June 6, 1903.] 
and dumb woman came to the Squire's door for tobacco. 
Toffts was ill in bed, or she told the Squire he was, writ- 
ing on paper to make him understand. There was two 
women that were bad friends in the store, and one of 
them was settin' on the bench with the durarriy. The 
other one says, knowing she couldn't hear, "You're a 
well matched pair, you and the witchwife." 
She answers back, "I ain't afraid of being taken for 
her sister, anyway. I don't know which of you is the 
ugliest, she with half her teeth out, or you with eyes all 
squinty and red hair." 
There'd have been war right there, but the old Squire 
put his foot down. The dummj'^ never let on she under- 
stood, she just spit on the floor and trod on the place. 
That very evening them two women's husbands were 
in a camp twenty miles off getting out ship timber. They 
had some words, and before the other men could part 
them, they out knives and stabbed one another. They 
were carried out, and neither of them did a day's work 
until spring. This set the people near crazy. The Squire 
had to own up to hearing the women saying them words, 
3nd the whole settlement saw the men brought in on a 
.sled. Still the Squire wouldn't give no law, and when 
the people told the old doctor about it, he called them a 
pack of fools and told them to shut their mouths. 
At that time was a fortune teller at Halifax, and the 
people got that scart of Toffts they made up $20 and 
sent Bob Kaiser's father and a man called Hezekiah 
Tuffin — him Tuffin's Island's named after — to see the for- 
ttme teller and find out Avhat they Avas to do. They were 
gone Just a week, and when they came back the an.swer 
they brought was "Fight the devil with fire." The folks 
took it that the witch was to be burned, and seven oE 
those that had been worst bewitched by Toffts laid out 
to do it, when the Squire went away to buy his goods in 
the spring. I've heard my father say that that was the 
awfullest winter he ever remembered — the two men 
stabbed, four cows died, and toward spring the wolves 
came and killed CA^ery sheep in the harbor. There hadn't 
been any wolves for twenty years before that, nor were 
there any for nearly thirty years afterwards. 
Two days before Good Friday the schooner came along, 
and the Squire went aboard. Then the seven men who 
were to burn Toffts met in one of their houses and 
prayed, and swore on the Bible never to give one another 
away. The man whose boy had been shot was boss of 
the crowd and he said if the others went back on their 
word he'd do the thing alone. There was an old log 
shanty where the new church stands now, and they de- 
cided that they would tie Toffts to a stake in the middle 
of the building and set it on fire at the fotir corners. 
It Avould be quite a job to get him, as his house was built 
of big logs, he had two good guns, the dummy was as 
strong as a man and carried a sheath knife all the time. 
The only way was to get him away from his own 
house and take him to the shantj' after dark. This was 
easier than they thought for. On Good Friday afternoon 
his boat comes round the head with him in it, and he 
walks up to the Squire's store, leaving the boat on the 
beach with his gun in it. When he came back, boat and 
gun were gone. It's the best part of ten miles from the 
store to Toffts' Point by land, and there was nothing for 
him to do but Avalk it. Before he had gone half a mile 
the men had him tied to a tree, with a gag in his mouth. 
Then one of tliem fetched a sled ; they put him on it 
and drew him over to the shanty just as soon as it was 
dark. They had brush ready piled in the place and a 
stake fixed in the floor. One of them takes the gag out 
of Toffts' mouth and said: "If j'ou want to pra}'', now's 
your time. You haven't more'n a few minutes to do it 
in; then there'll be an end of you and your witchcrafts; 
and may the Lord have mercy on your soul." 
Toffts got very white. Says he: "You'll repent this 
when it's too late, and you're standing under the gallows, 
on Halifax Common, with the soldiers around you." 
As he says this, Tuffin's dog came in and jumped on 
him. "This here dog," says he, "has better sense than 
you men." 
"Get outer this," says Tuffin to the dog, and with that 
the dog goes to the door, turns round and says.; as plain 
as a man_: "I'm going to the harbor to tell the folks 
what's going on here, and to bid them get the grave 
clothes ready for two of ye." With this he claps his tail 
between his legs and bolts for the next house, yelling 
"Murder!" and "Fire!" 
Tuffin drops down on the floor in a fit, and from 
way up in the air outside comes the awfullest Voice : 
"Father, I can't rest in my grave if you murder Toffts. 
He never shot me." 
The men were too scared to speak. Tuffin lay on the 
floor and foamed at the mouth, and Bill Harrigan was 
down on his knees praying, when he heard his dead boy's 
voice. Then the Voice outside said: "Loose him and 
let liim go," and with that the cords drops off Toffts of 
their own accord, and he kneels down by Tuffin and 
says: "I'm going to let this man's blood or he'll die 
right here." He lets him hear a pint of blood, and the 
man comes to, very weak and scared. 
"Now," says Toffts, "I'm going back to the slip and I 
want my flat and gun fetched Avhere I left them. If 
they're not back there before an hour there'll be trouble 
for somebody. Perhaps you men had better Avalk along 
of me; nothing will hurt you while you're with me." 
They Avere a badlj^ scared croAvd, but the worst was to 
follow. Just as they got to the road they met the Devil 
himself in the likeness of the old Squire's black bull. He 
was standing m the middle of the road. They were right 
on to him before they saw him. His eyes were like red 
hot cinders and the smoke was coming out of his mouth 
like a coal fire. 
"Stop !" says he. 
"Keep right on !" shouts Toffts, "don't do his "bidding." 
And with that he breaks a dogAvood stick out of the 
bushes and goes for him. There ncA^er was a Spirit or a 
Devil yet that durst face a dogwood stick. The Devil 
gave one jump and went into the bushes, and they could 
hear him stamping and calling "Stop! stop!" as they 
went by. There wasn't much stop to them until they 
got to the slip. The first thing they saw there was Toffts' 
fishing boat with the dummy and two men aboard in the 
moonlight. 
"A nice mess you'd a been in, if you'd burnt me," says 
Toffts, "with him waitin' for two of you at the slip" 
FOnfilSt' AKb STREAM. 
pbintin' his finger to where they left the bull, — "and her 
that's just as bad waiting for you on the water. Now 
go, and on the word of a man, I'll never meddle with 
you. The dog hasn't told anybody. You let me go be- 
fore he could get here; but I'm afraid the Squire will get 
to hear of it before long." 
The Squire did hear of it, but the crowd guessed they'd 
better tell him the truth of it themselves than let him 
get the story from the Devil in the likeness of his bull. 
The day he came back the whole crowd went up to his 
house and made a clean breast of it. He sends the con- 
stable after Toffts, and when he comes he asks him how 
much of this is true. Toffts says it's all true, but he didn't 
want no law on the crowd, as they'd promised to leave 
him alone. 
The Squire swells out and says it ain't his business 
to say Avhether there's going to be law or not. Says he 
to the crowd: "I could send the whole pack and bilin' 
of you up to Halifax to be tried for 'tempted murder, 
but seein's you've promised not to do it again, I'll be easy 
with j'ou this once, and make it an assault and battery 
case. The fine'll be $s each and damages a dollar. If 
any of you have not got the money tAvo quintals of cod- 
fish will do as well, so long as it's well cured." Turning 
to Joffts he said : "You told me you didn't want no law 
in a criminal case; that's contempt of court, that is; 
arid the law allows me to put a fine of $20 on you for it; 
but seein' this is the first offense and you didn't know 
no better, I'll be content with putting an injunction on 
you instead; and the injunction is that you go out of the 
witchcraft business and stay out of it. I can't fine you 
for witchcraft, but I can get at you for contempt of 
court, and CA^ery man j'ou bewitch after this it'll be con- 
tempt, and cost you $20." 
Toffts said he was quite Avilling to quit if the har- 
borers Avould leave him alone; and he takes the Book 
and swears on it. The Squire makes them shake hands 
all round, and them that had the money paid their fines, 
and them that hadn't brought in the codfish that day. 
Toffts kept his Avord. He made a lot of money and his 
boy went to the States and made a lot more. When 
the dummy died the boy Avent and fetched the old man. 
Nobody dare live in the old house, so it rotted doAvn. 
Two years ago his grandson came down here in a little 
steamer of his oAvn; he was awful rich and he spelt his 
name differently. He was cruising about the islands for 
nearly a month. Maybe he thought his grandfather 
buried money out there. He gave the parson a hundred 
dollars for the ncAv church ; and his wife, a fine lady with 
diamonds on, bought all the old plates and dishes and 
spmning Avheels she could get hold of. There was one of 
the men Avho were going to burn his grandfather still 
hvmg, and "on the poor." I'm blessed if he didn't go 
to see him and get him to tell the story. He gave the old 
felloAv two suits of clothes and $10 in cash, and had him 
cut to dinner on the steamer. Folks say, though, the 
Devil still lays around the islands after dark asking men 
to trade boats Avith him, and offering to show them 
where old man Toffts buried his money. I'm a poor man 
and ain't got no learning, and I'm mortal afraid to meet 
him. 
The morning Avas breaking, and the Captain's snores 
ceased. Abij ah proceeded to boil the kettle and get 
breakfast ready. Kaiser uncoiled himself and proceeded 
to Avorship the guns in anticipation of the day's sport. I 
was m a brown study, thinking of Charley Tuffts, the 
actor (Avho under another name is knoAvn from one end 
of the world to the other), his charming little wife and 
their httle deaf and dumb boy. I had dined with them 
on their yacht, the White Witch, on more than one 
occasion during the last summer, and Mr. Tuffts had 
told me that his grandfather and father had lived in 
eastern Nova Scotia. Pie had omitted, how^ever, to tell 
me that the founder of his family had terrorized an en- 
tire community for years, and come within measurable 
distance of being burned at the stake as a "witch" in 
183—, only saving his life by a clever bit of ventrilo- 
quism. 
When the day's shooting was over I asked the Captain 
if he had eA'-er heard the story. 
"Why, yes," he replied, "you couldn't get Abij ah Best 
to go near Toffts' Point after dark for $20. I can just 
remember the old man myself, and how he used to cure 
Avarts. His son AA'ent into the railroad business and 
made money and his grandson is a play actor in the 
States. He OAvns the old homestead, and sends me the 
money to pay the taxes on it every year. I gave him an 
old brass blunderbuss with a bay'nit to it that used to 
belong to his grandfather, and he sent me this gun, that 
I had to pay $20 duty on, as a present, he Avas so pleased 
to get the old thing. It's a queer thing how some of 
those fellows that go to the States make money and get 
on in the world, isn't it?" 1 
I thought of the grandfather curing warts in his old 
age and the grandson visiting the scenes of his "witch- 
crafts" m a steam yacht, and I agreed Avith him that 
Edmund I. L. Jenner. 
Nova Scotia. 
Talk not of the idleness Avhich is full of quiet thoughts. 
Is It idle to be up with the day— to feel the balmy cool- 
ness of a rich May dew— to Avatch the coming splendor of 
the sun — to see the young Iambs leap — to hear singing, a 
mile above us, the strong-throated lark, the spirit of the 
scene— is this idle? Yet by some 'tis called so. The 
sluggard Avho wakes half the night to lay lime-tAvigs for 
poor honesty the next day; the varlet who acknoAvledges 
no villainy on the safe side of an act of parliament— he 
calls one a loiterer and a time-killer; be it so— it does 
not spoil the fishing. Idle ! Avhy, angling is in itself a sys- 
tem of morality ! — Douglas Jerrold. 
To the ordinary Englishman who shoots, the caliber 
of the sport open to any citizen of Ncav York who cares to 
buy a rifle and pay for a license is something of a surprise. 
The deer are so numerous that it is estimated that in 1902 
more than 6,000 Avere shot by licensed sportsmen within 
the State forest domains. The rate of cost for deer- 
stalking in the Scotch Highlands is reckoned roughly 
at £40 per stag. Consequently, on the British scale, the 
sportsruen of New York State enjoyed what would, in 
these islands, represent £240,000 worth of sport with 
deer alone.— The Country Gentleman (London). 
448 
— « — • 
The Intelligence of the Wild Things 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
E. P, Jaques, in Forest and Stream, May 9, 1903? 
makes the following statement: 
"How much of intelligence that is necessary for bird 
or animal to maintain life is taught by the parent bird or 
animal ? None." 
Then he states further: "We have chickens that were 
taken from under the hen as soon as they were out of the 
shell. Drop a crumb before them and they pick it up; 
that is the first and they do it very naturally." 
Why did Mr. Jaques take these chickens into the house 
and act the mother to them? Why didn't he turn them 
out doors and let them go it alone, if they do not need 
a mother's care and teaching? Simply because he knew 
that they would perish if left to themselves so early in 
life. He would not be afraid to turn them out with the 
hen. 
I want to congratulate Mr. Jaques because of his 
peculiar breed of fowls that produce chicks that will 
pick up crumbs as soon as they are out of the shell. All 
the chickens in the world, except his, absorb the yolk 
Avhen born, and do not eat food for twenty-four hours. 
The poultry books, and papers claim that twenty-six 
hours after the chick is out of the shell is soon enough 
to begin feeding. Mr. Jaques' chickens remind me of the 
Kansas farmer's cucumbers. He planted the seed, then 
started for the house. Finding that the vines would 
overtake him, he broke into a run, but he was too late. 
Feeling for a knife to cut away the tangle of vines he 
found a cucumber had gone to seed in his pocket. When 
I read this story I thought it hard to beat, but Mr. 
Jaques' chickens can "take the cake," or crumb. 
While farming I handled thousands of chickens hatched 
under hens. When I remember the time and patience ex- 
pended by myself and help in teaching motherless chicks 
to eat, I envy Mr. Jaques the possession of his automatical 
superintellectual breed of fowls. 
Mr. Jaques does not seem to understand the questions 
under discussion. I will quote from his paper to prove 
this : 
"A bird flies by outside the windoAV and with a warn- 
ing note they squat and 'freeze,' as Seton Thompson puts 
it. A hat thrown across the room produces the same 
result. The mother never taught them that, as she is still 
on the nest hatching the rest of the eggs." How for- 
tunate Mr. Jaques is Avhen he desires to prove a phe- 
nomenon. His chickens, unlike other chickens, are active 
Avhen first out of the shell, ready to assist him in proving 
his argument. And then, too, 'that accommodating bird , 
that undoubtedly had heard that the chicks were out of 
the shell and flew by the window just in time to prove 
the statement that Avas to appear in Forest and Stream. 
However, the quotation is useless, for no one disputes 
that fowls inherit fear and many other attributes. The 
question is in relation to the mother's ability to teach 
her young the enemies to aA'^oid. Fear is inherited by all, 
or nearly all, young animals. The human family is no 
exception to the rule. But I do not believe that the 
speech of the lower animals is inherited. It would be 
just as unreasonable to claim that human speech is 
inherited. 
Mr. Jaques claims that when young roosters attempt 
to crow the old rooster drives them away. This state- 
ment shows Mr. Jaques' superficial method of examining 
a question. I shall have to plead guilty of falling into 
the same error. When I begun my farm life I saw the 
old roosters drive the young roosters away, and I wrote 
to a farming paper: "It would seem that old cocks try 
to prevent young cocks from learning to crow." Careful 
study of foAvls later caused me to change my mind. I 
AVas obliged to swallow my former statement, although it 
Avas a bitter pill. I, like hundreds of others, hate to be 
caught in error, especially Avhen that error appears in 
cold type over one's name. By a careful study of fowls 
through the year, I noticed that the old roosters did their 
crOAving in the morning, until young roosters were old 
enough to crow. Then they changed their habit and 
Avould crow at any hour of the day. It did not take me 
long to find out that the old roosters were giving the 
young ones lessons. I also found that it was jealousy 
that caused the old roosters to drive the youngsters aAvay, 
and not a desire to prevent them from crowing. That 
was knowledge acquired years ago. During my eighteen 
years of hermit life that knowledge. ,has been verified 
every year. On my road to the city, in the edge of the 
woods, I Avalk through a flock of chickens numbering 
several hundred. These chickens run at large with their 
mothers. The old roosters do not crow through the dav 
until the young roosters are old enough to learn. When 
the young roosters are good crowers, late in the fall, the 
old ones resume their habit of croAving in the morning, 
and the young imitate them. 
It seems to me that I should be thoughtless and witless 
if I could not comprehend such a simple problem. 
Some years ago my attention was called to a hen that 
had adopted a litter of kittens. When I first saw them 
they had got their eyes open. Every day I spent an hour 
or more Avatching the old hen and her strange family. 
The hen Avould let the cat suckle the kittens, but when 
they were through she would drive the cat away and 
hover over the famity. The cat was a tramp that fed 
Avith several others on swill brought from the city for 
hens and hogs. As far as I could see, the cat Avas willing 
to let the hen rear her kittens. The whole affair seemed 
natural and AA'as as intelligently arranged as if it had hap- 
pened to human beings. I carefully noted the actions of 
the old hen and kittens. The kittens soon learned the 
calls of the hen, and the hen certainly understood the 
calls of the kittens. The hen would Avander into the 
bushes, scratching for insects which she ate without 
offering them to her adopted family. When the kittens 
Avanted rest and sleep, they made a thin cry and the hen 
would immediately hover them. If they wanted food 
their cries sounded to me like the call to hover, but 
the hen understood and led them to the milk dish. If 
the dish Avas empty she led them to the hen yard and 
looked for bits of meat or bread. If she failed to find 
food, she went to the house door and called unti} ^o^^ 
