532 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April 26, 1913 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
W. G. Beeoroft, Secretary. W. J. Gallagher, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
COKRESPONIJENCE — Forest and Stream is the 
recognized medium of entertainment, instruction and in¬ 
formation between American sportsmen. The editors 
invite communications on the subjects to which its pages 
are devoted, but, of course, are not responsible for the 
views of correspondents. Anonymous communications 
cannot be regarded. 
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tions, respectively, within one year. Forms close Monday 
in advance of publication date. 
THE SPELL OF THE SPRINGTIME. 
As the sun in its springtime orbit gathers 
strength and infuses its magic warmth every¬ 
where, the annual miracle of the revivification 
of animal and vegetable life begins. The ice¬ 
bound waters, snow-clad landscape, leaden sky 
and frosty winds are forced to give place to 
waters aglow with the light and warmth of the 
sun; to fields and slopes and woodlands dressed 
in vivid green, refreshing and pleasing to eyes 
and mind; to breezes balmy, gentle and laden 
with the fragrance of herbs and flowers; and 
arched over all a deep blue sky, patched with a 
few fleecy, lazy clouds. The transformation 
from the cold and sere and dismal season of 
dearth to the bright and cheerful season of re¬ 
newing plenty is a period during which all nature 
rejoices. Hardy flowers burst forth to welcome 
the first spring warmth of the sun, bravely risk¬ 
ing the straggling flurries of departing winter. 
The unfolding of vegetable life follows in quick 
succession. The bucls gradually open, flowers of 
rare beauty bloom and gladden the scene; the 
trees blossom, and a new fragrance pervades 
the air. 
There is brightness with beauty everywhere 
to please the eye. The ear is delighted with the 
hum of bees, and the melodies of long-absent 
song birds. All nature is warmth and color and 
melody. 
The enchanting spell of the season infuses 
a new buoyancy into man. He is most suscepti¬ 
ble to the Impress of nature in her kindest mood 
and her most beautiful adornment. Though he 
enjoys the charm of the present in itself, he 
enjoys it the more in contrast with the cold, bleak 
and dormant season whi'ch preceded it. 
It has more than this. It has its witcheries. 
The open waters, with the incessant glintings in 
the sheen of light, and with ducks resting or 
feeding in the favored nooks, arouse the in- 
tinct of the duck shooter. The impulse of the 
gunner is upon him. He thinks of the sport 
over decoys, of sport in a blind, of sport in a 
pass, of the dusky phantom speeding down the 
wind which he, with a quick shot, sent plowing 
and splashing into the water; or of the high¬ 
flying “Canada” he so deftly tumbled out of the 
sky, to the surprise of his companions. And 
thinking of all this, he is indeed a better sports¬ 
man if he will refrain from spring shooting, be¬ 
cause he thereby contributes to the general good 
and will not pawn his own shooting of the 
future for the momentary gratification of shoot¬ 
ing in the present. 
In the cold, swift streams the trout, shy, 
cunning and fastidious, is a worthy prize of the 
most delicate skill. A miniature demon of a 
beautiful fish—aggressive, swift of action, pre¬ 
datory and a fighter by nature—he casts a spell 
over man which reaches from the brooks to the 
very centers of the towns and cities. The trout 
fisher prowls about from store to store, inspect¬ 
ing new colors and forms and materials of flies. 
He holds long and grave conversations on rods 
and reels. He overhauls his fishing parapher¬ 
nalia, and although he may not go fishing, he 
engages in all that appertains to it as earnestly 
as if it was foreordained that he should go. 
The witchery of the brooks is upon him. The 
fever of the season has infected him. He meets 
a friend, who, pressed by business cares, has 
forgotten all about the season. A word or two, 
and in a moment his friend has the fever, too. 
The little trout in the faraway brook has cast 
his spell over them. The fever spreads. 
It is a healthy malady. Man’s mind is di¬ 
verted from the exactions of business. The fever 
takes him out among nature’s best of the whole¬ 
some and the beautiful, where there is quiet and 
peace and health. The impulses of the spring¬ 
time, to fly to the woods and fields and brooks, 
are those which bring him needed rest, a re¬ 
cuperated being and a longer life. 
A NEW SERIAL BY “NESSMUK.” 
Up to the time of Nessmuk’s death. May i, 
1890, of all the contributors to Forest and 
Stream— and what a host of sterling men and 
women they were—none ever won quite the place 
in the affectionate regard of readers that be¬ 
longed to “Nessmuk.” Into his writings was 
put not alone the lore of the woods—nature’s 
secrets, revealed to such a woods haunter as he 
had been—but there was more than this—the 
philosophy and sentiment and wit and wisdom 
of a shrewd, observant, keen and penetrating 
student of human nature. A wonderful knowl¬ 
edge of the woodlands and of the ways of the 
woodland creatures was his, and a remarkable 
knowledge of his fellow men as well. Someone 
else might have written “Woodcraft” and an¬ 
other pen have contributed “Forest Runes,” but 
the “Nessmuk” who could write them both may 
be found not once in a century. It is for this 
reason we lay particular stress on the narrative 
by George W. Sears, beginning in this issue, and 
continuing through several subsequent numbers. 
To bring “Nessmuk” back among us, if for only 
a few weeks, is an achievement of which we 
duly are proud. 
SANS STARBOARD—SANS PORT. 
Secretary of the Navy Daniels has made 
a place for himself in the hall bedroom of fame 
for doing to traditional nautical terms what 
Andrew Carnegie wants to do to time-honored 
spelling of English. Possibly Secretary Daniels 
wants to go down in American history as the 
father of phonautics. 
INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF 
MIGRATORY BIRDS. 
Treaties between the United States and 
more than a dozen foreign Governments will be 
necessary, if a plan for international protection 
of migratory birds, which is embodied in Senate 
Resolution 25, is to be fully carried out. This 
resolution was introduced recently by Senator 
George P. McLean, of Connecticut, and was 
favorably reported April 9, by the Senate Com¬ 
mittee on Foreign Relations. There is every 
reason to believe that it will soon be passed by 
the Senate. 
John B. Burnham, President of the Ameri¬ 
can Game Protective and Propagation Associa¬ 
tion, has just returned from Washington where 
he had favorable interviews with President Wil¬ 
son and Secretary of State Bryan in regard to 
this matter. Should the resolution be passed by 
Congress and receive the endorsement of the 
President, the principal countries with which it 
will be necessary to open negotiations are Great 
Britain, with Canada to the north and insular 
possessions to the south of us, which harbor 
many of our migrants at different seasons; France 
on account of her colonies in the West Indies 
and in Guiana; Japan, with whom we have had 
trouble in the past because of the activities of 
her feather hunters in the Hawaiian Islands; 
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Ecua¬ 
dor. There are other countries with less im¬ 
portant possessions to the south, or near our 
colonies in the Pacific. These include Holland 
and Denmark, the independent countries in the 
West Indies, and other Republics in South 
America. 
Now that we have given Eederal protection 
to our migratory birds through the Weeks-Mc- 
Lean law, the next step should logically extend 
this protection in a way that will prevent a 
few market gunners and feather hunters from 
destroying the birds that will forever benefit all 
countries which they visit, if shooting is prop¬ 
erly regulated. 
Shady.* 
BY HENRY WELLINGTON WACK. 
There is no old town like Shady, asleep within blue 
hills, 
Nor glen that wakes so blithely to the laughter of cool 
rills; 
'For it has nor work nor worry, nor market place nor care. 
And one’s soul may thrive in candor while its God and 
grace are there. 
There is just one house in Shady, and it’s white and 
very small, 
And its mistress is more gracious than beautiful or tall; 
But there’s cheer around her hearthstone and there’s love 
within her walls. 
And ’tis there that I’ll be straying when the woodland 
smiles and calls. 
You may need the city’s glamor and invite its din and 
dust, 
And love its brass and tinsel and its heart of stone and 
rust; 
You may even feel the magic of its throbbing urge and 
life. 
And with greed in modern fashion plunge into its stress 
and strife. 
Then stay you in the city, while I ramble o’er the hills. 
And you may pluck your neighbor’s purse while I pluck 
daffodils; 
And when your dust is in a jar, and I am ninety-four. 
I’ll wade the brooks of Shady, casting flies for-evermore. 
*Shady is a beautiful little hamlet in Ulster county. 
New York State, near Woodstock, and has been idealized 
in an oil painting of the impressionist school by the 
author, which we have reproduced on our front cover. 
