Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 190S, bv Forest and Stream Publishing Ca 
Terms, ! 
4 A Year, j) Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months. |2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY SI, 1903. 
( VOL. LX.— No. 5. 
1 No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
DUCKING BUND AND SCHOOLHOUSE. 
Along the coast south of the mouth of the Chesapeiike 
Bay lies a flat country, half swamp and half sandbar. 
It is overgrown in many places by forests of tall, straight 
pines, and is bordered bj^ wide sounds and inlets of shal- 
low water, which are cut off from the ocean by a narrow- 
sea beach, over which the winds blow constantly, heaping 
up mountains of sand, and then picking up these moun- 
tains and carrying them on a few hundred yards and 
piling them up in new places. In the shallow waters 
which lie to the landward of this sand beaeh grow the 
grasses and other water plants on which wild fowl de- 
light to feed; and here each year congregate in un- 
counted numbers the ducks, the geese and the swans 
which have been' forced away from their northern homes 
by the closing of the waters by frost. 
The people who live along the main shore are simple, 
honest and kindly. They are far from main lines of 
travel. The railroad is twenty miles away, and a queer 
little steamboat, plowing its way down the Sound three 
times a week is their only means of getting their produce 
to a market, they farm, and fish, and gun; and the 
earth, and the waters, and the air contribute to their 
support from j^ear's end to year's end. Their amusements 
and their interests are few, yet their lives are happy. 
Like people who live crowded closer together, they 
have their loves, their hopes and their fears, and they live 
simple, kindly and hospitable lives. 
In winter the waters are visited by many gunners, 
whose homes for the most part lie in great centers of 
civilization, and during his visit each visitor has for 
ccmpanion on his shooting days one of the residents of 
this shore; some one who understands the handling of a 
boat and the ways of the birds, and who can put a 
sti-anger in the way of getting shooting. And since the 
stranger goes out after the fowl every day when it is 
lawful to do so, and spends all his day in the blind wait- 
ing for birds to come; and since there are many blank 
days when there is little shooting, it follows naturally 
that the gunner and his boatman talk to each other a 
good deal, and after a time grow to be well acquainted. 
Perhaps the gunner tells the boatman stories of distant 
Unds, or of great game, or of wonderful sights that he 
has seen in European cities ; while we may be sure that 
after his shyness has worn off the boatman talks to the 
gunner about his farming, about the prices brought last 
year \ by his sweet and his Irish potatoes, about his wife 
and his little ones, their illnesses, the comfort that they 
t;J<e in going to church when the rare preacher visits the 
communitjf, and about all the other things that most 
interest him. 
Since most men are sympathetic, it does not take very 
many days for the gunner and his boatman to come to 
think well of each other; and if their association con- 
tinues year after year — for a few days each winter — it is 
not very long before a genuine attachment springs up 
between them. The boatman works hard for the success 
of the shooter, and takes a pride in his success. The gun- 
ner feels that a very little money, properly applied, mighL 
greatly help his boatman and family, and might render 
their lot a hannier one; yet it is hard to offer him money. 
But there are other forms of help that may be furnished. 
Not long ago there came to our notice a little story 
rliat is worth telling here. It is suggestive and may offer 
a hint to others. 
The gunner had grown to have a high regard for his 
boatman, who, like many of the men of his community 
along this shore, was absolutely illiterate. He belonged 
to a good family of tlie county, he was generally 
respected and liked, but neither his father nor he, nor his 
children, had ever been to school; no one in these three 
generations could either read or write. The gunner de- 
termined that there was something wrong about this 
condition ©f things, and he decided to do what he could 
to remedy it. He spoke with a dozen or fifteen of his 
friends, who were accustomed to shoot in the same 
region, and from each of them secured a small subscrip- 
tion, which, in the aggregate, proved enough to hire a 
school teacher for a year, as well as to rent a house for 
school purposes. But when the school was about to be 
started it was discovered that the schoolhouse was with- 
out furniture, and that the community could not raise 
money enough for books, or any of the necessary ap- 
paratus for teaehing children, fhe gfunner was not dis- 
couraged; he made an appeal to the shooting club of 
which he was an officer, and the club, on his representa- 
tion, appropriated a sum of money sufficient to furnish 
the schoolhouse and set the school in successful 
operation. 
When the school was opened, the man who had prac- 
tically founded it, who had done all the hard work, raised 
ail the money, and launched the enterprise, went down 
to this little community and made a speech to the chil- 
dren and their parents there assembled to witness the 
opening of the first yearly school that had ever been es- 
tablished in the county. In simple language he gave the 
children and their parents some good advice, and con- 
cluded by saying that the school had been founded in 
order that each one of the little ones might have a chance 
to make the most of what was in him. He urged each 
child to do his best, and to try to become a better citizen 
of his county, of his State, and of his country. 
And the point of the story? Well, sometimes gunners 
do other things besides killing birds. And this is only 
one instance of many of which nothing is known, because 
the men who do this good do it in secret. 
OYSTERS PURE AND IMPURE. 
The death of the Dean, of Winchester from typhoid 
fever ascribed to the eating of polluted oysters and the 
death of a number of other persons believed to have been 
due to the same cause has directed attention in England 
to the oyster as a possible disseminator of typhoid. 
The particular oysters which are believed to have caused 
the illness were taken from beds which have been 
described in the reports of former investigating commit- 
tees as "saturated with sewage," a condition which one 
v^ould think might account plausibly enough for the ty- 
phoid, even if salt water is a speedy purifier and destroyer 
of disease germs. It is no marvel that Great Britain has had 
an oyster scare, and under the circumstances it was wise 
on the part of the New York Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission to assert through the State Department the 
purity of the Long Island beds from which American 
oysters are exported to Europe. "East Rivers" and "Blue 
Points" — famous the world over wherever oysters are 
known — Shell Fisheries Superintendent Wood certifies, 
come from deep water beds far removed from any possi- 
ble contamination. As for the sewage-saturated beds of 
England, it is high time for boards of health and sea 
fishery boards to combine their forces, following the ex- 
ample set by Massachusetts, where this admirable sys- 
tem is in operation, as provided by the public statute: 
Section 113. The State Board of Health may examine all com- 
plaints which may be brought to its notice relative to the con- 
tamination of tidal waters and flats in this commonwealth by 
sewage or other causes, may determine, as nearly as may be, the 
bounds of such contamination, and, if necessary, mark such 
bounds. It may also, in writing, request the Commissioners on 
Fisheries and Game to prohibit the taking from such contaminated 
waters and fiats of any oysters, clams, quahaugs and scallops. 
Upon receipt of such request, said Commissioners shall prohibit 
the taking of such shell fish from such contaminated waters or 
flats for such period of time as the State Board of Health may 
prescribe. 
Sec. 114. Whoever takes any oysters, clams, quahaugs or 
scallops from tidal waters or flats from which the taking has been 
prohibited as provided in the preceding section shall forfeit, etc.. 
LEGISLATIVE TUMBLING. 
Among the quaint monastic tales of the Twelfth Cen- 
tury is that of "Our Lady's Tumbler," which relates how 
a certain tumbler or professional acrobat, having been 
converted and joined a holy order, was much distressed 
because, being unlearned and untrained in such accom- 
plishments, he could not do his share at mass in praying 
or singing or any of the several other offices in which 
each brother bore his part; until at last he bethought 
him that he could tumble; and so in his simplicity, with- 
drawing to a secluded shrine, he leaped and vaulted and 
turned hand-springs before the image of Our Lady, dedi- 
cating his strenuous performances to her honor, and be- 
seeching her to look with favor upon this, the only 
service he had to offer. This he did day after day as 
often as the others were at mass, and much to the edi- 
fication — when he was discovered— of the Abbot and 
brothers, until at last he died in the odor of sanctity, be- 
queathing to us the story of his tumbling as ati in- 
centive to do our best in whatever field, each^ one acqord- 
The tumblers did not all live in the Twelfth Century; 
they are with us to-day; nor are they confined to 
monastic orders. They are found occasionally in Legisla- 
tures, where their tumblings not infrequently take the 
form of freak bills relating to fish and game. Here, for a 
current instance, is a measure introduced at Albany by 
Mr Coutant, from Ulster County, which provides that 
a non-resident and non-taxpayer of any county who 
wishes to hunt in the county must first take out a certifi- 
cate from the supervisors of the town in which he wishes 
to hunt, paying therefor a fee of $25, and that such 
certificate shall authorize him to shoot for one month in 
the town — not the county — to which the certificate ap- 
plies. For the high crime and misdemeanor of hunting 
without a license the county non-resident shall be liable 
to a penalty of not less than $100 nor more than $200, 
or a year in jail, or both; and $10 for each bird or animal 
taken. For refusal to show his license to any Tom, Dick 
or Harry, man, woman or child who may demand sight 
of it, he must pay a fine of $50. 
This is, of course, all highly ridiculous, and at first 
thought one might be inclined to laugh at it. But we shall 
see it has a pathetic side as soon as we realize that it is a 
case of legislative tumbling. Just as "Our Lady's Tumbler," 
in his mortification upon seeing his brothers at their 
functions, while he could do nothing but tumble, set him- 
self to leaping and vaulting and capering as his mode of 
worship, so the author of this bill, having got himself 
sent to Albany, and there seeing his fellow members all 
busily engaged in preparing bills and making laws, be- 
thought him that he, too, must do his part, if nothing 
more than to tumble, and so he set to to do his stunt as a 
legislative mountebank, and gave us this grotesque non- 
resident license bill. It has had just one reading in the 
Assembly and will never have, another ; but it ought not 
to be let pass into oblivion without prompting us to give 
credit to the highly commendable spirit of wanting to do 
something, if only to tumble, which prompted its intro- 
duction. 
ing \Q gifts and Ws ?i|?ifS; 
We print in another column the measure introduced by 
Senator Perkins authorizing the President to Set apart 
certain selected areas of the forest reserves to be game 
reserves. The bill is very simple and direct, and is free 
from the financial complications which caused the de- 
feat of the game reserve bill last year. No appropriation 
is involved, and Mr. Cannon will not again be impelled 
m the excitement of debate to tear off necktie and collar 
and call upon the "boys" to "stand by him" and kill the 
bill. The purpose sought to be attained by the Perkins' 
measure is the provision of a number of game refuges, 
those harbors of safety and breeding which are absolutely 
essential if our big game species are to survive. The es- 
tablishment of such protected reserves will work no 
hardship ; on the contrary, their purpose and operation 
will be to increase game in surrounding country where 
hunting will be permitted. 
The readers of this journal have been kept fairly 
well-informed of the character of the administration 
of fish and game interests in Massachusetts since 
the accession to office of the present board of 
commissioners. In the light of our knowledge of 
the admirable record which has been made by Chair- 
man Collins and his associates, natural astonishment 
is felt at the proposition to abolish the commission 
as it stands and substitute in place of it a new com- 
mission of six members, who will hold meetings once 
in three months. The movement has its origin in Pitts- 
field. The plan is one which does not deserve a mo- 
ment's serious consideration. It cannot have been 
devised from a sincere desire to advance the interests 
of Massachusetts fish and game protection. The way 
to help that cause is to hold up the hands of the pres- 
ent commission, to give it the sinews of war— more 
adequate means to work with. Chairman Collins has 
labored faithfully, intelligently and successfully; he has 
made the laws respected; has protected the game and 
the fish, and is protecting them. He has made the 
department a terror to the snarer. Any movement to 
interrupt the good work now being done, while it 
might gratify some personal feeling, vfoiild be directly 
opposed to public interests. 
