FOREST AND STREAM. 
tOCT. 21, 1899. 
Connecticut Field Trial Entries, 
New Haven Conn., Oct. 16. — The entres for the Con 
necticut Field Trials at Hampton, Conn., Oct. 25, are a,s 
follows: 
Baby — E. B. Clark's black native setter. 
Prince S. — Chaplin Kennels' blue belton setter. 
Rnb}' and Dan — Wm. G. Comstock Jr.'s black, white 
and tan setter. 
Doll Gladstone — Wm. G. Comstock Jr.'s black, white 
and tan setter. 
Rowdy Roy — Bassett & Reeves' black, white and tan 
setter. 
Tilda — F. G. Goodridge's black, white and tan setter. 
Conquer — Hiram Dawson's black, white and tan setter. 
Jack — F. H. Burke's lemon and white setter. 
Blade's Ruby — F. M. Chapin's black, white and tan 
setter. 
American Boy — F. M. Chapin's black, white and tan 
setter. 
Joe — W. H. Stoher's orange and white setter. 
Bess — O. D. Redfield's black and white setter. 
F. M. Chapin's Blade's Ruby and O. D. Redfield's 
Bess are the only two for the Derby class. To give the 
sportsmen of Connecticut an opportunity to make every 
entry possible we have voted to receive entries in both 
classes up to Oct. 24. A number of entries have been 
prom'sed and we hope the sportsmen of Connecticut will 
come forward and show their good dogs and enjoy a 
pleasant day afield. 
John E. Bassett, Sec'y, 
The Irish Wolfhound* 
Behold this creature's form and state; 
Him nature surely did create 
That to the world might be exprest 
What mien there can be in a beast. 
More nobleness of form and mind 
Than in the lion we can find; 
Yea. this heroic beast does seem 
In majesty to rival him. 
Y et ne vouchsafes to men to show 
His service and submission too. 
And here we a distinction have: 
That brute is fi^ce — the dog is brave; 
He hath himself so well subdued 
That hunger cannot make him rude; 
And all his manners do confess 
That courage dwells with gentleness. 
War with the wolf he loves to wage, 
And never quits if he engage; 
But praise him much, and 3fou may chance 
To put him out of countenance; 
And, having done a deed so brave. 
He looks not sullen, yet looks grave. 
No foundling playfellow is he; 
His master's guard he wills to be. 
Willing for him his blood be spent, 
His look is never insolent. 
Few men to do such noble deeds have learned, 
Nor having done, could look so imconcerned. 
— Catherine Phillips (1660), 
Points and Flushes. 
Entries to the International Field Trial Club's All- Age 
Stake close on Nov. i. Forfeit $5, and $5 additional to 
start. Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. B. Wells, Chatham, Ont. 
The Baltimore Sun of recent date contains the fol- 
lowing: 
"There is a woeful lack of good dogs and many buy- 
ers are in the market for broken setters or pointers and 
find the supply less than the demand. The same condi- 
tions existed last year. Because of the scarcity of birds 
in previous years few dogs were broken. Lots of j^oung 
and untried ones are on the market, but shooters whose 
vacations are limited do not want to bother breaking 
dogs. Owners of broken dogs do not like to lend them, 
because they may be spoiled, and as shooters know they 
may as well stay at home as go hunting without good 
dogs, the sportsmen afield are not likely to be so numer- 
' ous as they would be if more good dogs were at hand." 
The committees of the White Bear Y. C. and the 
Royal St. Lawr.-nce Y. C. have settled the general con- 
ditions for the match of 1900 for the Seawanhaka Interna- 
tional Challenge cup. the main points being as follows: 
The series of three out of five races will take place on 
Lake St. Louis, beginning on Aug. 3. Instead of the 
race committee of the defending club, as has always been 
the case in the past, three judges will be appointed to 
have charge of the match, as was done this year with the 
Canada cup. One judge will be appointed by each club, 
the two choosing a third. The challenge is nominally in 
the 2Sft. class, but a special agreement has been made to 
the effect that the sail area shall be limited to 500 sq. ft., 
as in the present 20ft. class ; and that there shall be no 
time allowance. This virtu'ally means that the j^achts will 
be designed without regard to hull dimensions, simply the 
hull which can be driven fastest "by 500 sq. ft. of sail. 
Some scantling limitations will be adopted, probably a 
limit of yAn. ior planking and % for deck; the center- 
board if of wood may be ballasted only to overcome 
flotation; if of steel, it may not be over l4in. thick, and 
if of bronze -J^in., and may not weigh over 36olbs. The 
opposing yachts must be named fourteen days before the 
first race. The complete details will be made public after 
they have been accepted by the two clubs. The change 
promises to make some interesting racing and to produce 
a better type of boat than the latest of the scows. 
The dullness of the past week has been enlivened by 
several bitter personal attacks by different daily papers upon 
Mr. C. Oliver Iselin, the "managing owner" of Columbia, 
and his friends who sailed with him ; and also by a revival 
oi the discussion of the propriety of having a captain of 
Scotch birth upon the American yacht. There is no 
particular reason why any newspaper rjian should entertain 
a special affection for Mr. Iselin, or should go to any 
trouble to defend him, but at the present time he is at 
least entitled to fair play; and the charges mentioned are 
most absurd and unfair, and palpably inspired bv mere 
malice. 
Mr. Iselin occupies his present position as "managing 
owner" of Columbia, in which yacht he is said to hold a 
moneyed interest, though nearly all of her great cost is 
borne by Cora. Morgan, for the reasons that he has proved 
himself capable of this sort of work, and is so situated that 
he can give his time to it. When it was necessary to de- 
fend the Cup in 1893 against Valkyrie IL, Mr. Iselin 
organized a syndicate to which he contributed at least as 
much money as any of the other members and contracted 
with the Herreshoffs for the yacht afterward famous as 
Vigilant. By common consent of the only parties who had 
any rights in the matter — the members of the syndicate — 
he was selected to represent them both in the business part 
of the enterprise and the actual sailing of the yacht. In 
him was vested nearly all the responsibility for the work- 
ing up and sailing of the yacht, and it is a matter of 
history that he made a brilliant success of the enterprise. 
When it became necessary to build a new defender in 
1895 to meet the third Valkyrie, and when Com. Morgan 
assumed the financial responsibility, it was most natural 
that Mr. Iselin should be at the head as the practical man 
of the new venture. In this, as in the preceding one, he 
was no mere figurehead, but a most active and most 
energetic factor, working hard from the very inception of 
the idea to the time Avhen Defender sailed up the bay after 
the last race with an ensign from each spreader as a token 
of victory. After giving all dvte credit to the designer and 
builder of Defender for his individual skill and daring in 
a novel construction, there is still much to be said for the 
"managing owner" who backed him up in every possible 
way. 
When the last challenge was received and it was again 
a case of one new boat for the defense, Mr. Iselin was, by 
virtue of his experience in this special work and his 
willingness to undertake it, the best mail for the place. 
He was not selected for his courtesy toward newspaper 
• men, the strict propriety of his language, or his Chester- 
fieldian manners toward his equals and his inferiors alike; 
but because he had demonstrated his fitness for the special 
and difficult task in hand. His reputation as a. keen — not 
to say over-keen — racing man was made twenty-five years 
ago in the old Mary Emma, when the stirring sport of 
sandbag racing, with a free fight ashore for the prize after 
it was won afloat, was still in its glory. Since then he has 
done what some good sportsmen would not have cared to 
do in crowding the spirit of the rule through the building 
of Vigilant to carry a ballast crew; and he has done what 
most men would not have dared to do in the reckless 
driving of Vigilant at the imminent risk of her stick, in 
the final race in 1893. 
The uniform success of the American yachts in the 
defense of the Cup in 1885, 1886, 1887, 1893 and 1895 has 
been due above all else to the personality of a bold, skillful 
and intelligent owner, and this Mr. Iselin has proved him- 
self to be; a fitting successor to Gen. Paine. The work 
on the American boats in all of these years has been done 
on a plan distinctly different from the English, in which 
the owner is a mere figurehead, the designer's work is 
practically ended with the completion of the vessel, and the 
skipper is in sole and itndivided command after the yacht 
first begins to race. In the Cup defenders from Puritan to 
Defender, both owner and designer have worked together 
in the general planning of the yacht, the experimental 
trials, the trial and the Cup races ; and with them in all 
the racing has been a competent skipper. The exact re- 
lations of the three have varied in different cases, but 
practically they have in every case worked together in 
harmony on an almost equal footing. With them have 
been several good amateurs, intimate yachting friends of 
the owner ; not passengers, but men who were there to do 
anything to help the boat. This combination, strengthened 
by some good professionals as petty officers and_ a care- 
fully picked and drilled crew, has worked well in every 
case from 1885 to the present time; it was all right in 
Vigilant and Defender when they won, and those who now 
ridicule and denounce it have offered no proof that it is 
not perfectly proper and not likely to prove successful in 
Columbia. 
On the other hand, the much lauded combination on 
the Scotch-English-Irish boat of three skippers working 
together without owner or designer on board is a novel 
one, with possibilities of failure that must be apparent to 
all. To practical yachtsmen it seems in every way less 
suitable than that of owner, designer and skipper- one 
important point being that the successful handling of 
one of these great machines, with hulls and spars of novel 
materials and the lightest possible construction, is a matter 
of engineering rather than of true sailorizing; requiring 
the skill of the designer quite as much as that of the pro- 
fessional skipper and helmsman. 
We can see no necessity for the public discussion of Mr. 
Tselin's personal characteristics and standing as a yachts- 
man at any time: but after accepting him when victorious 
in Vigilant and Defender, it is most .ibsurd as well as un- 
just to condemn him by wholesale because Columbia has 
not won a race when none has been sailed within the 
time limit. 
There is one detail of the matter which is amusing to 
the impartial spectator; after practically ignoring the 
newspapers for years, Mr. Iselin has at last recognized 
them very fully in giving out a special interview in reply 
to these attacks, in which he asks for support and en- 
couragement. What he says is in itself sensible and much 
to the point, but it would have been far more consistent H 
he had continued to ignore all newspaper comment, hostiit 
or otherwise. 
There is a very beautiful sentiment underlying the ob- 
jection to Capt. Barr and the claim that only "Americans" 
should be identified with the defense of the America Cup ; 
but the idea will not woi-k in practice at this end of the 
century. A nation which placidly consents to be ruled by 
the Irish has little right to object because a naturalized 
citizen of Scotch birth is employed on an American yacht. 
The sentiment of complete independence of foreign aid 
finds its warmest supporters among those prominent in the 
shipbuildmg industry, who will without hesitation buy 
their designs in England, have the detail drawings made 
there when it can be done at less expense than in their own 
offices, and who welcome British shipwrights of all grades 
from yard superintendents down to platers and riveters, 
regardless of the alien labor laws. There has never been 
a time when America was independent of foreign brains 
a.nd muscle, as witness Henry Eckford, John Ericsson, 
George Steers and even the founders of the Herreshoff 
and Iselin families ; and there never will be, however great 
a superiority we may in the future demonstrate over 
European nations. At the present time the treasurer of 
the New York Yacht Club, and probably the ablest it has 
ever had, is an Englishman; while the fleet captain was 
born in Ireland. The late J. R. Busk, owner of Mischief 
when she defended the Cup in 1881, was an Englishman by 
birth, and we believe always retained his nationality. 
_ If Capt. Barr had been selected on account of his na- 
tionality or through favoritism, the case would be dif- 
ferent; but he has won his present high position through 
sheer merit. He came to New York fifteen years ago as a 
boy in the forecastle of a small cutter; brought up to fish- 
ing and yacht sailing and with limited opportunities for 
acquiring an education. With nothing to help him but his 
own industry and perseverance, and no frends save those 
he has made by faithful service under one employer after, 
another, he has worked up from the command of the little 
Shona to Minerva, Barbara, Wasp, Navahoe, Vigilant 
and Colonia and last Columbia. His standing in his 
profession to-day is higher than that of any of the men of 
his age who started with far greater initial advantages. 
Why he was selected bj"- Mr. Iselin in preference to some 
of the older men is a matter of which we have no knowl- 
edge; but it is one in which his nationality is not con- 
cerned. He is now an American citizen, his home and his 
future are in this country, he is in many ways of a higher, 
type of manhood than many of foreign birth who occupy 
important legislative and executive positions, and the 
attacks upon him on account of his nationality are incon- 
sistent with the acceptance of the naturalization laws and 
the existing system of local government in American 
cities. 
Before blowing Mr. Iselin for selecting a forein-born 
skipper, it should be remembered that he was the first td .. 
man an American yacht with a distinctly American crew, 
an experiment which in Defender involved much extra' 
labor and some risk of failure. In all Cup races prior t& 
1895 the American yachts have been manned by Scandina- 
vian crews ; and it has remained for Mr. Iselin to prove, as 
he has done, that quite as good raw material may be found 
in the American fisherman. 
The America Cup. 
Columbia and Shamrock. 
After twelve week-days, in the course of which seven 
trials have been made, the first race of the Cup series is 
still in the future. The three failures of the first week 
have already been recounted, bad enough in truth, but far 
better than the four of last week. On each of the first 
three days the spectators were treated to a view of the 
two yachts under sail, the start of the race, and several' 
hours of mixed sailing and drifting; not what they 
wanted to see, but still better than nothing. Last week,' 
however, even the slender consolation of a pleasant sail, 
and a view of a start was denied them; the attendant^/ 
fleet, smaller each day after Tuesday, groped its way 
slowly and cautiously from. New York down the bay to 
the Sandy Hook Lightship, rolled around in a thick fog 
bank for an hour or two with whistles blowing on every 
hand and the siren on the point of the Hook groaning' 
dismally, and at the code signal R all turned and headed" 
for liome. Four times was this repeated, with but slight 
variation of programme. 
On the first day, Tuesday, the fog which came up on 
Monday night was very thick in the morning, with no 
wind. There was still quite a fleet of yachts and steamers/ 
with all of the guard boats. When they reached the Light- 
ship about II o'clock the fog was less dense than up the- 
bay, but still so heavy that neither yacht had left her" 
moorings or even lifted her sail covers. The smoke and 
steam from the fleet rose vertically or at times tailed off 
about south, but there was nothing that could be called 
wind. After the "race postponed" signal was set the fleet^ 
steamed slowly in to the point of the Hook, where the 
yachts and their tenders are moored. This place, by the 
way, is not the "Horseshoe," which lies some three miles 
further up inside the Hook, but is the little bight formed 
by the extreme point of the Hook, opposite the old fort. 
Here were Shamrock and Columbia, \^ith. the tenders 
Plymouth and St. Michaels, the big derrick barge with* 
Shamrock's spars, and the two tugs. After luncheon the 
regatta committee met with Sir Thomas Lipton and Mr, 
Iselin, the two latter being anxious to try again on 
Wednesday, but the committee would not consent. Later 
in the day a second meeting was held on board the 
Corsair. Com. Morgan, Rear-Com. Belmont, H. B. Dur- 
yea and Mr. Sharman Crjiwford being present. It was 
decided to adhere to the revised programme of the next 
trial on Thursday a^nd after that a trial eveiy week day.' 
In the course of the, afternoon a light S.W. wind came m 
and the fog lifted ; Columbia set her mainsail and a new 
club topsail, the largest she has, just made for her by 
Wilson & Silsby. Abotit 4 o'clock she got under way 
for a short sail to try this canvas. When the fleet reached 
the Upper Bay the sun was shining brightly and the 
weather was hot enough for midsummer. 
Nothing was done on Wednesday on either boat ex- 
cept that Columbia's crew was s^till busy with her sails.. 
The weather was the same as on the preceding day, clear 
and bright in the city after the early morning, but foggy 
and calm off the Hook. The fog shut in early in the 
'"vcning, and by Thursday morning was thicker than ever. 
The fleet, now greatly reduced in numbers, groped its way 
out to the Lightship, where the two yachts were already 
under sail. There was no wind, no prospect of any, and 
the fog was too thick to make it safe to start if there had 
been ; after waiting for nearly an hour, the letter R was , 
sent up at 12:07, and all went home as best they could; 
The fog was so thick in the Upper Bay that the shores 
were not visible in passing in the Narrows, and the first 
