226 
belated woodsman, and none would receive pay for any 
trouble and expense which his succor required ; but these 
same lumbermen would decl ne to be used as a conveni- 
ence by a party of improvident campers not actually in 
distress. 
Into the minuter articles of mountain and wood law it 
is superfluous to go. One does something for the ne- 
glected or ill-defined trail over which he passes, not out of 
surplus benevolence, but because the unwritten law pre- 
scribes the lopp.ng of the bush, the freshening of the 
blaze, or the rebuilding of the cairn. One takes a stray 
hound only to the next clearing, because such is forest 
law. Under this code most of the meannesses and crimes 
that are incident to civilization vanish. It is as if the 
vast solitariness of the forest and the mountain repro- 
duced itself in a kind of largeness of soul in the woods- 
man and mountaineer. He feels more vividly than the 
man in the multitude the solemnity of any act that con- 
cerns another individual. In town you cannot safely 
leave an overcoat on the rack with the door ajar; in the 
North Woods you may leave in an open shack the best 
gun that the forges of England. Belgium, or America can 
produce, and passers-l)y, who perfectly know its value, 
v.'ill hardly give it a second look. Human nature resents 
anarchy as nature abhors a vacuum. And wood life and 
mountain life would be very anarchy without stricter laws 
and finer morals than suffice for the abodes of men. The 
loss of a camp ax would put the owner to the greatest 
inconvenience, the depletion of a store of provisions might 
bring a party to the verge of starvation, the theft of a 
gun might mean a crueller but no less certain death than 
a bullet through its owner's heart. 
It is salutary that, from time to time, men should thus 
be brought face to face with the whole consequences of 
their deeds; and it is creditable to human nature that it 
responds so trustily to the test. It is refreshing, too, to 
find a realm of law in which stern penalt.es are unneces- 
sary, and it is strange that the advocates of philosophical 
anarchy have neglected the striking analogy which lies 
to their hand in the law of forest and mountain— New 
York Evening Post. 
The Story of Pup. 
New Orleans, 'La— Editor Forest and Stream: Eyeiy 
species of the animal kingdom is inflicted with a sprink- 
ling of fools. The cause is heredity, injury from acci- 
dent or disease, abuse, ill training, etc. Some years 
ago an old man with a large family of boys accounted 
for the erratic conduct of one of them, because when 
little he had been kicked in the head by a calf. 
It seems to me these insJnct people are very unfortu- 
nate in the selection of their pets. For the benefit of 
the clergyman whose article appeared in Forest and 
Stream six or nine months ago, I will give the history 
of one of my dogs. His name was Pup— wife never 
could find one nice enough for him. He was a black 
and tan about the size of a half-grown cat or a little 
larger. He was a marvel of intelligence and affection, 
A cross word nearly broke his heart. 
He soon took a great delight in playing with a small 
rubber ball— often alone if he could get no companion. 
He never forgot where he left the ball. Sometimes he 
would lose it under a piece of furniture, and on my re- 
turn in the evening to dinner I always said "Pup, where s 
the ball?" and he would run to the particular piece o£ 
furniture; and a cane always brought it out. One Sun- 
day evening the ball rolled under the sideboard just as 
dinner was announced, and I allowed it to remain there 
Thursday evening when I came home I warited the ball 
and had forgotten all about the sideboard. Pup was m 
the back yard with daughter. After looking about I 
asked wife, who said she had not seen it for several days; 
that it must be lost. I then called Pup and said, "Pup, 
where is the ball?" He immediately v/ent to the side- 
board, and the cane brought it out. I remembered then 
the incident of the Sunday evening before, which I had 
totally forgotten. I could scarcely believe it and ques- 
tioned wife and daughter. 
Neither had seen the ball since Sunday. Circumstances- 
had been such that they had had no time for playing ball 
and had not even thought of it. 
Pup's instinct averaged up Avell with my own. After 
he got so he could go up and down the five or six steps 
of the front gallery he would take the ball there. Some- 
times when he was about tired the ball would roll off 
and Pup would let it remain. All the gallery front was 
a dense thicket of rose and other flowers three feet 
deep. Pup always found the ball. ^ 
The gong at our gate and two of our neighbors gates 
had identical tones; at least none of us could detect 
the slightest difference, and our folks made many need- 
less trips to the front of the house. Pup soon discov- 
ered it and never made an error. 
Pup was timid about stairs and always had to be car- 
ried. When he Avas about six months old I was sitting 
on the gallery steps, Pup playing in the front yard. 
Finally he came and wanted to go up. I said, "Pup, 
you are a big baby," and took him and boosted him up, 
then down again. I then said, "Pup, you can go up; 
come on," and he made the tirst one and stalled. With 
a little boosting he made it and also the down trip. Next 
day he did it with a rush much to wife's surprise. I 
then told her of his lesson the evening before. 
When the madam went to the gate Pup always went 
to the top of the steps and was very uneasy. He seemed 
to think the bell was a special and important charge of 
his and was always especially interested in the postman. 
The first time he came, after he cou'd make the stairs, 
madam took the mail and started for the house. Pup 
seemed to think an important privilege and duty had 
been usurped from him and acted wildly. Madam finally 
gave him the mail with some misgiving. In a flash he 
made the fifty or seventy-five feet up the steps into the 
house, out of sight. In some alarm madam hurned in 
and found him standing at her chair the most delighted 
dog ever was. Next day when the postman came. Pup 
was at the gate before madam reached the gallery. Pup 
was leaping and doing all sorts of coaxing, and the post- 
man was tantalizing him. Madam told him to give Pup 
the mail, but it took several requests before he did so. 
Pup rushed in and by madam to her chair, although she 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tried to stop him. He seemed to think that was the only 
proper place to deliver it. 
About this time a mink got into the chicken house 
and killed an old hen and all bu' four of a brood of 15 
or 18 newly hatched Plymouth Rock ch'cks. Although 
I made diligent search that night. I could find none; 
next morning I found four. Although but three or four 
days old, the little rascals had secreted themselves in the 
grass and would not peep. This I should think was a 
case of instinct and a fine one. When I took them into 
the house there was a delighted and fussy hen. She 
squatted on the dining-room floor and proceeded to feed 
the poor darlings; the pup walking around and around, 
very dignified. Finally, one wandered away but a yard 
and Pup gravely walked up to it and wi.h a punch of 
his nose bumped it into the bunch. Madam sa'd, "You. 
Pup, if you hurt it I'll give it to you good." She tucked 
them away in a basket, but they soon got restless, and 
I let them out. Pup was' there looking as grave as any 
old hen. He soon lay down. In a few minutes one 
jumped on him, and finally all. In a few minutes they 
cuddled between his legs and were asleep. He thought 
he had a new duty to perform, and thereafter took 
charge of them during the day time. If seemingly sound 
asleep and one should wander to another room or on ihe 
gallery, he would gravely get up and bump it back to 
the bunch, when he would lie down again. He always 
seemed pleased when the lot were perched on his back, 
and would promenade them about the house. 
A day or two after Pup took charge of the mail I 
gave him a lesson on the morning paper, and all that 
was necessary was to say, "Pup, go get the paper." 
The carrier was very expert at throwing and seldom 
missed the gallery. The paper was rolled into a solid 
roll and was hard as wood. Occasionally it fell short 
and fell into a dense mass of all sorts of flowers and 
shrubs at the foot of the gallery, where I could not see 
it. Pup had it in a flash. 
This took a lesson the first time only. Pup expected 
to find it on the gallery, and when it was not there re- 
turned to tell me. I said, "Come on. Pup." Looking 
over the railing I could barely see it. Taking Pup up 
I showed it to him. He was so delighted he wriggled 
out of my arms and had it in an instant. One time 
about a month later he came back looking very de- 
jected. He evidently thought the situation might baffle 
me; it was so impossible for him. In a magnolia frascati, 
seven or eight feet high, the paper had lodged. 
I said, "That's all right." Of course he believed every 
thing I told him, and he was joyous on the instant, and 
went with me. I reached it eas.ly, and Pup was wild. 
I started back and commenced to unfold the paper. If 
I had not rolled it up again and given it to him I be- 
lieve it would have broken his heart. He was off like 
a flash and was waiting beside my chair when I got in. 
He would always hold things to deliver them personally. 
Pup never brought the paper in except when told. Why 
I do not know, except it was his love of approval. 
I must now record the only thing Pup did in his life 
that could deserve a, suspicion of reproof, and this was 
reprehensible. Pup usually took his meals from a plate 
on the back gallery — that is, what he did not take at the 
table. The chicks were now about three months old. 
For some time Pup had concluded that they no longer 
needed such close or constant attention. One day 
madam placed Pup's plate on the gallery and seated her- 
self in the dining-room where she could see him through 
the open hall door and the outside door. In a minute 
or two a chick comes monkeying around and finally 
picks in Pup's plate — a deadly offense it seemed in his 
judgment. I suppose he thought he had trained them 
better. At any rate, to madam's horror, there was a 
lightning-like snap, and a chick lay there that never 
kicked; and Pup was serenely continuing his meal when 
madam reached him. Madam contends he could under- 
stand every word she said, no matter whether she was 
talking to him or not. All her reproaches and lecturing 
did no good. The other three chicks followed in the same 
way in the course of the next month or six weeks. How- 
ever, it is simply an example of the imperial power of 
atavism which prevails in every species of animal. 
Pup had gotten quite a reputation by this time: many 
mail carriers and others coming to see him. I presume 
it was partly due to his diminutive size, beauty and af- 
fectionate, sprightly disposition. 
Pup slept at the foot of our bed in a large upholstered 
chair in which madam made him a bed. When the mos- 
quitoes were too bad Pup would put his paws on the 
bed where I was lying and give the most plaintive little, 
almost inaudible whistle I ever heard. In fact, I never 
heard anything approaching it before or since. Madam 
always protested. She had fixed him up good with his 
bar and he ought to keep quiet. 
Pup always got in all right. When I raised the 
bar he would leap in and curl up at the foot between 
wife's feet and mine, where he was no inconvenience. 
He would never lie on one's feet. In extremely cold 
weather Pup always slept with me. He would always 
wait until I was perfectly and comfortably tucked in, 
when he would spring up, get to the head and com- 
mence to root at the covers at my back, until he 
got between the sheets, when he would crawl in 
out of sight. If he made a mistake and got 
between other covering he would get out and work 
until he found the proper place. Sometimes I would 
baffle him by holding the clothes tightly. He would 
know it in an instant, when that little whistle wi.h its 
pleading, would come, and if I pretended to be asleep he 
would crawl around and put his face close to mine and 
keep up his pleading. That would settle it. Pretending 
to wake up with "Why, helloo. Pup," and a pat, he was 
happy, and went back to rooting, I generally helping 
him. 
Pup knew rny usual time to come to dinner. I can't 
say if he could' really tell the time by a clock or not; at 
any rate, he judged the time as well and closely as if he 
could. Wife said he was always on the watch ten min- 
utes before my time. One evening wife was standing 
at a side window in the front parlor watching to see me 
alight from the car at the corner less than half a block 
below. . 
Pup was standing by her. It was winter and the house 
t§EPT. io, ig6'2. 
- — _ 
was closed. Hearing a car coming, she took Pup in 
her arms. I happened to be on the car. The instant Pup 
caught sight of me she said she thought he had gone 
crazy. She never saw him act so. The next evening 
when she went in to watch for my coming she found the 
pup perched on top of the back of a large upholstered 
chair wh ch stood against the window — and he always did 
so afterward. 
When Pup was eighteen months or possibly two years 
old, I came down stairs one Sunday morning in sum- 
mer and Pup greeted me at the fcot. The house was all 
open. Just across the hall, oppos-te the stairway, was 
an open side door, and I sent Pup the side way for the 
paper, although front and back parlor and front room 
were open. Why I sent him this way I don't know- I 
waited for nearly five minutes and was full of all kinds 
of wonder when Pup came slowly into sight, the most 
heart-broken looking creature I ever saw. He stopped 
about ten feet from me and looked up into my face 
with the most pitiful expression. 
I said to him, "Why, Pup, what is the matter with 
you? You act funny th.s morning; why don't you bring 
me the paper?" He never budged all this time or lost 
that pitiful look until I said, "Pup, go get me the paper," 
My son was sitting in the back parlor reading a maga- 
zine and heard CA'ery word, but was so engrossed he 
did not realize it. 
I walked in and was standing near him when Pup came 
in the front door wi.h a large magnolia leaf some eight 
inches long and stopped about ten feet from me. He 
looked delighted, but seemed a little doubtful. As- 
tonished, I sa'd, "Well, Pup, you are not only funny 
this morning, but I am afraid you are crazy." Son then 
came back to the world, and seeing the pup standing 
there, commenced to laugh -and said, "The paper has 
not come." Taking the leaf from Pup we both shouted. 
In an instant a voice from the kitchen demands, "Who's 
been scolding Pup?" I replied. "No one." "You can't 
tell me. He has crawled under the range and I can't 
coax h m out." It was the only time madam ever failed. 
I took the leaf to the kitchen and showed it to her 
and related the circumstance, when she had a good 
laugh, too. I got down on my knees and coaxed and 
patted him, and in a minute he came out all right, I 
took him in my arms to the back parlor and held him 
on my lap for a few minutes and petted him. The paper 
carrier, we afterward learned, was sick, and the substi- 
tute had left all papers on our block at corresponding 
numbers on the street back of us. 
The second Sunday following the paper missed again, 
and when Pup brought with the keenest delight a large 
double leaf from a child's picture book that had blown 
over from our neighbor's yard, I took it with as much 
delight as he, and Pup was not laughed at. e'ther. 
When Pup was two years old a canine epidemic broke 
out that w^s very fatal. I never heard of a dog recover- 
ing. Our next-door neighbor lost a black and tan a 
little smaller than Pup, that they always kept blanketed 
in winter, and also a large collie, although they had the 
care of a veterinary and the best at.ention. Pup was very 
patient, with never a moan or a whine. Now. I think 
of it, he never did whine. Our neighbor's big collie 
kept the neighborhood awake for two weeks. 
We did everything in our power — expense not con- 
sidered — for Pup. He slept w th me at night, wife taking 
another room. During the day he was in a bed at her 
side. He could not eat nor did he seem to care for water. 
The morning of the day we lost our Pup, about ten 
o'clock, madam had occasion to go upstairs for some- 
thing about her sewing. In a minute, as she turned to 
return, there was Pup standing, look ng up with his 
sweet, pitiful, imploiii>j» eyes. He had made no sound, 
not even his little whistle. She was so amazed she al- 
most dropped to the floor. She never famted in her life, 
but she felt perfectly uncanny. She immediately took 
him in her arms and carried him to his bed in the din- 
ing-room at the side of her sewing-chair, I and wife 
feel perfectly sure he was aware his end was near — might 
come any instant, and he did not want to commence the 
journey when alone, and followed her upstairs. Where 
he ever got the strength to get up that long, winding 
stairway of twenty steps is beyond my comprehension. 
He lay quietly sleeping most of the time, occasionally 
working his head from under the light gauze with which 
wife kept him covered to protect him from the mos- 
quitoes. About two o'clock he seemed a little restless, 
and wife took him as he lay with his bed and placed it 
on the lounge within a foot of her. He seemed con- 
tent, and after wife had petted and talked to him a min- 
ute he closed his eyes as if he w'shed to sleep. Wife 
replaced the gauze. In about fifteen minutes he had 
laid so quiet and motionless wife removed the gauze. 
Poor Pup had entered into his eternal sleep as peace- 
fully and quietly as a flutter of a sleeping infant's breath,- 
The express on on his face was perfectly beautiful. 
Wife always lamented, "Oh, if I only had not covered 
him up." It was better so. 
•Do you think any one on earth could make wife or 
me believe our Pup was not a reasoning dog with good 
sense and plenty of it? He was six weeks old when our 
friend gave him to us, and two and a half years when we 
lost h-m, and he was a blessing and constant source 01 
pleasure to us all. I have never been able to find, 
another, as they seem to have gone out of fashion fof 
many years, the p-ugs, fox and other terriers being the 
fad. If some lover of reasoning dogs would only send 
me one from six to twelve weeks old — a male — he would 
do a fine piece of missionary work. Wife is now North 
and, well, I don't know — anyhow, Iowa is a long way 
off — if this should receive the editor's approval. 
J. H. Sampsell, M. D. 
127 Carondeiet Street, New Orleans. 
About Sept. 1 a fire, originating among the local sheep 
camps, began to burn among the pine forests near the 
borders of the Yellowstone Park Forest Reserve. Peoplf 
fought it for a week, and it was thought to have be'- 
stamped out. A high wind, however prevailing Sept. 
rekindled it, and it threatened not only all the forests ; 
the neighborhood, but all the winter stock range a? well. , 
The whole country turned out to fight it, with what re- 
sult is not yet known. 
