862 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. g, 1901. 
Created as They Are. 
"Say, bub, I don't like to hear you make such talk 
as that," remonstrated Joe Lacoot. He deftly flipped 
a pice of ham in the spider, and as it sputtered away in. 
the hot fat he looked at me reproachfully through the 
blue trail of smoke from the camp-fire. That trail of 
smoke rode on the morning breeze out over the Second 
Joe Mary Lake in. northern Maine. Joe shifted his 
kneeling position on the sand of the beach and continued, 
"Don't ever say that a moose is 'homely.' People who 
eall this and that animal homely are trying to fit little 
human rules of beauty on to creatures that God has 
created as they are for a purpose. You hain't the only 
one as is sayin' that the moose is homely. I saw a 
piece in the paper the other day, and the writer made all 
sorts of mean flings at Brother Moose's Hubbard squash 
nose, his tailboard lip and his wire-spring hair. The 
feller -yvho wn'ote that piece was never formally introduced 
to Mr. Moose in the depths of the woods. In the woods 
is where the moose gets on his dignity. He belongs 
there. You can't expect him to look pretty hung up 
before a market for the folks to finger as they pass. 
His mounted head over the sideboard doesn't look like 
a bust of one of them Roman statues. 
"Now, take j^ourself! There you are, in rough clothes, 
head shaggy, not shaved for a week, your hair full of 
spruce spilts and your face diity. Now, wouldn't you be 
a spectacle walking down street at home in the city? 
The idea is, ev'ry critter to his own surroundin's. I'll 
bet you are slick enough when you are at home. 
"You just meet a bull moose face to face in the woods! 
You don't think he's homely tlien. Of course, if you 
have the grit and the. gun you'll shoot. But first of all 
he will awe you. If he feels that he doesn't inspire 
enough aw-e he will tm^n and trot off. For he is a modest 
chap. You will notice that his hair isn't rough and 
bristly then. It has been nicely slicked and polished by 
the cedar and the swamp maple. When you walk 
p.round a stuffed moose you may think that his legs are 
too long. But gracious me, you ought to see old 
Brother Bull expressing it through the woods when there 
are tAvo feet of light snow on the ground. And those 
splay feet come in handy then. If you happen to see 
him at home in his 'yard,' you will not wonder that his 
nose is of the roamin' kind. If he ate ham for breakfast, 
the same as you and I [and Joe hooked out my portion 
on a tin plate], that nose would be something to laugh 
at. But you watch him gather in the twigs and sprouts 
as he browses in the yard, or hook on to the Hlypads 
and roots in the edge of a lake and you'll say he 'nose' 
his bus'ness;" and Joe cackled at his bit of a pun. 
"I'll bet when he stands in a lake in a lilypad patch 
and looks down on his reflection in the water he is pretty- 
well pleased with what he sees there. He would be 
more pleased with a snap shot of himself railroading 
through the deep woods at top speed, with his great ant- 
lers laid back on his shoulders, his nose sniffing at the 
air ahead, his great stride taking him over fallen tree 
trunks and through the underbrush without hitch or 
pause. Those antlers are not in the way then — they 
protect his shoulders from the scrape of the bushes. 
"And his eyes — say, I've had a bull moose look at me 
at a time when he didn't think I was worth tackling. 
"I never realized before what contempt in a creature's 
countenance meant. I was out after basket stuff and had 
only my hatchet. I wasn't thinking of moose that day. 
All at once I stumbled through some undergrowth right 
into a yard where a big moose was browsing. I looked 
at him. He slowly lowered his head and looked at me. 
The only thing I could think of was a man staring at me 
over his spec's. The bell under his neck and the bristle 
of grizzled hair around his head gave Brother Moose 
the appearance of wearing whiskers. His first look 
of amazement changed to one of the most supreme con- 
tempt, and at last he snorted, and lifting his fore foot 
made one disdainful jerk in my direction, as though he 
would say, 'Scoot!' But instead of scooting, in my ex- 
citement I brandished my hatchet and ran toward him. 
That moose might then and there have made it mighty 
unpleasant for me. But he simply lifted his chin a bit 
higher, sort o' pointed the horns of his antlers at me de- 
risively and jogged away, not even waving adieu with his 
tail. But the look in his eyes as he turned told me 
what he was thinking. It was, 'So 'long, old boy: you're 
too slow. I lunch fifty miles further up the trail. But 
I'll not keep the table waiting. With those short legs 
and big feet you'll never get there!'" 
We had finished the ham and the coffee, and Joe, in the 
invariable ten minutes of leisure following a camp break- 
fast, filled his pipe, lighted it and quacked at the stem 
until the smoke rolled about his ears. 
"The only critter in the whole Maine woods that I'll 
sling a slur at," said he. "is the chap that I call the 
undertaker. Phuh! He does give me the fidgets of the 
worst sort." 
Joe noted the look of inquiry and added, "Other peo- 
ple call 'em loucivees, bobcats, and such like. But un- 
dertakers is the best for 'em. You'll understand all about 
it when you have an experience with one. 
"AVhile ago I was in the Brassua region alone. I built 
a handful of fire at the end of a log and boiled my tea. 
While the tea Avas boiling I got my spider out and fried 
some pork. Well, the fat Avas sputtering and snapping, 
and I didn't try to listen to anything around me. Bui 
all of a sudden I had that queer feeling — you know Avhat 
it is — as if some one Avas boring a look into the back 
of my head. I'm sensitive to those things. I ahvays 
turn round in a crowd Avhen I feel some one looking at 
me. It's a sort of an itchy feeling. So, still scooching on 
the ground, I turned my head. Squatting just as nice 
and quiet as ye please on the other end of that log was 
one them undertakers. I looked at him. I felt just as 
if he was sizin' me up an' figgerin' on hoAV many steaks 
I A^'ould make, providin' I was cut skillfully. Did ye 
ever look right into loucivee's eyes when he is makin' it 
his bus'ness to look at you? Honestly, they seem as big 
as sassers. After you look for a time it seems as though 
the eyes were stickin' right out on his cheeks. He never 
winks. There's no larkin' nor playin' about that Jock of 
his. He's as sober as a deacon. I never got sociable 
enough with a loucivee to talk Avith him, but I should 
judge that bein' hungry is a blamed serious piece of 
bus'ness in his case. 
"NoAv, you understand that I've been in the woods long 
enough not to be scared at sight of a bobcat. They'll 
never tackle a man unless he corners them and drives 
'em into a Avrassle. 
"So, after my first jump at sight of that cheerful old 
undertaker there on the log, I just scooched and stared 
back at him. As a starer I wasn't in it Avith him; but I 
did the best I could. I didn't try to drive him away. I'm 
not the sort of a chap, bub, that shoots ev'rything in 
tlie Avoods on sight. The critters I don't need I don't 
trouble. I felt that undertaker on the log had just 
much right there as I had. Furthermore, he rather ap- 
pealed to my sympathies. Avith those hungry eyes. 
"I munched my dinner, and still gave him the look 
right into the eye. Those sasser eyes stayed just as 
round and bright. I commenced to projick on Avhat he 
Avas lookin' at me for. Finally I decided there were tAvo 
things that kept him there; he begretched ev'ry mouth- 
ful I Avas eatiu' or else Avas hopin' that I would choke 
to death on some chunk of meat, and that would give 
him his undertaking job. That last made me nervous. 
I Avas hungry Avhen I set doAvn to eat, but that famished 
stare took my appetite aAvay. I can't bear to eat Avith 
other folks hungry around me. I couldn't enjoy a 
Christmas dinner if I thought that in the next house 
some poor critters Avere eatin' only potatoes and salt 
cod. Well, thinks I, 'I'll be decent Avith ye, even if I 
don't like your lack of table manners. So I chucked a 
biscuit at him. He could have caught it easy; but he 
simply ducked liis head to one side, and the biscuit went 
past him into the bushes. He still kept those glassy eyes 
fixed right on me — ^never made any move to get the 
biscuit. Tlien says I, 'Try a piece of my pork, old 
man. It's good,' But he just scrouged his head to the 
other side, and the pork scaled past. And still them 
eyes bored me. And solemn! I could imagine that he 
Avore screaky shoes and had a screAV-driver and a hand- 
ful of coihn nails down behind the log somewhere. 
"Now, about that time I got a little vexed. I con- 
cluded that grub good enough for me ought to be good 
enough for a bobcat that slept in a tree and never heard 
a dinner bell once in six months." 
"I suppose you np Avith j^our rifle, Joe, and put a 
slug through the chap Avith that pair of starers?" 
"Not a bit of it," retorted Joe, rapping the ashes out 
of his pipe and scaling our dishes together, preparatory 
to lugging them to the lake. "Not a bit of it! A bob- 
cat has rights in the Avoods that I respect. I simply 
bundled my traps together and Avent aAvay. Undertakers 
are all right and all that, but to have one sitting around 
in his professional capacity Avill spoil any man's ap- 
petite, even Avhen the undertaker Avears a fur coat and 
has tufted ears and a bob tail." 
HoLMAN F. Day. 
Auburn, Mc. 
A Walk Down South -HL 
The steady tramping under the heavy pack Avas too 
much for the cords of my feet to bear comfortably. They 
became exceedingly painful, and at Sayre, Pa., I sat down 
over Sunday and ail day long tried to reduce the swelling 
Avith witch hazel. Monday morning found me still lame, 
but ready to start on again. I took the trolley car to 
Athens, tAA'o miles south, and left it at the bri.lge over 
the Chemung River and crossed to Greene's Landing. 
There was a cut-off across a grain field and corn patch, 
which I took. There Avere three fences on the way, in 
each of which the generous oAvner had put a V-gateway. 
which gave men free Avay, but stopped cattle. I took 
this as a sign of a generous people, and the thought 
made my pack a little less burdensome. Before I Avas 
clear across, a team came near to the end of the path, 
drawing a light Avagon upon which Avas a calf crate. The 
driver was a negro youth, and his companion a colored 
lad of sav thirteen years. 
"Hey, Boss! load pretty heavy?" asked'the driver. 
I said it was. 
"Well, then, don't ye Avant a ride?" 
I did. and mounted to the seat beside the driver, the 
boy climbing back on the calf crate. 
"Where ye goin' Avith all that?" I was asked. 
I said I Avas heading for the coal mine country, and 
that Ulster Avas my destination on that day, as I ex- 
pected mail there. 
"Sorry 'bout that, for we turn of? at Milan and go to 
Smithfield." : 
Smithfield was nine miles on my Avay, and after a mo- 
ment I said I Avould go to Smithfield and have my mail 
forAvarded to Canton. It was a streak of luck to get a 
ride so far. 
"Shooting much?" the driver, whose name was Harry 
Griffin, Avanted to know. 
I said I had killed enough red squirrels to eat. 
"Say," he said, "you know, I like to hunt. It's more 
fun than mos' anything. A lot of us felloAvs went out 
from Towanda once. Towanda's got lots of hunters in 
it; more'n up here. I think there's more guns artd dogs 
there than there is people. Most everybody hunts. We 
went up on a side hill, and 'bout eight dogs went rum- 
aging 'round, and they jumped rabbits in every brush ^ 
pile. Such shooting you never hear. A great, big, Avhite 
felloAV (varying hare) came by me — say. he was going 
noAv; ten feet cArery jump. I couldn't stop him. It made 
my eyes stan' out to see him go, I tell you. But Ave shot 
so much that Ave got some rabbits and the girl cooked 
them for us. Um-m! She ust to live down South an' 
knew hoAv. Just the same Avith possum and coons. She 
cooked um so's you'd leave ^-^our teetli behind next time 
an 'Hke 'em just as aa^cII. We got three, four possums. 
It seem like I haven't had nothin' to eat since, just to 
remember hoAV she cooked um. 
"So you go all alone, eh? Think you'd get lone- 
some. But some kinds of company ain't so good as 
when they're gone. I'd just like to make that sort of a 
trip. You liear'd 'bout that colored man Avhat shot a 
detective over there the other day to Waverly? He got 
caught with bloodhounds out near Canton. Avhere you're 
going. He Avas pretty tough. They shot him twice in the 
leg or he'd never been caught; but his leg Avetit back on 
him. I know how to fix them bloodhounds — a fellow 
from down South told me. He said when you're being 
chased just put some red pepper in your tracks, and then 
the way the dogs cuts up is comical, and they can't smell 
nothing no more. Y^ou just remember that, if anybody 
gets after you some time." 
I premisea to remember. 
"There isn't much game around here any more. Rab- 
bits and birds gets eat up by foxes; lots of them. But 
down 'round ToAvanda that's where a man gets game. 
I'd like to go down there and eat some more coon like 
I had there once. She baked it, you knoAV, and kept 
turning it over and OA^er in the oven. I feel just like I 
could eat the whole coon and the dressing, the Avay she 
cooked it. The coon climbed a big hemlock and got 
away out on the end, where he couldn't hold on, Avhen 
one of the boys shook him. One of us had a ball bat. 
and Avhen that coon came doAvn he hit him on the fly. 
mashed his head right in and broke a dog's back, too; 
so we didn't hunt no more that night" 
Three red squirrels in one tree caused the boy to leap 
Avildly t® the grotmd from the top of the crate. He- 
landed on all fours. When he reached his feet again hisj 
hands Avere full of stones, Avith Avhich he drove the ani- 
mals scolding to the top, where they would have beeni 
pretty shots with my rifle. The team, however, was tooi 
skittish for that, so Ave drove on. 
At Smithfield I left the two, and buying a pound of 
beefsteak took to the road again under my pack. A 
couple of miles out I built a fire bi-side. a little brook 
and fried the steak. It Avas exceedingly good, Avith a 
a slice of bread and a handful of chestnuts, Avhich the: 
darkies and I gathered under a couple of roadside trees.- 
I drank a cupful of coffee, also boiled o\^er the fire, and' 
then started on. / 
My left foot bothered me more and more; so as E 
neared Harkness, three or four miles further on, I de-- 
cided to stop there for a day or two at least, giving mj'^ 
feet absolute rest. I thought I could stay in a farm- 
house Avithout difficulty. I was mistaken. There was no' 
place at Harkness. I Avent on to Springfield, limping, 
more and more at every mile. At Springfield there was- 
a hotel, but no one Avas in it. It had been closed for 
Aveeks. At neither store could I hear of a place where" 
boarders were taken. I was told that I might get board- 
at some farmhouse. Then I began to look for a place 
to camp oA'er night — a barn to sleep in or a bed. At the' 
top of one hill was a farm, with many buildings, but the' 
folks were going aAA-^ay. At the foot of another hill Avas a 
A-ile swale filled Avith cat-tails. The woods, Avhich arc" 
always in sight in some direction, Avere far aAvay, up 
steep hills or too thin and scraggy for a camp. I stopped 
at last, and Avas about to roll up in my blanket behind a 
stone fence, Avhen the black tip of a cloud showed 
through the duU, twilighted sky. To sleep out Avith one's 
ankles giving Avay and a storm coming up seemed fool- 
hardy; so I went on again. 
The next house Avas "full of company"; the next Avas 
not prepared to keep travelers; at the next a man's 
thin voice called through locked doors to say that there 
was a hotel over the hill, at Crossroads. 
It had hegun to rain. It was so dark that I could 
merely see that there was a road ahead. I stepped in 
ruts. I bumped into the sides of cuts, I stumbled to my 
knees on stones, and Avas throAvn violently from side to 
side by clods of dirt breaking under my shoes. LTp a hill 
that seemed interminable, I started doAvn again through 
dense AVOods, as it seemed, staggering and even groaning 
at sharp pain in both ankles. I met a team of horses, 
Avhich shied sideAvays into the ditch and nearly ran into 
a dark horse, which reared to its hind legs and Avalked 
backward doAvn the hill for several steps. 
But at last I got to Columbia X Roads, Avhere there 
Avas a hotel. I entered it and sat down, a position T 
scarcely left for the next three days. But it Avas a Avorth 
while delay, for the "boy" of the hotel had Avorked in 
lumber camps for many years, and could tell so much 
about the Pennsylvania lumbermen that I became in- 
terested in them and wished to see how the Pennsyl- 
vanians did their Avork of slashing the forests. 
On the 15th the Pennsylvania squirrel and pheasant 
(rufifed grouse) season opened. One of the hunters 
came to the hotel that night. He Avas perhaps thirty 
years old, tall, thin and of alert appearance. He carried 
an old muzzleloading rifle with a barrel at least 30 inches 
long. Its sights Avere very low and close to the barrel. 
The weapon Avas topheavy in my reach, but it balanced 
in his grasp. He had killed nothing. A squirrel had led 
him half-Avay across the big patch of Avoods up the valley 
and escaped. A pheasant or two had raised and flown 
aAvaj'^, but that Avas all; still, he had had a good time. He 
remembered one day, Avhen squirrels were plentiful last 
fall, and the memory was game enough till he had an- 
other successful hunt. He put the muzzle of his rifle on 
the floor and twisted a leg around the barrel, while he 
leaned on the butt and against the Avall. He did not sit 
doAvn. Other hunters had killed six birds, three black 
squirrels and one gray, but thej' used dogs. Dogs didn't 
appeal to this rifle user. He preferred such still-hunting^ 
as he could get in shoes Avith soles half an inch or more 
thick. 
There are men throughout this region who trap skunks 
for their fur. While I Avas in the hotel office on my 
second daj^ at X Roads a trapper came in Avith the skin 
of a great full-stripe skunk Avhich he had taken the night 
before. The barkeeper, however, Avould not allow him 
to stay long enough to even get a drink. The trapper 
usually Ha'CS alone, and strange tales of the things thcA- 
eat are heard if one listens. Muskrats and skunks and 
Avild herb roots known best to themselves are among the 
delicacies Avith AA'hich they pamper their tastes regularly. 
Of course game of all sorts finds its Avay to their cool 
boxes over the brooks on Avhich their homes are usually 
located. They talk of killing a gray squirrel or a fox 
with as much animation as other hunters tell of their deer 
and bear. Judging from all that I haA'e h^ard, it must 
take nearly as much skill to get a gray squirrel in 
■'scarce" years as to kill a deer on a far-back Adirondack 
ridge. 
The first ill-natured word spoken to me on the trip 
Avas at X Roads, on my second night there. A drink- 
ugly man who had talked pleasantly enough during the 
I 
