Dec. 6, t9l3- 
FOREST AND STREAM 
707 
A Royal Fabric for 
King Winter 
/WUITE the correct cloth for winter 
Wj outing, where style and comfort 
are desired, is 
FORESTRY CLOTh 
(SHADE 265) 
Truly a man’s fabric, yet finding equal 
favor among out-door women, because 
of its correctness, warmth and elegance. 
FORESTRY CLOTH, the Government standard for U. S. Forest 
Service, is a strictly all-wool, unfinished worsted. Firm of 
weave, a beautiful gray-green in color, and soft and pliable in 
texture, it affords perfect protection in all weathers and is the 
exclusive choice of clubs and leading sportsmen everywhere. 
For motoring, driving, golfing, etc., there is OLIYAUTO 
CLOTH, a medium-weight, olive-brown serge, admirably suited 
to out-door wear, except in extreme cold. 
Any custom tailor or store can obtain FORESTRY CLOTH 
or OLIVAUTO CLOTH for you. They are obtainable also in 
correct sporting garments from Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Rus¬ 
sell Uniform Co., New York, and other outfitters. If you have 
difficulty in finding, write for samples. 
AmericanWoolen Company 
Our Outing Blankets, in 
various Heights and col¬ 
ors, arc made to meet the 
eruirements of camp life. 
Vtm.M.Wood. President. 
Selling Agency: 
American Woolen Co. of New York, 
American Woolen Building, 18th to 
19tli Streets, on 4th Avenue, New York 
The Big Woods. 
By F. T. WEBBER. 
T the commencement of the Civil War my 
parents lived on a farm at the edge of- 
what we called the “big woods’’ in Fon- 
du-Lac County, Wisconsin. This region was the 
summer home of more birds, and of a greater 
variety, than any I have ever visited. Robins 
were in flocks and the numerous holes in the 
tall stumps and dead trees were occupied Ivy 
either a bluebird or one of the many varieties 
of woodpeckers. Our great barn was literally 
plastered with swallow nests. This barn was 
built of oak timbers cut on the place, and was 
pinned together wth wooden pins. It had a mow 
one side above for hay and on the other side 
grain was stacked, while below on one side was 
a fold for sheep and on the other a stable for 
horses and cattle. In the center below was an 
open driveway extending through the building, 
tne hay and grain was hauled in on this floor and 
unloaded on either side. Immense rats had their 
home under the floor, and their houses of sticks 
were everywhere in the woods. 
Our house was built against a hill and in the 
basement was a great brick oven where the week¬ 
ly baking was done. Near the house were wild 
plum thickets, both the red and white varieties, 
literally wagon loads of them. To the north and 
west extended an unbroken forest of oak. maple, 
hickory, elm and butternut, and some of the larg¬ 
est wild cherry trees I have ever seen. The 
cherry was a large black one and many of the 
trees were more than a foot through at the base. 
In the fall all available space on the shed roofs 
were covered with nuts to dry the husk. Most 
of my time in the summer season was spent in 
the woods with a younger sister as a companion. 
I am afraid I was not always as chivalrous to¬ 
ward her as I should have been, for the trail 
through the forest was often obstructed by thick¬ 
ets and some of the streams were too wide for 
her to cross unaided, but she never complained 
and seldom called for assistance. She regarded 
me as a great woodsman and to be with me 
would undergo any discomfort. 
Wonderful were our discoveries and won¬ 
derful our adventures. The greatest of our finds ' 
was a ruffled grouse’s nest, and our greatest 
fright was occasioned by the sudden whir of 
wings from under our feet when this bird took 
flight. 
Although these birds were numerous, they 
were hard to find, their coloring being so like 
their surroundings. I often carried a single-bar¬ 
reled shotgun, but she kicked, and as I was gen¬ 
erally uncertain as to the charge on most occa¬ 
sions when game presented itself I refrained 
from shooting. A rabbit must stand up and 
stand still or he was beneath contempt. This 
suited sister for the report of the gun was the 
most frightful thing she could conceive. One 
day in a cleft at the foot of an old oak we did 
find a grouse’s nest, and often afterward we 
would go that way and watch the bird on her 
nest. The brown thrasher and catbird nests we 
found often and the passenger pigeon nest was 
so common that we passed it without interest. 
These birds were so numerous that they 
were a cause of anxiety to the farmer at plant¬ 
ing time. Shouting would not drive them from 
a newly planted wheat field, and in flight they 
would darken the earth like a cloud. 
The whippoorwill, so like the night hawk of 
the western plains, we would discover on a log 
or tree limb in the day time, while in the evening 
at a certain hour we would listen for his call. 
The hanging birds’ nests were our delight, and 
when the young were gone we would cut the 
twig sustaining them and festoon the house. My 
job at home was keeping water in the ash barrels 
that supplied lye for soap making. But mother, 
knowing how eager we were to be in the woods, 
would oftentimes take over this task, overtaxed 
though she was; for in the fall, with the candle 
dipping, making of salt and pickled meats and 
sausage, drying and stringing of fruits, the mak¬ 
ing of jellies and preserves, there was an endless 
round of labor. 
In the open places in the woods where the 
sun glinted down, flowers grew in profusion and 
honey bees and butterflies feasted in a glory of 
light and color. In the deeper recesses we found 
the fruit of the mandrake, which we tasted, not 
because it was good, but because it was beautiful, 
and our hands and lips were stained with the 
fruit of the strawberry ad raspberry, and when 
the frost had come the acid of the sumach was 
sampled. Nothing escaped the eternal craving of 
a childish appetite. Slippery elm bark, choke 
cherries, and even pig nuts were devoured. We 
raced the red, black, grey, and flying squirrels in 
gathering our winter supply of nuts. In the win¬ 
ter time, with our “spelling downs,” rides on bob 
sleds with the box filled with straw, corn husk- 
ings, and candy pullings, life was a continual 
round of pleasure, and while the older ones were 
mating for life us young ones experienced many 
a heart throb as our hands met beneath the buf¬ 
falo robes and quilts. I did not know then as I 
do now that children are nature worshippers, that 
their hearts swell with the bursting buds and 
