Forest and Stream 
• - 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1902, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, .$4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy 
Spc Months, $2, 
"J 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1902 
j VOL. LVIII,— No. 18. 
| No. 846 Broadway, New York 
SUBSCRIPTIONS* 
The date of expiration of your subscription is given on the 
address label on the wrapper. A change of date on the 
address wrapper is equivalent to a receipt for money sect for 
subscription. Take note of the date on your address label. 
tbe forest ana Stream Platform Plank. 
No. 2. 
Take a day off and go fishing. 
DIRECTION AND TIME. 
A Chicago correspondent wrote the other day asking for 
the formula to determine the point of the compass by 
means of the dial of a watch in connection with the sun. 
The inquiry suggests another one, which may be ad- 
dressed to the world at large, asking why any one who 
has the sun for a guide — as the man must have who uses 
his watch dial to ascertain the points of the compass — 
should ask for further information as to the cardinal 
points. Why bring the watch into an elaborate calcu- 
lation when a glance at the sun will give him the points 
of the compass nearly enough for all practical purposes. 
It is not necessary, we suppose, to announce that the 
sun rises in the east, that it sets in the west, or that at 
noon, when its shadow is shortest, it is in the south. For 
practically all the region of the United States— we may 
leave out the poles and the equator — the sun when visible 
tells the points of the compass and the time of day. The 
man who is traveling toward his* camp does not need to 
know the cardinal points exactly. A deviation of a few 
points from the true direction will not inconvenience him 
greatfy. 
The time when men wish to know the points of the 
compass is when the sun is hidden by clouds. In clear 
weather the sun by day and the stars by night give his 
direction to the traveler. It is when dense clouds of mist 
cover the mountain side and obscure all the landscape, 
when rain falls in sheets so as to cut off the view of dis- 
tant landmarks, when whirling, changing winds send the 
powdery snow now in one direction and now in another 
among the close-standing trees, each of which looks pre- 
cisely like its fellows, that the hunter and woodsman 
would be very glad to know where north lies. But at such 
a time the watch dial will do him no good, and the only 
thing that can help him will be the compass. Even^this 
is useless, unless he knows with some definiteness the 
direction that he took when he left camp in the morning. 
Years and years ago, long before settlements were 
found along each stream on the plains, and even before 
range cattle had been brought into the northern coun- 
try, men journeying over the treeless prairies of the West 
— "pilgrims," who knew nothing of the lore of the plains — 
used to set off in the morning and travel through the day 
far away from the marching command, hunting, explor- 
ing, geologizing or what not. As the sun fell toward the 
west they would turn their faces in what they supposed 
the general direction of camp, and riding along hour after 
hour, surmounting swell after swell of the rolling prairie, 
would at last come in sight of the dark green winding 
line of some tiny stream, where they felt sure that camp 
must be. Often such men had literally no idea of where 
they were likely to come out, but they knew the direction 
that the wagon train would follow, they knew in a general 
way the direction they had taken, and so without land- 
mark or guide they would come at night to camp. Un- 
doubtedly practice has much to do with this matter of 
finding one's way over the unmarked prairies — unmarked 
only in seeming, for he who has traveled enough over 
them understands well that actually they are as plainly 
marked with recognizable points as is the city street 
corner with its signs which point the way. 
In a mountainous country the traveler who has gone 
up a hill does not require a great stock of woods lore to 
know enough to go down it again. He understands, be- 
cause he has observed, that he has passed toward the 
head, or down the course, of some streamlet, and he 
governs his return to camp accordingly. 
Far different and most difficult of all is traveling in the 
thick timber in rainy or snowy weather. Here, unless 
the water courses are well marked, it is extremely easy to 
go astray, and we have known woodsmen of twenty or 
|wenty-f?Y§ ve^fff experience, who, journeying through 
thick green timber in a howling snowstorm, have abso- 
lutely lost all sense of direction and have had not the 
slightest notion either of the points of the compass or of 
the direction to camp. In one such case, a member of the 
party as morning approached found a little opening in the 
Woods, and climbing as high as he could, watched the 
horizon for the first light in the sky, which should tell 
him where the east was. He located the point, but it was 
then raining hard, and before the lost travelers had gone 
ioo yards, they had again lost all sense of direction and 
were as utterly astray as ever. ✓ 
Every one who expects to be much out of doors ought to 
teach himself to know by the sun the points of the com- 
pass, and the hour of the day. While some learn things 
of this kind very much more easily than others, the 
acquiring of such knowledge by any one is purely a 
matter of practice and observation, and is something that 
can very easily be done. We know an old mountaineer, 
now seventy years or more of age, whom we have never 
known to vary more than fifteen minutes in telling the 
hour of the day by sun. 
CONCERNING TAFFY. 
Soaie years ago there lived a man of an intellect so vast 
that it caused him to say many wise things, many of which 
were so exceedingly good or so exceedingly obscure that 
they have been cherished through the centuries. Being 
a man he undoubtedly had his moody moments, and pre- 
sumably in one of them he summed up life as follows: 
"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." 
From a modern viewpoint, one might fairly hazard the 
conjecture that the aforementioned wise man confounded 
his apathetic condition of mind with the condition of 
the world; and further, that his mind had got deeply 
into a tired and worn condition wherein it was entirely 
unresponsive to the pleasing warmth of friendly flattery, 
delicately administered with a due admixture of just 
praise, colloquially termed ''taffy." 
The constant output of "taffy" indicates that there is a 
ready demand for it. Indeed, if no taffy is offered them, 
many people are not averse to being self-supporting in 
this respect, manufacturing and consuming their own 
products. A case in point is when a city sportsman . in 
the country by word and acts assumes a superiority over 
his country brethren. Thus he tells himself ©f it while 
imposing it as a command on his fellows. On the other 
hand, the country gentleman oftentimes shows an un- 
concealed bucolic contempt for the dandified visitor from 
the ignorant city, who, he is convinced, doesn't know that 
cows never furnish buttermilk direct. The "taffy" thus 
arrogated is generally of an offensive grade. But there 
is the true kind, spontaneous, subtle, permeatingly insi- 
duous, which chimes with one's beliefs and one's hob- 
bies, acceptable at sight, having the same gratefully bene- 
ficent effect on the mind that a glorious June morning of 
sunshine and roses has upon the spirit. The pleased 
recipient may have some trifling doubts as to the good 
faith of the purveyor of taffy, but there is no tangible 
ground on which to base a protest, and after all, the world 
at large may believe the "taffy" even if one does not quite 
accept it one's self. In any case, a small flavoring of 
fact is ordinarily quite sufficient as a substantial vehicle 
on which to carry quite a load of taffy. This trait of 
human nature, this amiable disposition to appear as of 
eminent worth in the eyes of one's fellows, has been 
recognized from time immemorial, and as a vanity does 
much to stimulate effort to reach the ideals set by taffy 
standards. 
The more imaginative a class of men may be, the more 
readily is taffy absorbed. Sir Walter Scott frankly con- 
fessed as follows : 
"Ne'er 
Was flattery lost on Poet's ear; 
A simple race! they waste their toil 
For the vain tribute of a smile." 
Dean Swift, even more frank than Scott, gives the 
theme a greater universal application, for he wrote : 
" 'Tis an old maxim in the schools. 
That flattery's the food of fools; 
Yet now and then your men of wit 
Will condescend to take a bit." 
Yet, in a way, this giving and this taking of "taffy" is 
an amiable trait of manhood. It shows a disposition to 
please and $9 be pleased. It contributes to the Idealizing 
of both toil and pleasure. It is most useful, however, in 
our sports. The angler, the devotee of dog and gun, feel 
a pride and personal sense of responsibility in their choice 
of diversion, and are not averse to having it commended 
in proper blending of the true and the imaginary, the 
components of true "taffy." Flattery, raw and gross, is 
distasteful to all men of delicate perception. Praise is 
commendation deserved, but it is limited to matters of 
fact, and therefore to too narrow a field. Praise fur- 
nishes the fact, flattery the fancy, and both, mixed in 
just quantities, afford the "taffy" of friendly and suc- 
cessful commerce. 
When one's love for one's self and one's fellows become 
ashes, then "all is vanity" — to that one, and not to the 
w®rld at large. But to the man who loves to angle, who 
loves to shoot, who loves to gaze upon and to delight in 
nature's offerings, there never comes a day when "all is 
vanity." He takes boundless pleasure in actual experi- 
ence and in the telling of it. He imagines to the limit of 
his imagination, and if some fellow comes along who can 
imagine still more, he is prompt to furnish the belief and 
to offer the "taffy" of adoration; for to believe, or to 
affect to believe, well-delivered "taffy" is a kind of "taffy" 
in itself. 
POST CHECK CURRENCY. 
There is now before Congress a measure providing for 
a post check system of currency, the purpose of which 
is to simplify and thus facilitate the transmission of 
money through the mails. The way in which this will 
be accomplished will be this : All $i, $2 and $5 Treasury 
notes will be reprinted, and the new bills will have on the 
face a blank space for a name and address. The bills 
will be used for ordinary currency precisely as they are 
now, but in addition may be convertible 'into personal 
checks by filling in the blanks provided for that purpose. 
Thus, when an Iowa correspondent wishes to send a 
dollar to the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, he 
takes an ordinary dollar bill, writes on its face the name 
of the firm, affixes a two-cent stamp, writing on it his 
initials and the date, and then signs his own name on 
the back of the bill. The dollar bill, which has up to this 
time been currency, circulating from hand to hand, is now 
the Iowa correspondent's personal check on the United 
States Government, in favor of the Forest and Stream 
Publishing Company at New York, and can be collected 
only by the company and at the New York Post Office, 
where it is cashed just as a money order. In addition 
to the notes designated, it is proposed to provide frac- 
tional currency in io, 25 and 50 cent denominations, and 
having the same post check character. 
It goes without saying that such a system of post 
check currency would be of immense value, and there 
appears to be no good reason why Congress should not 
make provision for putting the system into immediate 
operation. When the public shall fully understand the 
character of the system and appreciate its great advan- 
tage and relief, the popular demand for the post check will 
be universal. 
That is an interesting and suggestive declaration of 
principles which Mr. Rightmire sends us as adopted by 
the business men who are the sportsmen of Chase county, 
Kansas. The several planks of the platform are most 
excellent, and constitute a sufficient code of game and fish 
protection to insure the permanent conservation of the 
stock. They are all the more worthy of commendation 
and imitation because of their direct and limited applica- 
tion to the immediate territory of Chase county. Game 
protection begins at home. The real strength of the 
cause is in the local club or association which adopts 
rules strictly for its own government, and sets out not 
to reform the whole earth, but to clean up its own house. 
If the Chase county sportsmen shall thus make good in 
their own fields and on their own streams their declara- 
tion of April, 1902, they will have done something sub- 
stantial for Chase county and for Kansas, and by example 
for the country at large. 
The Senate Committee on Forest Reservations and the 
Protection of Game have favorably reported House Btlf 
1 1^35 for the protection of game in Alaska, and ii; \^ 
believed that the measure will be adopted, 
