier, longer, more 
slender fish than either of the others. His jaws have 
more of the tigerish expression, and he is a typical game 
fighter, and this comes from the fact that his means of 
existence are harder and he has a greater struggle for 
life in the swift, cool, rapid waters of the Guyandotte. 
We went up the stream about six miles, and at every 
shoal there was a battle. At one shoal I hooked the 
king of the water. In the rush of the water it was impos- 
sible to hold him in. the boat, so I went into the water 
and followed him. Now in one channel, now in the 
shoal, and again in the deep water, part of the time I 
was on shore and the next minute in the water half up 
to my waist. He was finally led into the running water 
at the foot of the shoal, and there the little 8oz. rod be- 
ban gently, but firmly, to bring his lordship to the 
shore. After five wonderful rushes I led him into' a little 
pool, and he was mine. 
Following the meanderings of this beautiful river, that 
evening was spent in the delightful sport. It was a 
wonderful day, and when we landed for my friend we 
had twenty-seven splendid bass. We added six more on 
the trip to the car, and the last two hours, with the 
lengthening shadows falling on the placid waters, will 
always be one of the brightest spots on my mind. That 
night was spent in the car. The Governor's black cook 
was a marvel with the bass. 
The night was even more pleasant than the day. It 
was one of the scenes which enshrouds itself around 
one's memory for all the days. The servants had 
brought out the chairs to a fragrant grassy place just 
out from /the shadows of the trees. The night of the 
South had come; a kind of opalescent night known 
only to these Southern latitudes. Below flowed the 
beautiful river, its dim outlines appearing as a rib- 
bon of gray; its murmcring voice now falling in almost 
regular cadence on the ear as the soft night breezes 
caught it up and brought it to us on the mountain. Ever 
and anon its rhythmical flow was broken as the pike with 
a rush grasped its prey, or the bass with sudden splash 
made its stroke for the minnow, or the red horse or gar 
made their fierce dash on the bar for their prey. A 
splash and a rush, and the tragedies of the waters were 
over, and the sweet cadence of the water again resumed 
its place on the quiet night tide. Near to us could be 
seen the dim outline of the car with a dim light just 
seen in the dining room. Away at the farther end could 
be heard the soft voices of the negroes as, impressed by 
the influence of the night of the woods, they spoke to 
each other in the musical voice of this Southern race. 
The mountains were silent, yet it was that whispering 
silence which carries with it tone and voice, 
"That sad and solemn sound, 
Sometimes heard overhead and sometimes under ground." 
The night wind brought with it not only the sweet 
mysticism of the Southern night, but with it came the 
soft odor of the grape blossom, the delicate fragrance of 
the cucumber tree, the magnolia of the Virginias, mingled 
with the aroma of the chestnut blossom. Ere long the 
shrouded night began to give way to a silvery gray. 
Away on the other side of the river appeared a radiant 
line of silver on the dim mountain top. It broadened 
and grew and glorified the tracings of the mountain, 
spreading its way down over the river and changing its 
gray into silver. 
"And yet so still is all 
That if a bird's nest slipped its airy tether 
There would be sound and feeling in the fall 
Of one light feather." 
With the soft moonlight flooding this wondrous val- 
ley came the myriad notes of the whippoorwill. In all 
my wanderings in the woods of the world I have never 
seen an awakening of the woods compared with that 
which I witnessed in the moonlight in the midst of the 
West Virginia mountains. On every side came the sweet 
murmuring sound of the whippoorwill mingled with the 
twitter of the night thrush, and all added their glory to 
the moonlight flooding the mountain, river and valley. 
"Night! and the South! and June! 
Silence — and yet the sound of many voices! 
And now, dashed down the darkness, tune on tune, 
And melody rejoices! 
Clear through the awakening night 
The music rushes — all the joy-bells jingle; 
^rid every leaf is trembling with delight 
Born of that singing 1 
Night! and the South! and June! 
The wind awakes; the river sings its story; 
Up from the black hills climbs the brimming moon 
In full-blown glory!" 
As we sat there drinking in the wondrous moonlight 
panorama of silver-tinted river, mountain and valley, 
my friend with a wave of his hand said: "Do you blame 
me for not giving up this for the life and ambition of 
the city?" 
Frank Stanton, our Southern' poet, was right when he 
said: 
"I wouldn't nigh be guv'ner. though it's kinder great to be, 
An' the Georgy Legislatur' ain't a drawin' card fer me! 
An' as fer that old Congress — now, what's its biggest seat 
To a feller on a river bank with lilies at his feet? 
Jest let 'em take the offices an' keep 'em in a whirl! 
I'd ruther have a vi'let from the sweet hand of a girl 
Than run the whole United States! So let the country roll! 
For a streak o' April sunshine is a-lightin' up my soul." 
I have often wondered from what source the Southern 
poetry drew its inspiration. I know now it is from 
the marvelous witchery of the nights. 
The next day in the early morning, with my friend at* 
the bow and I at the stern, we continued (fhe sport, and 
when we arrived at the car in the evening we had a 
string of thirty-two beautiful fish. The river is pic- 
turesque, and the beauty of the sport was added to byi 
the surroundings of mountains and forest and sparkling 
river. The sport was ideal. We found the most of; 
the bass at the foot of shoals, just where the curling 
water ran into the pool, and with my friend on one side 
and I on the other we frequently caught fish in the same 
pool. In the evening I caught a double, and it was 
grand sport. With the two big fish fighting and pulling' 
each other here and there in the water, a great part of 
the time the fight was in the clear shallow water, where 
we could easily see the contest. 
In the evening the proposition was made that we- 
spear for red horse and gar in the fast water. It was one 
of the most weird, exciting and ghost-like evenings I 
have ever spent. We secured a long canoe, such as our' 
forefathers used in these waters. This one was at least 1 
50ft. long, beautifully curved at both ends, and hollowed, 
out of a single tree. I was amazed at the deftness with 
which the lines were rounded on this canoe. It is man- 
aged entirely with poles, and at each end there is a 
crate which is filled with cannel coal. This makes at 
tremendous light, as the coal is composed largely of oil. 
We started the canoe in the upper part of the shoals 
and let her fly like a whirlwind, keeping her straight; and 
spearing the fish as they lay on the bar in the shoals. 
The river is filled with pike, a great number of red horse 
and gar, and it requires a quick eye and a powerful arm 
to drive the big spear into these muscular fast-water, 
fish. I was unsuccessful in killing any of the fish, but ere! 
long my friend had struck a tremendous pike, and in the 
swift water was having the fight of his life, His object 
was to hold the spear into the fish until he got into 
quieter water and force the fish along with his canoe. 
It takes great muscular power and great steadiness to 
stand in the rocking boat and drive the spear deep 
enough into a big alligator gar, or a large red horse or 
pike. He killed a pike 4%lt long and a half-dozen of the 
horny headed gar, and two red horse. The scene was 
certainlv weird and ghost-like. The flames lighted up 
the whole river and the banks on either side. Amid the 
flying waters was the long, thin boat, manned by two 
powerful mountaineers, using their poles to keep het) 
straight, while in the bow was the tall form of my 
friend, bare headed and bare armed, driving the spear 
into the fighting fish. The lights cast an uncanny glare 
over the silent mountain and the quick going river. 
Several times when a shoal was particularly full of fisB 
the men sprang out of the canoe, ran her up stream along 
the shore and then drove her down through the rushing 
waters. It was a sport very exciting, but I must con-; 
fess requiring too much exertion for me, but my friend 
seemed more at home here among the fierce waters than 
he did in the quiet waters with the fly-rod, 
In the morning we went to Charleston, and on the way 
we visited Mount Pisgah, one of the high points of thj} 
Alleghany Mountains. It h in the mountains of Elk 
Winding around the mountain over a beautiful road 
overhung with fragrant foliage, almost tropical in its 
efflorescence, we came to a camp-meeting ground and td 
a beautiful hotel. Indeed a lovely place in the wilder- 
ness, the lower hill country, the winding river and the 
wealth of mountains appearing like some immense beau-; 
tiful pictures through the occasional arches of the forest; 
Then on another mile over the shoulder of the mountain 
and the view from lordly Pisgah came like a revelation.' 
When the wonderful sight broke upon me in thtj 
grandeur of the soft sunlight, and the sacred name waj 
told me. I was carried back to God's prophet as he 
looked from the mountain to the Promised Land, and 
the beautiful words of Alexander came thronging to my 
mind: 
"And had he-not high honor— 
The hillside for a pall; 
To lie in state while angels wait, 
With stars for taper tall; 
And the dark rock pines like tossing plumes 
Over his bier to wave, 
And God's own hand, in that lonely land, 
To lay him in the grave?" 
Without irreverence I could well say that the old 
servant of the Lord could have found here a resting place 
almost worthy of his grandeur. As far as the eye could 
reach there was a scene of mountains wooded and 
rounded to their full height. Here and there, in sight,, 
are four great rivers and many lesser ones. Over the 
Kanawha River, fifty miles away, a storm was raging, 
hiding the river valley under its lightning and clouds. 
We were above, but in full view, of the black clouds en- 
veloped in their garments of lightning. To the south ali; 
was silent as the yellow Southern sun fell lovingly upon' 
mountain and valley. From many narrow valleys came 
a thin veil of mist, denoting a river, above whose bosom 
the mist lazily floated and dallied. In the distance, as il 
waved to and fro, it seemed as a veil upon a beautiful! 
woman's face. East and south could be seen the moun-l 
tains of Virginia and Kentucky, and over them brooded, I 
a silence as of the night time, Away off could be seen 
many places on the mountain sides where under the I 
gleaming cliffs the mountain man had made his home I 
Ever and anon could be caught the gleam of the beauti I 
ful Elk River as it followed its winding valley, andl 
away off like a cloud of bright winged birds could bej 
seen a cloud of gray mist hovering above the falls of the I 
Kanawha. It was a wilderness of wooded mountain! 
with an occasional clearing marking the field of corn* 
