48« 
FOtlESlr ANt) StREAM. 
tbec. 6, ISM. 
Fixtures. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Dec. 15.— Huntsville, Ala.— Alabama Field Trial Club's (member 
of the American Championship Club) third annual trials. John 
F. Fletcher, Sec'y, Birmingham, Ala, 
Canine Elegies and Epitaphs, 
XXVIII-Rab. 
This tender and touching poem was written on a pet spaniel^ 
by Mr. R. T. Chilton, who was private secretary to Daniel' 
Webster : 
RAB. 
A little mound in the garden, 
Aside from the box-bordered walk. 
Tells in such language as flowers 
And only flowers can talk — * 
(iSTo need of other inscription, . 
No need of memorial slab,) 
Tells that, all still and silent, 
Underneath lies our little Rab. 
And yet in fancy I see him. 
Alert, overflowing with life. 
Now racing across the grass-plot 
With the children in playful strife; 
Then, with head drooping saucily sideways, 
On his haunches, with heaving breast. 
Awaiting the further onset, 
While the children stop to rest. 
Rab, with his coat so silky. 
Seal brown set off by white, 
. With his long, soft ears and his questioning eyes 
Aglow with an inner light; 
Shall we see him no more for ever. 
Will he come no more at our call. 
He, the delight of the household. 
The merriest, maddest of all? 
Ab, Rab! we will miss you sadly. 
As- we look at the spot where your name, ] . 
Wrought of the Ash's red berries, ■ ^! 
Glows as if written in flam?. 
And the flowers will bloom and wither. 
For many and many a day, 
On the little grave where the children 
Have tenderly laid you away. 
A Kentucky Fox Hunt, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I attended the recent meet of The National Fox- 
hunters' Association at Bowling Green, Ky. I have 
been a meriiber'of the association ever since it was or- 
ganized, but 'this is the first meet I have been able to 
get to, but if I had felt — as I now do — what a royal 
time a visitor, has there, I would have been at all of 
them. With the whole Bowling Green Kennel Club, 
led by Mr. Meredith, as our welcoming hosts, and 
such Kentuckian visitors as Messrs. Walker, Will- 
iams, the Chiiins, the Triggs, Bosworth, Kirbj% Finck, 
Mitchell, Smith, Graddy, Sturgeon, Delaney, 
Draughan, etc., an" oak log would have its heart 
warmed up. True, getting up at 3 A. M., having a 
scratch breakfast, riding four to six miles out in the 
dark, was hot what some people would call "fun," but 
then I so called it, and it seemed to me that all hands 
did. Of course, such a blind bat as I am could not 
think of saddling it at that time, when I could not see 
my ' hand before my face, so I adopted the somewhat 
out of the way plan of riding out in a buggy, leading a 
saddle horse, and mounting when it became light 
enough to see,' and I got some mild chaffing about 
foxhunting in, a buggy. But if my buggy had not been 
on hand, there might have been trouble in getting 
home one of the crack' hounds which was taken very 
sick and found by accident in the woods. Of course 
Kentucky ladies ' attended, you may trust them never 
to shut the light of their faces off from foxhunters. 
I have never seen one of the fashionable, set-to-or- 
der foxhunts of ea.stern Pennsylvania and New York, 
where the hounds seem incidents, and the horses the 
main thing, as witness the last Era, with about a dozen 
pictures of horses and riders, to one very pdor one of 
hounds. That style of foxhunting is doubtless all 
right to those who like it, but it is not the sport I 
learned to love years since when the company were 
pretty much all mountain moonshiners, who finally 
lodged in jail.' Nevertheless, we had fun, lots and lots 
of it, and the Kentucky hunting is that same type of 
sport, but followed by gentlemen and ladies. Then 
there is a suspicious air of being dressed to death in 
those Era pictures, and while that is all right in the 
ladies ("the first duty of woman being to look well"), 
still I don't like foxhunting with shiny boots; it is too 
starched for rtiy taste. However, when "hunters" can 
find any fun in fooling a pack of hounds with an 
anise bag, thei^e is no saying what "sport" is, bar that 
"fox terrier c'|?'ursing" isn't. 
Well, do yoy want a detailed report of the hunting? 
Sorry to say I have none to set forth, further than 
that the conditions were about, as unsatisfactory as 
could be. We'' were just at the waning of a long 
drought, the wind was rather high most of the time, 
and our early starts were to take advantage of the 
morning dews.. ' But for all of that, while the grass was 
damp enough .to wet our boots, still no scent seemed 
to lie; losses were constant; the hounds worked hard, 
but it was rare to have a well sustained full cry for 
fifteen minutes. So, as far as actual foxhunting went, 
the meet was by no means a success. But wasn't it 
delightful all the same! Well, just you come and try 
one once, and you will not need to ask me or anybody 
whether .a Kentucky hunt is enjoyable or not. And 
leally that is the chief object of this to impress it on 
the family of Forest and Stream, that all who enjoy 
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SCOUT HIGH-SPEED STEAM YACHT. 
Designed and built by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Owned by August Belmont. Photo by James Burton, Esq. 
such sports as foxhunting, ought, by all means, to go 
to one of the Kentucky meets. 
On Friday evening one gentleman quietly informed 
us that I was going home with him for a week. If 
you know an3'thing of Kentuckians you will know that 
my having left my wife without another person in the 
bouse but servants, that I had lots of things requiring 
my looking after at home, etc., did not count in such 
a situation; and you will further know that I went, and 
you ought to know that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, 
even if I could not make it the whole week. And that 
wasn't all. On that Friday evening we had a gentle 
but copious fall of rain, making hunting conditions ad- 
mirable, and on Saturday evening we went out, and 
for forty-five minutes or so had the finest full cry of 
the hounds; in fact, the only one I heard during the 
whole of my visit to Kentucky. What if it was only 
?. gray, the music was not the less rich or well sus- 
tained. So the sum and substance of it is: Go to 
Kentucky when you want a good time. 
Another matter at Bowling Green interested me 
very much. At the county jail I saw a pack of four 
"American bloodhounds," used very successfully for 
tracking criminals. I expected to see a very ragged 
looking lot of dogs, of all types and no type; but to 
my surprise I saw four hounds, very "sorty," of the 
old type of black and tan native foxhounds, on very 
short legs, the kind we used to say would "run all 
week and half the next." The most surprising fact was 
that two of them were half English bloodhound in 
blood, and, with, perhap.s, a slight amount more of tan 
on heads. There was no real difference between them, 
either in makeup or in voice, none had the redundant 
and useless dewlaps and wrinkle of the English blood- 
hound, apparently caused by their skins being one-half 
too big for them, that is so characteristic of the mod- 
ern English bloodhound; but all were neat, active, 
clean-made hounds; not the hounds for a fox chase, 
by any means, but just suited for staying on the trail 
of a man all day long. Of course, I was not surprised 
to find them exceedingly affectionate and solicitous 
of notice. 
We are apt to think of Kentucky as the land of 
whiskey; yet, do you know, that during the whole 
week I was there I saw but two drunken men, one a 
loafer on the streets, the other the darky huntsman 
after the hunt. And do you know that Kentucky has 
the largest percentage of local option prohibition area 
of any State in the Union? W. Wade. 
Oakmont, Pa., Nov. 27. 
"collar of honor" is awarded to the nominees of the 
order. Among the animals already decorated in this way 
one of the most celebrated is Bacchus, a large bulldog, 
whose specialty it is to stop runaway horses by jumping 
up and seizing them by the bridle. Bacchus' master re- 
sides in the Rue Biscornet. It is calculated that the in- 
telligent beast has already saved the lives of eight per- 
sons, if not more, in this way. Pataud, another bulldog, 
received a collar for saving his mistress from the attack 
of a footpad, and Turk, a splendid Newfoundland, has 
had a similar honor for saving three young children from 
drowning on different occasions. 
Haif of the Do^ that Bit Yow/' 
The following remarks are copied from the recent issue 
of a local newspaper : "This phrase, though now confined 
to a symbolic and alcoholic interpretation, has an accu- 
rately canine origin. In the Caucasus it is still common 
for any one who is bitten by a dog to lay a handful of 
hair taken from the same animal's coat upon the wound 
before cauterizing and bandaging it. In some mystic way 
the hair is supposed to prevent untoward consequences." 
The efficacy of this usage is referred to by Pliny. (Nat. 
Hist.," 1601.) Holland's translation has : "And there 
bee some againe, who burne the haires of the same mad 
doggs taile, and conveigh their ashes handsomely in some 
tent of lint into the wound." — Notes and Queries. 
e 
40-Foot Cmisingf Lattnch. 
We reproduce thi,s week the plans of a 40ft. cruising 
launch that was designed by Mr. W. Starling Burgess, 
ot Boston. The lines show a well-turned craft that 
should be driven fast with a moderate amount of 
power. 
The location of the engine is rather unusual, but by 
placing it so far forward it is possible for one man to 
run the boat and the engine at all times. The forward 
house serves as a galley, engine room and pilot house. 
This is shut off from the big cabin aft which is over. 
15ft. long. There is sleeping accommodation in the 
saloon for four persons. The toilet room is reached 
from the forward end and aft there are roomy hanging 
lockers. A good-sized water-tight cockpit makes a 
very comfortable place for those who wish to be on 
deck. 
The boat is splendidly built and presents a very 
shippy appearance in the water. Her dimensions fol- 
low: 
Length — 
Over all 40ft. 7in. 
L.W.L 35ft. 3in. 
Overhang — 
Forward oft. 6in. 
Aft •. 4ft. loin. 
Breadth- 
Extreme 9ft. I in. 
L.W.L 8ft. oin. 
Draft- 
Extreme 2ft. 6iri. 
Freeboard — 
Forward 3ft. 6in. 
Least 2ft. 2in. 
Aft 2ft. 4in. 
In France there exists an or^fer of merit founded by the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of 
which the members are dogs who have distinguished 
themselves by deeds of bravery. A tastefully designed 
Boston Letter. 
Boston, Nov. 30. — At a meeting of the Corinthian 
Y. C. held at the American House last Tuesday even- 
ing, it was unanimously voted to adopt the new 22ft. 
class, conforming to the limitations of the Twenty-two - 
Foot Cabin Yacht Association. The action of the Cor- 
inthian Y. C. is hailed with joy by the organizers of 
the new class, and especially by Mr. Sumner H. Foster, 
who has done most of the work.in forming it. With 
this backing to start with, it is considered that yachts- 
men, who looked favorably upon the class and who 
have had doubts of its success on account of insufficient 
support, will now build. Mr, Foster said last week 
that he had assurance that at least four boats woul4 
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