Jan. 14, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
81 
Good Night, OldlPipc 
By G. tt. K. 
Good night, old pipe, our smoke is o'er, 
Your tnissioti faitlifully done; 
Don't ask me why, you krtqw it widl, 
It's January 1. 
A new resolve? Sworn off, you say' 
Although a slave of thine? 
You and I must strangers be 
Thi-ough this year— '99. 
VoiVe served mf wbl\ my tiear old friend, 
And as T part with thee 
You bring up scenes which to my heart 
Most dear will ever be. 
The camp fire, with its cheerful glow. 
The faces, stories — aye, 
A thousand fancies to my mind 
Which cannot fade or die. 
The river, with its roaring falls — 
I hear their music yet — 
The mighty struggle with the king 
To bring him to the net. 
The weight — 51bs. 2oz. — ^yes ; 
A handsome trout was he; 
Again you've taken me far back 
That charming sight to see. 
The hunt; the chase; the long chance shot; 
The satisfaction — all 
Come back through your mysterious power, 
You necromancer small. 
Your curling rings of smoke bring back 
The happy days of yore; 
And dear old friends, whom you and I 
Shall see on earth no more. 
But we must part — good-by, old friend — 
And as here now I take 
A last look at your tempting form 
This solemn promise make: 
Th^t as I place you from my sight 
(What blurs my eye, a tear?), 
We'll view these scenes again, old friend, 
The first day of next year. 
Hunting Licenses for Maine. 
In his report of Jan. 3 to the Maine Sportsman's Fish 
and Game Association, Secretary Farrington discusses the 
project of a hunting Hcense as follows: 
1 desire to bring to your a,ttention at this time what 
seems to me of importance for the future welfare of our 
fish and game interests. To my mind the time has come 
for a departure from the former policy of the State in 
providing for the care of our large game interests. While 
I have ahvays opposed a license tax law, placed upon non- 
residents, and would do so now, unless the law was made 
general in its application, 1 fully believe that the large 
game should be protected and cared for by a tax upon 
those who wish to hunt and kill it. My reason for this is 
two-fold. First : The State has now to stop and con- 
sider just what appropriations are absolutely needed for 
the actual necessities of the State; that all demands for 
money which can legitimately be diverted, or where its 
benefits are not commensurate with the outlay, will be met 
in some other way, or refused. 
Second: To consider if it is necessary to provide for 
the care of our large game, by direct taxation, or if it pays 
the State to longer do so, and whether its care cannot be 
better provided for by adopting another policy. This 
proposition is expected to be received with hesitation, for 
we have been accustomed to regard such measures with 
more or less distrust. My reasons for this view are given 
in brief, that you may see whether there is sufficient force 
in them to warrant your consideration. 
Why I place this departure upon large game is, that its 
benefits to the State are less, and widely separated from 
the fishing interests. 
In this connection I want to call your attention to the 
facts contained in the report of the Fish and Game Com- 
missioners, for the year 1808, just submitted to the 
Governor. There was expended during the year $29,- 
632.27, which covers all expenditures of the board, for 
warden service, attending and advertising hearings, fees 
of prosecuting attorneys ; in fact, all the expenditures of 
the commissioners. There can be no question but that the 
amount mentioned was made to go as far as it could, in 
the care of our game and fish, and that never has the 
State had the work of this department done with greater 
zeal and success than has m.arked the present administra- 
tion of its affairs. 
A careful analysis of the accounts show that $21,632.27 
has been expended for fishculture and matters immediately 
connected with the fish interests, and $8,000 for the pro- 
tection of large game. 
The report also shows that according to the report of 
guides, there were guided 5,820 resident and 7,366 non- 
resident persons in both fishing and hunting — or 13,186 
persons in all. How many of these were in the pursuit of 
large game? This question cannot be definitely answered, 
but from the best information attainable the number can- 
not exceed 2,000 non-residents and 3,000 residents. This 
gives evidence that the'fishing interests are the important 
interest from which the State receives its chief revenue, 
for it must be remembered that thei'e are many thousands, 
residents and non-residents, of those who fish, not re- 
corded as being guided. Thousands of our citizens, who 
never hunt large game, do more or less fishing in all parts 
of the State, and the non-resident class, who are attracted 
to our State by its fishing privileges, not only remain in 
the State many months, and but few frequent the forests 
for large game. Our fishing privileges cover all parts 
of the St^te, and the thousands of cottages and summer' 
hotels upon the shores of our lakes, ponds and streams 
give business to m.any of our citizens and add taxable 
property to the State. It also gives life and being, and 
lucrative business to scores of steamers and siriall boats 
who attend to their wants. 
This cannot be said of th.e large ^anie intc.rests, the 
great domain of which is in unincorporated places, and 
the lodges and catnps inexpensive and beyotid the reach 
of the tax collector. 
The report of the guides as to the numbers hunting and 
fishing, which have been guided — the most reliable data 
we have — must not be supposed to give a less number than 
actually frequent our forests for fish and game. 
But let us get a little closer to the question. For the 
care and protection of large game $S,ooo is expended an- 
nually, to allow 2,000 non-resident and 3,O)0 re-ident 
sportsmen to hunt our large game, for less than three 
months in the year. The State has about 160.000 adult 
male population, and of these 3,000 do more or less hunt- 
ing of moose, caribou and deer. The State has little 
trouble in protecting our lish, its main difficulty is to pro- 
tect our large game for the hunters who kill it. Did it 
ever occur to you that this is only about 2 per cent, of the 
male residents of the State? That nearly one-half of 
these are guides? That ninety-eight otit of every hun- 
dred of our citizens do ijo hunting? That we expend 
$8,000 annually that these two out of each hundred may 
hunt our large game? I am aware that my attention will 
be called to the fact of the employment it brings a thou- 
sand and more guides, who get large pay for their guid- 
ing, and that to camp owners and remote hotels, rail- 
roads and carrying companies, there comes considerable 
revenues. Admitted. But this proves that the results 
are sectional and individual in their benefits. I have often 
heard people express wonder and severely criticise rail- 
road companies for not being more liberal in their treat- 
ment of the game question, in contributing money for this 
and that use, but no longer will it need be regarded as 
strange when you consider that only 2,000 non-residents 
come into the State for hunting purposes. It is the fish- 
ing, our grand mountains, lakes and sea shores which 
give the main attraction to the tourist. Let us go further. 
It is true that 1,000 or more guides receive two or three 
times as much pay as the common laborer for their work. 
But is the State to appropriate money to make employ- 
ment for a class of its citizens that they may get large 
remtinerative wages? One particular class? Where else 
in this direction does the State look out for its vvage 
earners by appropriating money to establish business? 
A business which does not accrue to the general good of 
the State. 
But the proposition I make will not in atty way hurt or 
lessen any one of all these intere.sts now benefited. I 
would not urge it, did T not fully believe it would 
advance all these interests, and give permanency and 
stability in the care of our large game. 
Without any fear of successful contradiction, 1 say 
that with the $8,000 expended annually for the protection 
of our moose, caribou and deer, there has been and can 
be only a show of protection. Thousands of our deer are 
killed in close time, and there is little gain in putting a 
stop to it, nor can there be with the money expended. 
This is no fault of those having this business in charge 
but the outcome of having this game in the great forests 
of the State, scattered over millions of acres of unbroken 
townships of wild lands, where wardenship must be 
limited, and effective enforcement impossible with a force 
of less than a dozen wardens. The fact iruist be recog- 
nized that the very men whose own interest and the in- 
terest of the Stale require its care are, as a class, not in 
syinpathy with the enforcement of the law for large 
game protection. My wonder is that the fish and game 
commissioners have not been utterly discouraged— less 
courageous men would have been. It is a humiliating 
spectacle to see the laws of the State on large game vio- 
lated as ours are and to my mind the State should adopt a 
policy which would provide for their better observance 
and enforcement. 
The suggestion I have to make, is to have a law pro- 
viding that all non-residents who wish to hunt moose, 
caribou or deer, pay the small fee of $5, and the resident 
sportsman $2 for this privilege, and have the right to 
send their game to their homes. The non-resident could 
not regard the law as onerous or partial, for they \yould 
realize that the distinction was proper, for the citizen 
sportsmen in common with others of the State own the 
game, and have to pay taxes to maintain the fishing in- 
terests. The right to send their game home of itself 
would be worth the amount charged. If the privilege of 
taking the State's game, the value and the pleasure, is not 
worth this to whoever hunt it, had it not better be left 
alone? Let the State give its attention to the care and 
propagation of its fish. This pays the State in all direc- 
tions. Let its appropriations be greater than before, and 
soon all waters in all our towns will be inhabited by such 
food fish as will be suitable for them. This will be for 
the general good. The $8,000, if diverted to such use, 
would soon make fish abundant in all parts of the State. 
The people of the State who pay the taxes are outside of 
these hunting grounds, and not one in 100 of such ever 
hunt the large game of the State. Put the money where 
it will do the most good and accrue to the benefit of 
those who support it, and let this large game matter be 
taken care of by those who want to hunt it, till it can 
be shown that it pays the State to do so itself. The pro- 
position is just and equitable, it will relieve the State of 
this burden, and not keep all interested as well as the 
commissioners upon the "ragged edge," at every session 
of the Legislature. The amount thus received would 
be twice that now expended, and give better protection 
than ever before. 
The idea that the State should expend large sums of 
money to enforce the law against men who hunt our 
game and want it preserved — men who, if they were loyal 
to the State's interest and true to their own, no motiey 
would be tieeded for this purpose — seems to me impolitic 
and unwise. 
Having done fMs, 1 would go further, and separate the 
work of the Fish and Game Commissioners. By force of 
conditions, they are not to be considered together. Let 
there be one of the board, named game protector, to have 
the supervision of the game and its protection, and the 
other two, the affairs pertaining to the fishing interests. 
Each may be ad\'isory with the other, and each interest 
will have' the undivided efforts of those m charge. When 
the "shore fisheries" were made distinct from the inland 
fish and game supervision, it was thought by many that it 
would be to the disadvantage of both, but the result has 
■pe^q^ qf advantage to each. 
In all States where a tax Hcense law upon those who 
do the hunting (and that now applies to almost all 
States where large game abounds) it has worked well, 
and every year it becomes more popular. Itidivid.ual ef- 
fort and individual responsibility always accomplishes 
more than divided effort and divided responsibility, and 
in this c'aiie the result can but be the same. 
E. C. Farrington, Sec'y. 
]anvi\rv 2, isgn. 
To Open the Season in Florida. 
REroRTS of game being plentiful in the woods so 
wrought upon my imagination that I could scarcely wait 
for the season to open, but getting to the deer country 
.seemed impossible till the Doctor used his influence to 
have me go with him and others on a camp hunt that was 
to last for an indefinite time. The Doctor, Morgan and 
Ben were going out with Morgan's brother Joab. who 
had not hunted for several year.s, to stay in the woods till 
the latter shot a deer. All of them were expert woods- 
men, and 1 could not accept an invitation to go with them 
too quickly. 
The afternoon we left Auburndale in two single wagons 
was like Indian sununer at the North, with the same brac- 
ing air and sparkling sunlight, and even the animals 
showed how glad they were to be alive. Doctor's large 
bay mule, a creature with far-reaching stride, lunged 
ahead in a walk that lifted heavy sand-cables on wheels 
and made the horse pulling Morgan's wagon trot to keep 
within hailing distance. The three dogs, appreciating 
their importance, traveled with uplifted tails and received 
friendly advances from less fortutiate curs with supreme 
contempt. Doctor's half-beagle, overcome with exuber- 
ance at times, bayed off on trail of wandenng dogs; Old 
Tom, Morgan's spotted foxhound, traA^eled sedately un- 
der his master's wagon, while Pick Up, the black and 
tan fox hound, searched along the route for bones. All 
of us were happy. 
The course from town to the place we stopped at night 
lay parallel to the railroad, within sight of numerous 
shadowed lakes, some of them in groups, and through a 
continuous pine wood, where the oblique rays of after- 
noon sun bronzed tree trunks and flashed among lower 
limbs. At one place we passed from this brilliancy through 
a deep ford, where night had prematurely settled, into 
more bright forest beyond. 
Our stopping place for the night, near a small lake, was 
under a grove of live oaks, not unlike large apple trees, 
with gnarled limbs that were a .study in curves and 
angles, and dense foliage very dark in color. With such 
protectioti a tent seemed unnecessary. With a supply of 
fuel gathered, buckets of water on hand, camp furniture 
unloaded, the fire burning briskly, and draught animals 
near by feeding contentedly, our hotel for the night was 
cozy. The festooned moss ceiling revealed by our fire was 
beautiful. It gave a flavor to our meal while at supper to 
study this roof at each swallow of coffee. Afterward, 
while the others were playing seven-up, my fat wood 
fire showed the surroimdings. 
When the cards were at last put away, and we tried to 
make ourselves comfortable in our bunks, 1 lay awake 
for a long while watching the nearby trees dance giddily 
in the fire light, and the gray beards on mossy limbs gib- 
ber down at me in a peculiar manner. I heard scratching 
sounds among the treetops, and afterward saw illumined 
spots on the bark transformed into flying squirrels peer- 
ing down with sparkling eyes to satisfy their curiosity, 
and then to play catcher, a game that was interrupted by 
screech owls, and once by a larger owl, which seemed to 
glow from a limb above the fire, to blink wisely at his 
surroundings for something to seize upon. The stage up 
there among the crooked limbs, with stars beyond, was 
interesting; but it was only a part of the great Florida 
wilderness, and somewhere off in the night the actors 
Were larger — bears, for instance. 
We ate breakfast by fire light, then passed through a 
town of several dozen scattered Swellings about sunrise, 
into a park-like wilderness, where there were numbers of 
brow-sing cattle and glimpses of lakes extending to hazy 
shores. Further on the deer trails that crossed the road 
at long intervals aroused us somewhat, and caused our 
hearts to throb when we saw calves of uncertain color 
practicing quick-steps. The mule had settled to a stride 
that ground out .sand" melodies, dogs strayed less often , 
from their places under wagons, and our party had be- 
come taciturn — there was a long journey ahead, and 
everybody knew it. About midday three of the party 
hunted a deep bend on the left, while Joab and I fol- 
lowed the road with teams ; later all of us raced off on a 
fresh bear trail ; at a point near the end of our journey we 
shot a number of quail ; these diversions shortened the 
day. 
We arrived about 3 o'clock at our destination, a former 
camping place, near a small lake, recognized from a long 
distance by Julia with mule shouts that made the wild 
welkin ring with long-continued gayety, a horrible roar 
of sound. A large 'gator appeared a sliort distance off 
shore, while we were unloading, that must have been gin. 
from nose to eye, or 9ft. by the rule of the woods; a 
monster to be so near our water hole at night ; one whose 
scent even was dreadful to our dogs, and caused them to 
carry tails with less uplift. Fear of polluting the water 
prevented us from shooting this brute. The outlook 
across the lake, extending a half-mile to saw grass and 
wild cane shores, backed by pine forest, was distinctly 
Floridian. Occasional white egrets and awkward sand- 
hill craties moving about from point to point, and cattle 
feeding along the lake shore, gave additional character 
to the scenery. Evidently our camping places were 
selected with judgment. 
A stroll in the afternoon about the surrounding forest 
revealed the fact that deer were scarce, but that bears 
were plentiful. The signs of the latter were interesting. 
At one place bruin had climbed live oaks for acorns, and 
had torn off boughs as thick through as a man's arm ; at 
another he had gathered palmetto leaves to eat their 
tender ends; and at still another he had dug deep, for 
one of the large land terrapins. Our friend of the hairy 
jacket must be an epicure, and believe in course suppers. 
He observes "gOOd form," I have heard, in various ways, 
such as sitting up at meals, and etiquette in upper bear- 
