Terms, Four Dollars u Year. 
Tea Cents a Copy. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1878. 
I Volume lO.-N«. 15. 
tNu. Ill Pulion *«., N. Y. 
THE WAY I WON HER. 
Selected. 
W E walked among the flowers and fernB, 
Talking of things botaulc, 
When first my passion found release 
In words and Blgna volcanic. 
She was from Boston, so was I— 
It was the same old story, 
Of talent, beauty, love and youth 
In a conservatory. 
• Alice,” I cried, “ thy soul Is pure 
As yon white Phyllooaotus ! 
And thy sweet lips aro like the core 
Of the red Leptomaohtus ! 
1 Dearer to me are thy bine eyes 
Than burrs concurbltaceous! 
And that rare plant Ltnnams said 
Bad ovules clnchoraceous I 
' No herb exotic, to my mind, 
Hath odor so delicious 
As thy sweet breath, like Finks In June, 
Or leaves holoserlceous I 
11 1 cherish gorniB of love for thee ; 
In thy heart I would plant them! 
More rare than sepals pentalold, 
Or bright Ixlonanthum I 
‘ Answer me, love, my living rose, 
Dispel these vague doubts hideous 
Let me but call you for all time, 
My own Mouochlamydeons ?” 
Blushing she reached a covert spot, 
Where parents ne'er would think us ; 
And gave me with a charming smUe, 
A purple Leptorhynchus I 
I knew Its meaning well, and plucked 
An Eucalyptus Willis, 
Which she placed in her corsage, with 
A yellow Machrophyllue. 
Among sweet Illepharadlre, 
And fragrant Lophostralis, 
I won that learned Boston girl, 
The blonde testhetlo Alice. 
— Cupid Junes in X. 1'. Sun. 
For Forest and Stream and Rod and Chin. 
fflwo § ear §toric.'i.==So< 1- 
BY PENOBSCOT. 
T HE true history of the bears has yet to be written. I be- 
lieve that naturalists advance two theories to account 
for their existence through the the winter without food. One 
is that they go into their dens extremely fat, and that this fat 
is slowly absorbed during the winter, thus sustaining life, and 
that the bear comes out in the spring in a lean and famished 
condition. The other theory is that the temperature of the 
animal’s body, ins ead of being fixed like ordinary mammals, 
varies with th&t of the surrounding atmosphere, being always 
at a point a little above it, consequently when cold weather 
comes on it is cooled down to such a degree that there is no 
wasting of the tissues, and the animal remains dormant. 
During my first winter in the woods I officiated as cook to 
a small crew employed by my father, and as the cooking did 
not occupy half my time I used to join the gang in the woods 
between meals. Coming to camp one afternoon to cook sup- 
per I was aroused by the well-known voice of “ Old Tigress,” 
a large, black slut, famed as a “moose dog” throughout that 
whole region. I knew by her bark that the game was at bay, 
and as she never deigned to notice anything small, I was all 
excitement in a moment. Hurrying into camp I seized my 
gun, and hastily providing myself with some buck shot, I ran 
down to where the dog was barking, scarcely twenty rods 
from camp. On reaching the spot I was greatly disappointed 
to see her standing alone and barking at a hole under the 
roots of an enormous hackmatac stub. Going up to her I was 
about to reprimand her for fooling me, when I caught sight 
of a lot of freshly picked boughs sticking out of the hole. I 
had listened to too many hunters’ stories not to know at a 
glance what that meant. Only one animal in Maine has suf- 
ficient intelligence to stop up the mouth of its den with 
boughs after going in. Hurriedly drawing out the fine shot 
with which my gun was loaded, and putting in a charge of 
buckshot, 1 stepped up to the roots of the tree, and, boy#ike, 
thrust the muzzle of my gun into the mouth of the den and 
pulled the trigger. The charge merely grazed the bear’s 
thigh, cutting a shallow groove in the fat with which it was 
overlaid. It was a very cold day in the latter part of Decem- 
ber, but I never saw an animal auy less dormant than that 
bear! With one movement of his powerful bind legs ho 
forced himself through the aperture at tho mouth of his den, 
throwing the earth outward in every direction, and in much 
less time than I have taken to tell it he stood before me, one 
of the largest bears ever seen in that couutry. It was the first 
I had ever seen, and his enormous size, so much larger than I 
had ever dreamed of, appalled me; but he was within teu 
feet of me, and I dared not turn my back on him. Coming 
so suddenly into tho strong light seemed at first to blind him, 
and he stood for a moment motionless, winking incessantly. 
The dog, partly between me and the bear, but a little to one 
side, stood like a statue with hair erect and glowing eyes fixed 
on those of the bear, which commenced to turn its head slow- 
ly from side to side to discover the foes who had so rudely 
disturbed bis repose. As his vision cleared he caught sight of 
me, and laying back his ears and opening a capacious mouth 
well garnished with yellow teeth, with a snort like the puff of 
a locomotive, the seemingly uuwieldly animal bounded at 
me with the lightness of a cat. With a leap that I can 
truly say was for life, I placed nearly the same distauce 
between us, as that which first separated us, and, dropping 
my gun, sprung to the foot of a scrubby spruce close at hand, 
and began to ascend it with all possible despatch. Fortunate- 
ly for myself I was not pursued. Scarcely had the beast’s 
feet lauded in the tracks which I had so kindly vacated for 
them, when the dog, executing a skillful flank movement, fell 
suddenly on his rear, with a fury which completely turned his 
attention from myself and gave me ample time to ascend the 
tree, from the summit of which I watched the combat below. 
This, however, was all one way, as it consisted of a senes of 
charges by the infuriated brute upon tho dog, which did not 
attempt to bite the bear after the first rush, but contented her- 
self with simply dodging its attacks. After expending his 
fury in a score of vam attempts to get the dog into his power, 
he desisted, and, walking toward the deu, actually endeavored 
to re-enter it. Being again attacked by the dog, he turned and 
once more drove her back, and then sullenly retreated into 
the forest, closely followed by bis tormentor. As they disap- 
peared I descended from my perch, and, picking up niy gun, 
proceeded to reload. By the time this was accomplished my 
drooping courage had wonderfully revived, and I started on 
the trail, determined to risk another shot, the hunter's instinct 
being, even then, strong within me. I soon overtook him, as 
he turned continually to drive back the dog, which of course 
rendered his progress slow. When I started I had made up 
my mind to advance within twenty feet of the monster so as 
to deliver a fatal shot, for sure. But the thought obtruded 
itself, as I came in sight of the huge beast, that my gun might 
miss fire. I confess that I had not the nerve to go so near. 
Turning to drive back the dog, he came within thirty paces of 
me. As he turned broadside to me to continue his retreat, 
I delivered the charge full at his right shoulder, 
and a tremendous charge it was, nearly knock- 
ing me off my feet. The heavy coat of hair and (he thick 
layer of fat arrested the shot before they could penetrate to a 
mortal depth; but they wounded him quite severely and 
roused him to a pitch of fury impossible to describe. The roar 
of mingled rage and pain which he gave as the shot struck 
him I shall never forget to my dying day. When it slruck 
on my ear I instantly sprang for the nearest tree. The brute 
bounded toward me with a speed no one would have believed 
him capable of, and although the dog fastened to him before 
he had made half the distance to the tree, he paid not the 
slightest attention to her, but swept her along as though she 
had been a feather, and gained the foot of the tree before I 
was well out of his reach. But although the dog could not 
prevent his reaching the tree, she did hinder him from making 
any attempt to seize me. The bear, indeed, seemed to think 
he had a sure lliing on me, and, turning fpriously on the dog, 
he drove her before him for several rods and again rushed to- 
ward me, but the noble brute fastened to the bear as often as 
he attempted to return to the tree, and invariably ran away 
from it when he charged on her. Being defealed in every ef- 
fort to return to the tree, the contest ended os before, the bear 
slowly retreating lollowed by the dog. By this time I had 
come to the conclusion that bear bunting, as a sport, was not 
a success, and vowed if ever I reached camp with a whole 
skin to become one of the most exemplary cooks ever known 
on the river. 
On again reaching terra flrmn, I could not, however, resist 
the inclination to follow the trail for a few rtxis just to ob 
serve the effect of my shot. He was bleeding slowly, and fol- 
lowing the trail for a short distance I came upon a sausage- 
shaped substance nearly two inches in diameter and about six 
in length, evidently just ejected by the bear, and followed by 
a stream of fluid as black as ink, which extended for nearly a 
hundred feet ; there must have been several quarts of it. 
My curiosity was greatly excited. This, then, was the 
“plug," as the hunters called it, which I had 
often heard them declare the animal provided itself with be- 
fore going into winter quarters. I had ulways supposed it to 
be a fable ; but here was proof positive of its truth. I ex- 
amined it carefully, aud tried to break it in pieces, but it was 
as tough as copper, and almost as hard, being evidently com- 
posed principally of pitch. Since that time I have had oppor- 
tunities to examine a number by dissection, while in position. 
It is placed at the extremity of the rectum. It not only fills 
the passage, but adheres to it perfectly on all sides, rendering 
it perfectly air-tight. I have always found tho lutcstlnes 
empty, with the exception of the black fluid of which I have 
spoken, which appears to bo extremely astringent in its nature. 
Whether it is secreted naturally, or obtained by tbc animal 
from some peculiar plant, I, of course, Lave no means of 
knowing. It is evidently slowly absorbed during hibernation, 
as it always occurs in less quantities as winter advances. In 
company with a companion, I once killed one in its don, tho 
18th of March. It was, I think, the fattest one I ever saw ; 
a perfect mass of fat inside aud out. As the auluuil would 
have left of its own volition in a couple of weeks, it will 
readily he seen that it had not existed by absorption of fat. 
There is not the slightest doubt but the animal comes out of 
his den in precisely tho same condition in this respect in which 
he entered it. It is probably equally true that tho bear could 
not exist without this mass of tat which envelops lum, as it 
serves in some mysterious way to perfectly protect tho tissues 
and muscles from auy waste. Having served its purpose, it 
rapidly disappears wheu tho lieast leaves Ins den, aud in two 
or three weeks after that oveut he is os lean as a rat, and cor- 
respondingly voracious. 
Perhaps I ought to say in regard to tho bear with which I 
began this article, that he was followed the next day by two 
of the crew a distance of six miles, and killed in a new den 
which he had dug for himself. The dog had followed him 
about half that distance. lie proved to bo one of tho largest 
ever killed in that part of tho country. 
[to db continued, j 
THE HUNTERS OF TOPEKA. 
Toi'bka, Kansas, April *17, 1878. 
Mb. Editok 
The sporting men- of tho city of Topeka will not only com- 
t iare favorably with those of any other section of our c un’ry, 
tut in many respects they excel. It must be understood that 
I am a New Yorker speaking ol Kansas men, and I And them 
a clas3 who may be designated os gentlemen in every sense of 
the word. They follow tho game with a truo relish for all 
that is Doblc iu tho sport. Among the more prominent I will 
mention Judge Morton, who is a (lead shot and a jo vial, whole- 
souled fellow, and who is well posted ns to the best hunting 
grounds. 
“Squire" Auter is another of thesamo6ort who is thoroughly 
at home on the prairie in the game season. The “Squire” 
shoots over a pair of fine pointers of his own training. They 
are liver and white, very fast, staunch, and for prairie chickens 
can hardly be beaten. “Bob" Iluwloy also may bo men- 
tioned as one of the line sportsmen of this locality who ap- 
preciateBa good gun, good dogs and a good field. He has a lino 
and very promising young pointer over which he shot quail 
last fall, which was the dog’s first experience. He will be 
used for chicken shooting this season, and promises well. 
“ Bob ” lias also a young Irish setter by Thorstinc out of Loo 
II, which is being traiued now and will ho put to work this 
season. Ward Burlingame and Judge Brock way are not a 
whit behind the others, either in their love of the sport or in 
the good taste which marks the true sportsmau. They both 
have flue English setters which are much udmired, not only 
for their beauty but for the work they can do. 
The Hawley brothers, “ Jim," Emmet and “ Kirk," arc all 
good shots, and it i9 difficult to tell which of them best en- 
joys the shooting season. “Jim" liawley has an English 
setter, lemon and white, if beautiful worker, never makes a 
mistake and is always busy. “ Kirk " Hawley has a red Irish 
setter of the finest blood, which can be traced back through 
some of the fluest of his race. 
There is another sportsman here whoso name I must not 
forget to mention, and that is W. F. White, who, I believe, 
takes os much pleasure in giving information to Eastern sports- 
men as to the best shooting ground, as he does in enjoying the 
sport himself. lie knows a good gun, and he has two splendid 
dogs, the red Irish bitch lluby by Ilufus, aud au English set- 
ter, young but well broke, out of Stewart’s Bell. 
Sportsmen from tbe East will find any of these gentlemen 
most willing to give all needeu information as to the game of 
this locality and west of here. I will add that the chicken 
season commences August the 1st, aud all are looking forward 
to rare sport, as the prairie fires have not been severe this 
spring, and the season beiug early the birdB will bo in 
fine condition for the early August shooting. This kind of 
sport is pursued here iu wuat is to me a very civilized man- 
ner. A parly of say five gentlemen go out in a three-seated 
spring wagon, which will hold all, including dogs and driver. 
When the ground is reached a pair of dogs are let loose — they 
have been taught to hunt ahead of the team— and when they 
point tho hunters get out and shoot the birds, put them in the 
wagon, get in and go on. When the dogs get tired they aro 
pul in the wagon, a fresh pair let loose, and you go on as lie- 
fore. Considering the exceedingly hot weather in which the 
shooting season opens, a man can certainly appreciate this 
mode of doing it. Teams can be hired at any of the stations 
along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, on the 
land grant of which company the best shooting is to be fourfd 
for from $2 to $3 per day, and when you divide the expense 
up between five men this certainly is the cheapest hunting I 
know aDythiog about. The railway company I have men- 
tioned have a way of treating the hunter which to me has 
been very agreeable. They make no charge for carrying 
dogs, and do not under any circumstances permit the baggage 
