560 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May 3, 1913 
fact, I have never seen more devout, rigid 
Methodists or Baptists than one finds in these 
sea-bound villages, and this applies to men as 
well as women. I doubt if there is a fiddle or 
a fiddler anywhere among them. All that goes 
to make up the social life of average American 
girls elsewhere—that is, parties, dances and 
so on—is practically unknown here. The 
maidens marry as soon as they reach the age 
where childhood and womanhood meet. Matern¬ 
ity, with all its cares, duties and drudgeries is as¬ 
sumed, and by middle life, many of them are 
old women. But few vegetables are raised; 
milk, butter or fruit they seldom taste. These 
luxuries are not adapted to their storm- and 
sand-swept coast. Yet they seem happy, con¬ 
tended, and if they do not enjoy life keenly, they 
are compensated by not feeling too deeply. 
Can the world, after all, give its children more 
than content? In all stages of social existence, 
it is the one thing that makes life more en¬ 
durable. 
Leaving New Inlet, with its hospitable 
captain and crew, we made our way station by 
station along that fifty-mile stretch of coast 
until we finally arrived at Cape Hatteras. Here 
seemed to be the jumping-ofif place of creation. 
Here we were as much cut off, apparently, 
from the rest of the world, as if we were on an 
island in the midst of the ocean. The cape 
itself runs ten miles westwardly toward Pamlico 
Sound, with the Atlantic waves on either side. 
It looked to be a mile or so broad. Gazing 
seaward from the top of the lighthouse we saw, 
some ten miles away, the dreaded Diamond 
Shoals, where lie, possibly, as many bones of 
men and ships as in any other locality of our 
extensive sea coast. The Cape, jutting out into 
the Atlantic, catches the warm airs from the 
Gulf Stream, which, mingling with the colder 
breezes from the land, produces those fogs and 
more violent atmospheric disturbances that 
render this ocean neighborhood, one of the 
graveyards of the sea. 
The sandy coast rim here is more thickly 
wooded than further to the north, but the tim¬ 
ber is dwarfy and storm wrenched, and of 
scrubby oak varieties. Much of the land is 
marshy; deer abound in the coppices, and feed 
amid the tall sea grasses, but they are very 
wild and shy. As for wild fowl, they fairly 
swarmed at Hatteras during our stay there. It 
seemed as if snipe, and other smaller birds hav¬ 
ing kept along the coast rim, were here cut off 
from further flight southward by the sea. With 
a dozen decoys we hunted and shot until we 
were tired; in fact, we might have killed 
dozens more each day had we so minded. At 
that time—and for all I know to the contrary, it 
may be now—such game laws as were in force 
were very laxly construed, anywhere outside 
the leases or game privileges enjoyed by the 
various clubs, which here and there help the 
game wardens to regulate in some degree, the 
predominating tendency on the part of hunters 
was to overdo the killing of game when wind, 
weather and opportunity make bird slaughter 
attractive. 
Our friends, the coast guards, told us that 
during the fall and winter Hatteras is a per¬ 
fect reservoir for small game. Even deer, from 
the mainland, for some reason swim the Sound 
and find refuge there. Wildfowl, storm-driven, 
C Coiitinuecf on page 577.) 
Fur-Bearing Animals Now Protected 
in Tennessee. 
Nashville, Tenn., March 29 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Our Tennessee lawmakers have 
recently enacted a law which will afford a great 
degree of protection to fur-bearing animals and 
which will go far toward putting trapping on a 
more humane plane. Of our 132 legislators, only 
four voted against the bill. 
I have reason to believe that a similar law 
can be enacted in any State in the Union if the 
same plans are employed that I followed in 
prosecuting the campaign to secure the enact¬ 
ment of this law. My success in putting this 
trappers’ bill through is due, to a certain extent, 
to an educational campaign—a campaign of in¬ 
formation and enlightenment as to the good fur¬ 
bearing animals do farmers and the enormous 
damage done to stock by steel traps set in the 
open. 
I would be pleased to furnish anyone with 
information as to how I conducted this cam¬ 
paign. Two years ago there was introduced in 
our General Assembly a bill somewhat similar 
to the bill that has just been passed, but there 
was in the former bill a provision permitting 
the exemption of counties whose representatives 
objected to the bill. Only one county accepted 
the bill; that was Davidson county, whose rep¬ 
resentatives introduced the bill. That bill was 
not, by 50 per cent., as strong as the bill that 
has recently become a law, hence one must re¬ 
alize from the little opposition we had in getting 
the present bill through that no ordinary means 
or methods were used in getting the bill through. 
I am now publishing a 32-page booklet, en¬ 
titled “Fur-bearing Animals—the Farmer’s Best 
Friend.” This booklet tells of the good that fur¬ 
bearing animals do farmers, and reviews bulle¬ 
tins of the Agricultural Department, Washing¬ 
ton, warning farmers against allowing their fur¬ 
bearing animals to be destroyed. 
I believe that the majority of the farmers 
who read this booklet will, if necessary, adopt 
drastic measures to stop the setting of steel traps 
for foxes, skunks, weasels and the like. I shall 
place copies of this booklet in the hands of all 
farmers within a radius of ten miles of Nash¬ 
ville. I will take pleasure in mailing a copy of 
the booklet to any one who desires to see it, 
and I will also furnish copies in quantities to 
persons who desire to distribute them among 
farmers in their localities. 
The following is taken from the index of 
the booklet, which gives one an idea of the sub¬ 
ject matter it contains: 
A review of some of the bulletins sent out 
by the Agricultural Department, Washington, 
which shows the enormous amount of danger 
done to crops, fruit and forest trees each year 
by pests that constitute about 90 per cent, of 
the food of fur-bearing animals. 
Contents of the stomachs of 105 foxes. 
Government report on food found in 
stomachs of thirty-two foxes. 
An Ohio farmer tells of the good done 
farmers by foxes and skunks. 
Foreign countries importing from the 
United States fur-bearing animals to restock 
their countries. 
A ground squirrel and the contents of his 
cheek pouches. 
Weasels save a large nursery. 
The farmer who loses $1,000 worth of 
alfalfa to get revenge on a fur-bearing animal 
suspected of killing a fowl. 
Foxes schooling their young. 
Story of the fox and the farmer. 
How to make fur-bearing animals move 
their young. 
Story of the parson and the fox. 
Foxes do not catch pigs. 
Foxes do not kill lambs. 
Birds—the good they do farmers in de¬ 
stroying insects. 
Trapping from a humane standpoint. 
Tennessee law regulating the killing and 
trapping of fur-bearing animals. 
Fox breeding—hides that bring $2,500. 
Foxes do not destroy game birds. 
Following my signature I give your readers 
the principal features of the trappers’ bill, which 
has been signed by our Governor. 
John F. Draughon. 
A SYNOPSIS OF the BILL 
Prohibits the setting of steel traps, dead 
falls, nets, spring poles, or the like, and the kill¬ 
ing, or attempting to kill with gun, foxes and 
other fur-bearing animals, on the lands or in 
the waters of or in the waters adjoining the 
lands of any person in Tennessee, without first 
getting from the owner of the lands a written 
permit to use such devices to catch or to kill 
fur-bearing animals between noon Oct. 15 and 
noon Jan. 15 only, which permit must be upon 
the person using such devices at the time he is 
trapping for fur-bearing or hair-bearing animals 
or killing with gun fur-bearing animals. This 
permit becomes void at the end of the open 
season, Jan. 15. 
Requires a person setting a trap about a 
hole, cave, den, hollow log, stump, or the like 
on the lands of another, to place the trap twelve 
or more inches within the entrance to such hole 
or the like. 
Requires the trapper to inspect his traps at 
least every thirty-six hours. 
Requires the trapper, when he finds stock, 
fowl or dog in his trap on the lands of another, 
to make report to the owner of the lands, giving 
in writing the date of finding such animal or 
fowl, together with a full description of such 
animal or fowl. 
Prohibits any person from setting a steel 
trap, dead fall, or similar device in the open, 
where it is liable to do damage to stock, per¬ 
sons, fowls, dogs, or the like, and makes the 
trapper liable for all damage done by his traps. 
Permits anyone finding traps, dead falls or 
similar devices set or placed contrary to the 
provisions of the act, to destroy such devices. 
Penalty: A fine of from $10 to $25 or 
thirty days in jail, or both, at the option of the 
court, for each separate offense. The setting of 
each trap, dead fall, or similar device consti¬ 
tutes a separate offense; each killing or attempt 
to kill with a gun a fur-bearing animals upon 
the lands of another, without his written per¬ 
mission, constitutes a separate offense; and each 
violation of any provision of the act, such as 
failure to visit traps every thirty-six hours, the 
setting of traps in the open, and each violation 
of any other provision of the act, constitutes a 
separate offense. 
Grand juries are given inquisitorial powers 
concerning violations of the act and are required 
to make due presentment of all persons violat¬ 
ing the provisions of the act. 
Circuit and criminal court judges are re¬ 
quired to call attention to the act when charging 
grand juries. 
