I 
JVLY 4, 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tinder arduous and often dangerous circumstances. 
In my opinion the country we live in has produced no 
better specimens of humanity (and the world is proud 
of them) than the pioneers and hardy frontiersmen who 
handled and yet handle the rifle and the ax. They are 
the men beyond all others who, gaining a foothold upon 
Plymouth Rock, free from old time tyrann3% defended 
the new world against all comers and have hewn the 
things out of a wilderness of savagery that the entire 
world looks upon with wonder, astonishment and respect. 
The pencil and pen of Homer Davenport, and all the 
:printing presses of William Randolph Hearst will not dis- 
parage hunting or shooting instincts in men. Men must 
eat that they may live, and not all of them can do it at 
the expense of or through the efforts of other men. Men 
^kill many things. Perhaps it is a good way of knowing 
a man to know what he kills and the manner in ,which he 
does it. It is no more the chief object of a real sportsman 
to kill than it is for any other man. When Mr. Daven- 
port or Mr. Hearst eat thej; are perhaps able to pay some 
one else to kill for them, and it may be much easier and 
more to their liking. They may, however, eat forty oys- 
ters or a hundred shrimps with several other kinds of 
m.eat for a dollar or two without knowing who killed the 
animals. They merely pay to have it done, and may not 
know a shotgun from a shrimp net. 
But men are not made in dining halls where all kinds 
of things are brought to them upon a platter, including 
newspapers. Men have been reared in the woods where 
they never saw the inside of a hotel or of a daily 
paper. In many cases it is the men who kill animals 
djrectlj' who are most active in preserving and increasing 
the animals for a useful purpose. The men who shoot 
game are at the present time the men who are most 
earnest in the efforts to protect and provide for it. Who 
ever hears of any one but sportsmen doing anything to 
protect game animals or birds or fish? A man who is 
not a sportsman in some degree knows little of the world 
he lives in, however he may wield a brush or a pen. The 
u'lan proficient with the rifle and the ax deals with things 
other than theories. Charl:^ L. Paige. 
Shasta, Cal , June 
Fences in the Adiro. dacks. 
Edilor Forest and Stream: 
Who shall decide when doctor's disagree? 
Two men of equal ability ma}^ be as wide apart in their 
cpinions cn a question as black and white, but neither 
will be convinced that he is wrong. A few weeks ago 
Mr. Spears asserted his belief that many of the Adiron- 
dack fires were incendiary, and though he did not say any- 
thing in favor of such a devilish mode of revenge for 
real or fancied wrongs, the friends of the millionaires 
have opened their batteries on him as savagely as if Iiu 
had commited wholesale murder. Admitting the exi it - 
ence of the villainous fire-bug is not assenting to his mcde 
of getting revenge. Mr. Avis seems to consider it almcst 
a crime in Mr. Spears to say "his personal feelings in th's 
matter are very strong, as are the feelings of all the other 
backswoodsmcn, in fact." I fail to see how that c",n 
astonish anyone who sees human nature as it is. 
My feelings in this matter are also very strong, al- 
though it can never affect my interests in any way. I 
simply look upon it as affecting the principle of the 
greatest amount of pleasure and happiness to the greatest 
number. Mr. Avis says, "preserve owners legitimately 
acquire land and strive to perpetuate the forests and the 
game." He has seen how their system perpetuates the 
forests ! I also want to see the forests perpetuated, but 
by a more unselfish and certain process. As long as a few 
millionaires contitme to take advatnage of their power to 
deprive hundreds of their fellow men of privileges that 
they have all their lives enjoyed, and all for no additional 
pleasure to themselves, except the pleasure of shutting 
it off from others, they must expect to encounter the dis- 
agreeable phases of human nature as it is. 
If there is no such thing as human depravity, why did 
the great Connecticut preserve owner offer a reward of 
$2,000 for the detection of the fiend who fired his pre- 
serve? I find him standing side by side with me in that 
belief. 
Will Mr. Avis also tell us, if all men are too saintly to 
gratify revenge, how it is the basest murders are com- 
mitted every day throughout the world to avenge some 
real or fancied wrong? 
Another contributor of Forest and Stream last week 
made mention of a summer visitor who was asked to help 
put out the fires and who answered that he would rather 
help set more. That man had undoubtedly been accus- 
tomed to enjoy himself in the woods in summer, but find- 
ing himself cut off from all his former pleasures he gave 
his bitter feelings vent. "The right to buy and sell land 
has been recognized for centuries." None but idiots doubt 
that, but if a man is a believer in the golden rule, can 
he believe it right because legal for a single club of 
millionaires to buy up the whole Adirondack region 
merely for the purpose of depriving their fellow men of 
any enjoyment in it? Legal or not legal, if I could have 
ny way, the State should buy up all the wild land and 
lever sell more than 5,000 acres to any one man or set of 
ncn. That is the only way I see of stopping complaints 
against the boundless monopolies. 
Mr. Avis finishes his tirade by saying,' "There are fe\v 
nen wnth one iota of reason will believe they were the 
Aork of the criminal fire-bug." That may be modest, 
hough It doesn't appear on the surface. It looks rather 
ike an intimation that those who disagree with him arc 
diots — "of w'hich I am one of 'em." 
DlDYMt'S. 
St AuGt^THjB^.Jufle 2T. 
'•iditor Forest and Stream: 
Why is it that so few people seem to see the point of 
.•iew of the opponents to the fenced preserves of wild 
and? Is^ it because the men who object to preserves 
lave not "one iota of reason?" It is on this question that 
'my personal feelings are very strong." 
To my mind the question is simply this: In the 
Vdirondacks there is a limited area of wild land. It is the 
luly wild land worthy of the name nearer than Maine or 
W ^l Virginia. If this land here is "preserved"' there i^ no 
place to which I can go and enjoy nature as God made 
it, for I can't afford the expense. I am a poor man, but 
I try to do my duty toward the State, and when my work 
is done I feel that I ought to have a place for recreation. 
As my Avork is done for the good of the people, I hope, 
I feel that I ought to have a place where I can become 
ready for more and better work. My taste is toward the 
wild woods, which I can't afford to buy. There are 
thousands like nre right in this New York State. The 
only wild lands in this State are being bought up and 
fenced in, and we, whose hearts are bent on being as good 
citizens as we know how to be, are being fenced out of 
this wild land. This land ought to belong to the State, 
and not to private individuals, a large part of whom are 
skinning the woods under- pretense of "forest preserva- 
tion and timber culture." 
As to Mr. William H. Avis's remark that "there are 
iew people with one iota of reason will believe they (.the 
forest fires) were the w^ork of the criminal fire-bug," in 
Warren, Lewis and other Adirondack comities, several 
men were arrested on the charge of setting fire to the 
■\voods. Some w^ere convicted and some freed. 
As to my personal part in fire fighting and locating the 
sources of the blaze, my services were at the command 
of the local fire warden, according to the law. and to my 
•own inclination. The information that I had was given 
to him, though it was not much. As to the firing of 
game preserves, my information came in part from one of 
the foremen of the fire fighters on a preserve who got 
near enough to see the heels of a fire setter. In "Adiron- 
dack Ruin" of which Mr. Avis speaks, I tried simply to 
state the facts and their causes, with a note to the'effect 
that I was biased in favor of the woodsmen and people 
in general who cannot bity wild lands for preserves. This 
was only fair to the readers of Forest and Stream. Every 
acre of the Adirondack forest ought to belong to the 
State, and it is an outrage on the people at large that 
m this region, plainly meant by every indication oi its 
rugged surface to be a great and beautiful park, there are 
mdes of fences with the signs of "Shooting, fishing and 
trespassing forbidden" at intervals along them. 
I agree with Mr. Avis that there "are few beings more 
despicable than the fire-bug. The fire-bug, the poisoner, 
the anarchist — the anarchist a gentleman compared with 
the two !" One of the few worse beings is the strong 
man "who takes that which not enriches him" but makes 
his victims poor indeed, the strong man who, because he 
IS strong, imposes on the weak. It is an imposition when 
a five foot eight man preserves fifty thousand acres of 
land by reason of his money strength, when plenty of 
weary six footers— tramp clerks and printers, if one 
wishes— are obliged to keep to the roads for fear of the 
law against trespassing on untilled wild lands. One hun- 
dred men, at the rate of many Adirondack land holdings, 
could shut out every one else of the five millions in this 
State, of whom a hundred thousand enioy the, as yet, 
r-circumscribed forest lands of the region. Does Mr! 
Avis, or anyone else believe that one hundred men ought 
to be allowed to do that? The State owns some land in 
tlie mountains which cannot be sold— as j^et ! The rest 
of it is being taken up and "preserved." This "preserv- 
u.ig" is a menace to the health of every visitor who comes 
to this region for health or rest— curious as that may 
Raymond S. Spears. 
N JRTHWOOD, N. Y. 
Proprietors of fishingr resorts will find it pro€table to advertiw 
them in Fokest and Stbeau. 
The Meadow Lark in Kentwcfcy* 
Lexington, Ky., June 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of Saturday, May 9, 1903. Sandy Griswold, 
wrnmg of his interview with Rev. Robert E. Le Craig, 
makes the latter state that in Kentucky the meadowlarks 
"are not protected by law at all." The law in Kentucky 
agamst kdling people, and indeed other things deserving 
protection, is ample ; the difficulty is, as Rev. Craig's con- 
fession shows, that it is not respected, even by the clergy, 
and is not enforced by those upon whom the duty de- 
volves. Section 1946, Kentucky Statutes, in express terms 
prohibits the killing of the meadowlark, and Section 1949 
provides a penalty of not less than five nor more than 
twenty-five dollars for each offense. 
^ George B. Kinkead. 
West Vffgfinia Deef Limit. 
MoRGANTowN, W. Ya.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Our State has recently passed laws to protect squirrels 
and rabbits, which have heretofore been unprotected by 
law. A law has also been passed limiting the number of 
deer which anyone may kill in one season, which has 
heretofore been unlimited. As it now is, the deer hunter 
mnst curb his passion for killing, and stop when he has 
killed ten deer. Perhaps the less said about the wisdom 
ot such law makers the better. 
Emerson Carney., 
Several days ago, says the New York Times, a stray 
horse was found on the Hudson Boulevard, Jersey City, 
and was taken to the stables of the Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Animals. John Heins, a West Ho- 
boken florist, called at the Society's office yesterday and 
claimed the animal. 
"How are you going to prove ownership?" ask<---d 
President McCarthy. 
"Don't have to," said Heins. "If it's my horse he'll 
prove the ownership by doing some tricks I taught him 
It it isn't my horse I don't want it." 
They went to the stables, and Mr. McCarthy told the 
^fableman to turn the horse loose in the vard. 
'-'Come here, Jack!" called Heins as the animal came 
out. 
With a whinny of delight the horse ran over and' 
rubbed his nose against Heins's breast. 
"Shake hands," said Heins. The horse carefully Hfted 
his right forefoot and placed it in Heins's outstretched 
palsi. Hems walked over tp Mr. McCarthy. 
•'Jack," said he, "take out this gentleman's watch " 
The horse took the President's watchchain between his - 
teeth and gently pulled the watch from the pocket 
"All right," said President McCarthy. "I guess he's, 
your horse." ^ 
H'fins \onk th<; animaj home. 
Sunrise on Lake Washington. 
A GOLDEN light kindles the long stretch of rushes and 
feathery Avillows upon the southern borders of the 
beautiful lake; one grand sweep of dark and light green 
fields and woods covers the remainder of the scene, 
while to the northwest stretches the silvery stream of 
the home of the black bass and the mottled pickerel. 
The picture is soft and rich, yet with an indescribable 
wild beauty about it, steeped as it is in the mellow 
charm of dawning day. 
Frank Fanning, one of the most interesting and ver- 
satile of all the guides up there, is at the oars, and 
rows awa}' from Sheehan's landing, off through the 
Narrows. On our right is a selvedge of light fluffy 
rice stalks and rushes, backed by flowering dog wood 
and swaying maples and an expanse of waving wheat 
and rye fields, with graceful wooded acclivities betweeii. 
On the left are the craggy bluffs, with their shaggy oaks 
and glistening boulders separating one arm of Shan- 
taska's blue waters from the other. The breaking sun- 
light lies like a topaz mantle over the exquisite scene, 
its soft rays tingeing the wild rose into deeper pink 
and making yellow intaglios of the wild clematis and 
blossoming moosehead, fitting in the crannies of the 
abrupt shores. The Narrows widen as we proceed, 
with thickets of rushes and beds of aquatic moss lin- 
ing the crystal channel, while back of us it dwindles 
into a sheeny streak, rolling and undulating like a 
water serpent in heavy herbage. Side cul-de-sacs en- 
tice our little clinker, graceful as a pike, but Fanning's 
steady strokes send her skimming through the water 
like a loon at play. 
_A thunderpump rises awkwardly from her morning 
vigil for tadpole or crawfish in the thin reeds along 
the near shore and fans heavily away down the lake 
with a plaintive squawk or two, the Hght touching her 
slender, brown shape as she bursts into the fullness of 
the day. 
Frank finally slows up as we near the moss beds, just 
east of the "red barn," and rests gracefully on his oars 
as I square myself, preparatory to casting. I first try 
of recognition from glorious old Micropterus at the 
mouth of the little bay, polka dotted with the broad, 
yellowish dishes of the spatterdock and starred with 
white and golden water lilies, which opens coyly into 
the swaying tules. Dropping my frog adroitly here, 
flinging there, I tease the lazy waters, but in vain. 
Not a strike rewards my feverish impatience. 
Fanning picks up the oars and with gentle stroke 
sends the boat up closer, where the water is more shal- 
low and the moss heavier. I skip my weedless over the 
rippling surface, specking the dark green, sleepy pools 
with- it, like a huge heron feeding, as I bend to and 
fro, stoop and rise in the ardor of my work. 
The bullfrog croaks among the floating lily pads 
along the marshy shore; a devil's darning needle flashes 
athwart the water in a prism of royal purple and gleam- 
iiig violet, the kine low, winding pastureward up the 
distant lane, and the pestiferous deer fly hums and 
buzzes about my ears as if in mockery at my earnest 
endeavors. 
Fanning sits idly in his seat, indiflferent to every- 
thing save the pearly bubbles eddying away from the 
softly rocking boat's side. 
Softer still, through the shimmering morning haze, 
the sun sheds his rays over the scene. On the left 
bank the trees and alders are thrown into the glassy 
lake by the most delicate penciling, forming a series 
of fairy paintings, entrancing to look upon, specked 
as they are with the topaz, the crimson, the garnet and 
lapis-lazuli of the glancing sunshine, paintings that you 
may search for without finding throughout any and all 
of the Parisian galleries and salons. From the gnarled 
trunks of the aged oaks to the serrated edges of the 
leaves, everything on the margin is depicted in the 
lake as if its waters were one wondrous mirror. 
Suddenly we find ourselves moored in a net work 
of floating moss, and Salmoides makes assault after 
assault upon my frogs, and for two hours no waters 
in the world could furnish better sport. In that time 
a dozen bass or more, in the blazonry of their splendid 
armor, are flopping and gleaming in a bed of willow 
sprigs in the bottom of the boat. 
There! my lure strikes a placid pool, back and beyond 
the first line of tules, where the sunlight glares like 
the orb of a basilisk. 
"Hey!" I cry in excitement. 
"Steady!" echoes the guide, aroused at last from his 
lethargy. 
Off the stricken fish darts hke a ball from a gun. 
Down he dives as he rushes out into the deep as if 
he would penetrate the lake's bottom. Then up he 
comes again as if to clear the aqueous barrier and take 
a flight through the ether. As his yellow spotted sides 
flash in the sunshine, we see what it is. 
Esox hicius ! 
The tiger of the waters — a fifteen or twenty-pound 
pickerel I 
Back into the depths he plimges like a metal pro- 
jectile. The slender rod bends and creaks threaten- 
nigly, 1 am thrilled with the excitement of the moment. 
Frank an immobile looker on He knows I require 
neither advice or assistance as yet. There is no sur- 
cease from agony in the chilly depths, and the big 
fish breaks the surface agam. Here he launches out 
desperately and spins around with almost inconceivable 
speed. I play him with the skill of the master who 
taught me. Now I give him rope with which to event- 
ually hang himself; now I reel in as fast as my fingers 
can turn the small crank; click-click-clickety-click.'^my 
Shakespeare sings, as I give him length again. I have ' 
the bamboo's butt planted in the pit of my stomach, 
while I hold on deftly with my left and work the crank 
with my right- My countenance must have betrayed my 
aimdty, but 1 preserved my equanimity, always keep- 
