Sept. 14, igoi.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
209 
thread of the statement and giving the crowd, whosfe 
ears were strained to catch the words, time to reahze 
that an event of more than ordinary moment had oc- 
curred. In a moment hats were doffed and the assemblage 
stood bare-headed, waiting anxiously for the name that 
each one was trying to fit to the fateful announcement. 
"At 4 o'clock'this afternoon our beloved President was 
shot twice by an anarchist in the Temple of Music_ at 
Buffalo, just as he had finished speaking and was shaking 
hands," 
The Senator stood with bowed head, while a great sigh 
of horror went up from the listeners. Men's faces paled 
and then grew red with anger. 
Governor Fisk, with tears in his: eyes, called out: "I 
believe it is a lie; we will j'Ct hear it contradicted." His 
words had little effect, however, for the assemblage was 
inclined to accept the first statement as true. All were 
sickened by the conviction that another tragedy had come 
to stain the fair name of the nation, Avhich, however inno- 
cently, had harbored a Booth and a Guiteau. 
Senator Proctor re-entered the house, and a few mo- 
ments later returned and announced that the report of 
the attack had been confirmed by an Associated Press dis- 
patch, but that there were hopeful features and that ihe 
President was resting comfortably and was conscious. 
The crowd made their way to the steamboat dock, talking 
in low voices, but before all had embarked a faint cheer 
went up from the house, and the word quickly passed from 
.mouth to mouth of a later dispatch containing the hope- 
ful news that the President was likely to recover. 
Vice-President Roosevelt did not appear until after this 
last report, when he was rowed out to the Elfrida, Dr. 
Webb's steam j'-acht, which carried him at once to Burling- 
ton, from which place he proceeded shortly afterward by , 
special train to Buffalo. During the speech-making Mr. 
Roosevelt had frequently been mentioned as the next occu- 
pant of the White House. Little did the orators realize 
that even as they spoke the act of a crazy fanatic in a 
neighboring State had made the goal so perilously near ! 
The Vermont League. 
The Vermont League has rapidly sprimg into promi- 
nence as one of the leading fish and game organizations 
of the country. The result is chiefly due to the work of 
one man, the President, John W. Titcomb, of St. Johns- 
bury. Mr. Titcomb i.s not only President of the League, 
but also President of the North American Fish and Game 
Protective Association, Chairman of the State Fish and 
Game ' Commission.- and Superintendent of the United 
States Fish Commission station at St, Johnsbury. From 
this list of offices his activities in the field of game pro- 
tection may be inferred. 
The Vermont League is -the outcome of a smaller 
organization covering Rutland county, which Mr. Titcomb 
organized a number of years ago. At the present titue it 
has an active membership of 750, not . counting several 
affiliated clubs, of which may be mentioned the Forest and 
Stream Club, of Wilmington ; the Lakota Club, of Wood- 
stock, and the Wells River Chtb, of Wells River, Vt. 
The Leag"ue holds annual business meetings each winter 
in Burlington, Montpelier or Rutland, and for a number 
of years past has had a summer outing at the picttiresque 
Isle La Motte. Latterly, chiefly because of the prominent 
guests attracted to the meetings, the sunmier outing has 
taken on a pronounced political significance, and, if report 
is to be believed, the Governor of the State receives his 
nomination at this time. 
Among the highly commendable objects for which the 
League is working is the abolishment of seining in the 
northern end of Lake Champlain. Canada has long per- 
mitted the use of seines in Missisquoi Baj^, which is within 
the limits of Quebec, and to get even Vermont has given 
seining privileges in the same neighborhood. This is a 
favorite breeding ground for wall-eyed pike, and the 
mischief done by netting can hardly be estiiriated. The 
League has asked Quebec to make common cause with 
Vermont against the seiners, and. for the benefit of the 
entire lake, it is to be hoped they will succeed. 
Ttie Outing oa Isle La Motte. 
The largest quota of the A'isitiiig party to Isle La Motte 
w-ere taken from Burlington in the steamer Chateaugay, 
which carried 650 persons. Other boats brought visitors 
from Swanton, St Albans and neighboring" points, while 
the Elfrida, Dr. .Seward Webb's fine steam yacht, carried 
the speakers of the day. The deer had been, temporarily 
confined to a barti, and a large pole tent erected in their 
enclosure. Beneath this shelter were rank upon rank of 
long tables, and as the guests took their seats on the 
benches fresh-skinned country girls brought in heaping 
dishes of chicken pie and other good things, and the 
guests fell to without ceremon3f in the commendable task 
of clearing th.e field of action. Outside green corn w^as 
being boiled in the great black iron kettles that played 
such an important part in the domestic economy of the 
early settlers. At each place was a clover flower, the 
State emblem, with a sprig of cedar or bit of goldenrod 
for a boutonniere. 
When finally the menu had run the gamut through ice 
cream and coffee. and the distance became mellow through 
a blue haze of cigar smoke. President Titcomb called a 
short business meeting, Avhich was soon ended by the 
election of 150 new members to the League, proposed en 
masse by General Estey of the Membership Committee. 
Then followed the song "To Arms," which was ren- 
dered with good spirit by the St. Albans Glee Club, and 
which, like almost everything else that followed, was 
aimed at the "hero of San Juan Hill." President Titcomb 
then introduced the toastmaster of the occasion, Hon. D. 
J. Foster, prefacing his remarks with an appeal for public 
sentiment in support of the game laws, without which 
the laws must be inefiicient, no matter how good. Mr. 
Titcomb also spoke of the necessity for a sufficient appro- 
priation to maintain one or two salaried officers who 
would spend their entire time traveling around the State 
looking after the enforcement of the game and fish laws. 
At present the wardens whose duty it is to detect game- 
law violators receive no other compensation than half the 
fine collected upon conviction, and cannot afford to spend 
much time investigating complaints. 
Toastmaster Foster, after stating that Governor Fisk 
wished him to deny that he had telegraphed the New 
York Journal that he had purchased three mountain lions 
from Forepaugh's Circus for the occasion, introduced 
Judge Charles H. Darling, of'Bennington, who, in a witty 
speech, eulogized the advantages of the Green Mountain 
State for sport, and the healthfulness of the pastime. 
He was followed by Jeremiah Curtin, the author, who 
was introduced as having "given us in our native tongue 
the works of the great Polander." Mr. Curtin' s address 
was largely a eulogy of Theodore Roosevelt. He had some 
nice things to say about Vermont, the birthplace of 
"financials, admirals, statesraent, and, I may add, Mormon 
prophets." 
One of Vermont's young men, Raymond U. Smith, of 
Wells River, told of some of the anomalies of game law 
decisions by the courts, and cited the case of Dr. Stevens, 
of Boston, who fished in Lake Willotighby with five set 
lines, but who was acquitted by the higher court on the 
ground that each line had only one hook. If he had fished 
with the five hooks on one line he would undoubtedly 
have been an offender against the majesty of the law. 
Mr. Smith said : "Notwithstanding the practical and legal 
difliculties which it sometimes encounters, the League is 
undoubtedly restraining in some measure the rapacity of 
those laAvless individuals who want to hunt and fish in 
season and out of season. It is bringing home to some 
lawbreakers a realizing sense of the Biblical statement 
that there is a reason for all things — a time to kill and a 
time to refrain. And if it succeeds in preserving the 
facilities of the State for hunting and fishing it will have 
done a great and useful work." 
In introducing the next speaker, Toastmastef Foster 
said: "Fishermen are proverbial story tellers, and next 
to telling their own stories they like to listen to others. 
We have with us to-day a prince of story tellers, who 
knew Richard Carvel and the heroes of the 'Crisis' more 
intimately than any other man — Winston Churchill, a 
citizen of the United States." 
Mr. Churchill is a very young-looking man, of good 
physique, with a frank, open countenance and pleasing 
smile. His manner of address was pleasing, and carried 
the conviction of candor, and no one, with the exception 
of Vice-President Roosevelt, received heartier applause. 
"I grew up with a feeling of reverence," he said, "and I 
haven't been able to get over it. When I met Colonel 
Roosevelt I felt about the size and very much as Tom 
Thumb felt when he shook hands with President Lincoln. 
One of my classmates at Annapolis was a man named 
Bookwalter. He was on the New York at the time of 
the celebration in honor of the opening of the Kiel Canal. 
The German Emperor came on the New York. H,e said 
he liked to visit the American warships because the sailors 
didn't knock their heads on the deck when he came on 
board. He visited the engine room, and when he left 
Brookwalter picked up, to preserve, a piece of waste the 
Emperor had wiped his hands on. That is what I call 
reverence. I heard the Vice-President tell of meeting a 
man here who claimed he had slept one night in the satne 
bed with him, and who boasted of having slept in the 
same bed with the Vice-President of the United States. 
I've been wondering if he kept the nightgown for a 
trophy — though, perhaps, they didn't use nightgowns out 
West in those days." 
Senator Redfield Proctor said : "I did not know until 
a few minutes ago why I was called upon to speak, but 
when I heard the toastmaster explain the object of the 
meeting was to give the young men a chance, I realized 
to what I was indebted. The other night I dreamed, prob- 
ably in anticipation of this dinner, that I departed this 
life full of years and piscatorial honors honestly earned. I 
went up to St. Peter at the gate with great confidence, for 
I felt that my record was good. I told him I was a mem- 
ber of the Vermont Fish and Game League, but instead 
of this being a point in m}- favor, he refused to admit 
me. 'That League has been overrunning us with busi- 
ness of late,' he said. 'It has gone too much into politics and 
attended too little to fishing. I shall be obliged to refer 
3'ou below to the Father of Lies. I think his judgment 
will be pretty good in your case.' 
"So I went below to the scaly individual, and he told 
me he had established a system whereby his visitors were 
put in a neighboring chamber by themselves and instructed 
to record all the lies they had ever told on a blackboard 
with chalk. He looked me over and said : 'I understand 
you are a good deal of a fisherman and very little of a 
politician. Perhaps in your case one stick of chalk 
will answer.' I took my stick and started off and met our 
friend Foster here with a big basket on each arm. 
" 'Where are you going ?' T asked. 
" 'Why,' said Foster. 'I've used up my chalk and have 
to go back after more 1' 
"Mr. Chairman, the first evidence of success in fishing 
is a nibble by a small fish. There is often a large fish 
waiting to see if the effect is fatal. I will now give the 
toastmaster the opportunity to land his big fish." 
In introducing Vice-President Roosevelt, Mr. Foster 
said : "Three years ago we had the pleasure of having as 
our guest the President of this great Republic. To-day we 
have as our guest the next President of the Republic." 
.There were cheers and a tiger when the Vice-President 
arose, and when he could be heard he began : "When you 
greeted me some one called 'Tiger !' At the top of this green 
invitation which I hold in my hand is the picture of a 
motmtain lion — a delicate tribute, gentlemen, for which I 
thank you, As I heard to-day, a Swiss admiral is regarded 
in Europe as a contradiction in terms, but in this country 
if we want to take an island or sail a war vessel around 
Cape Horn for a recojd, we go for a man to do it" — and 
here the Colonel's voice had more than a suspicion of 
falsetto — "inland, where they grow web-footed people up 
in Vermont. 
"Last winter I sat at the feet of — or, perhaps, it would 
be better to say I followed in the tracks of — a Vermont 
Gamaliel, the son of an ex-Congressman and ex-Governor 
of Vermont, Phil Stewart. I'd like to say seriously 
when you're proud of Vermont's products, there's a man 
you've got a right to be proud of. Stewart took the hunt 
less seriously than I did. I wanted to shoot the lions, but 
he wasn't particularly interested in that — he wanted to 
kodak them. There were periods when the lions were up 
trees, and when one was, by George! Phil Stewart would 
be up the tree with it, while I stood by nervously with 
my rifle to interfere if things came to the worst. 
"There's a kodak now" — somebody was trying to get a 
snapshot of Roosevtlt, and the speaker lean'ed over the 
table and brbught his finger to bear on the offender — "I 
want to point out to the gentleman I'm not up a tree. 
"Phil Stewart had a large and catholic taste. He 
kodaked everything without distinction. When the dogs 
treed our first mountain lion I rode in ahead, with Phil 
following. When we got about 50 yards off I could see 
the lion on the lower branches of the tree reaching 
down, and every now and then cuffing a dog. My fighting 
blood was up, and I wanted to shoot that lion, but before 
I could go further I heard Phil call in an almost agonized 
voice, 'Wait, wait!' Not knowing what serious eraer' 
gency might have arisen, I turned, and Phil said, 'There's a 
rabbit on that stump. I want to get his picture.' I waited, 
with the hounds baying and that beast snarling up the 
tree, while Stewart, with the air of a villain in melodrama, 
crept up on that rabbit and photographed it. 
"I want to corroborate Mr. Churchill's story about my 
long-lost bed fellow. He is here now. and will stand up 
if you doubt my word. It happened at Miles City, fifteen 
years ago, and I violate no confidence when I say that 
that was not a prohibition town in those days. The hotel 
was jammed to the roof, and the proprietor told me I had 
to sleep in a bed with another man. I said I was sorry, 
but didn't know that I was any sorrier than the other 
man would be, and, by the way, Mr. Churchill, I may 
mention that nightgowns didn't go in that town. We 
were considered to have complied with the utmost require- 
ments of etiquette if we didn't wear our spurs to bed. I 
didn't ever expect to see that man again, but he has turned 
up here to-day, all straight. 
"When I was on the Little Missouri one of the reforms 
I tried to institute was to have milk on the table at meals. 
You might be on a ranch with 10,000 cows and yet have 
only condensed milk. Tlere's an outrage,' I said. 'I pro- 
pose to set a good example and have milk.' So I called 
my foreman and said to him, 'Merrifield, it's a shame we 
don't have milk on this ranch. I've noticed that blue 
cow with a calf down there and I propose that we milk 
her.' 
" 'Boss, if you say so it goes,' said Merrifield, so we 
ran her about two miles and roped her and turned her 
upside down and we milked her. I must say I thought the 
quality of the buttermilk inferior, and I didn't bother to 
repeat the experiment. It is like some other reforms — 
best, if you don't go too violently at it. 
"They have nice horses and cattle out West, but fhey 
have little ways of their own. For instance, a broken 
horse out West has points of difference from a broken 
horse in the East. Some of the saddle horses caused me 
most unaffected misery when I had to ride — and it was 
the same thing with the driving horses. I used to spend 
my winters in the East, and when I went back to the 
ranch I would, of course, want to hear the latest news 
about my neighbors — ^who'd been hanged and the rest. 
My foreman had a grievance against a professor from 
Ann Arbor, who wanted to see the Bed Lands and had 
hired a team, which ran away, smashing things up and 
breaking the Professor's arm. He said that the Profes- 
sor had made a remark which made him hot. He didn't 
mind his saying that he had fallen in a den of sharks — be- 
cause he knew sharks didn't have dens, and, besides, he 
didn't charge the Professor for the use of the team ; what 
made him hot was the remark that he had foisted on the 
Professor a team of runaway horses. 'He had no right to 
call them that,' said the foreman. 'One horse had only 
been driven twice and could hardly be called a confirmed 
runaway, and the other — well, there were lots of times 
when he hadn't run away.' 
"And now a word seriously. I came here not only to 
meet you all and have a good time, but also because I 
believe in what you are doing. I believ* in the gosp«l of 
work, but a man works best if he also knows how to play. 
Among the citizens of our country I have in mind a man 
of the highest type of citizenship — a m^n who served 
with gallantry in the Civil War and was marvelously 
successful in business, ranking high among the captains 
of industry, a statesman of note whose deeds and record* 
are indelibly printed on the records of our countr^Ji-, and 
he has been a better soldier, a better business man, a bet- 
ter statesman, because he had in him the spirit that made 
him a first-class hunter. I re^er to .Senator Proctor. 
Senator Spooner, of Wisconsin, who has just been en- 
tertained _ by Senator Proctor, is another such man. I 
think'he is almost as enthusiastic a hunter and fisherman. 
When I talk about business or politics Senator Proctor 
tells me what he knows, but if I want really to interest 
him, I have to talk about bull moose or fishing. 
"Every man will be at his best if he likes a healthy, 
vigorous type of sport. 
"As a man, I am interested in the preservation of 
furred, finned and featliered inhabitants of the woods and 
waters, and I am also interested in the preservation of 
the wilderness itself. These things offset the tarrrenesw 
and monotony that is all too common in our lives. 
"One thing I wish to impress upon you is the essen- 
tially dernocratic character of well-executed laws for the 
preservation of fish, game and forests. If you do not 
preserve them it means that very soon the only places 
where they may be found will be the great private pre- 
serves where only the wealthy or their guests have access. 
Tills can't in any shape take the place of the preservation 
of the game of the land by the people and for the people. 
"I wish we could impress it upon all that it is the small 
farmers, the mechanics, the men of small means in the 
cities, that are most interested in the preservation of 
game. These men depend for the enjo^'ment of ^rt and 
the life of the camp upon good game and fish laws which 
are properly enforced. 
"There are two or three different sides to this question. 
Deer have increased in Vermont. A dead deer is worth 
only a few dollars, but a live deer is worth a hundred 
times as much as a bait for city sportsmen who pay many 
times over the value of the deer for the chance of shooting 
at it— and they don't always hit. But more than that, I 
hope our people will always retain their liking for this 
good, wholesome, out-door sport. The farmer, the trades- 
man, the mechanic, can only hope to insure for their sons 
the enjoyment of their vigorous pastimes by joining hand 
in hand with such organizations as this in the work of 
preserving by the people and for the people the fish and 
game of our land." ' 
J. B. BURNHAM. 
All communications intended for Fokmt ato ST»«Aif shoald 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publifliiaff Co.. a^i 
not to anr indlridual coaneet«4 with th^ p*P<r. 
