820 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 28, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary. S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE — 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. 
SUBSCRIPTIONS t $3 a year: $1.50 for six months; 
10 cts. a copy. Canadian, $4 a year; foreign, $4.50 a year. 
This paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States. Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscription and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano’s. 
ADVERTISEMENTS: Display and classified, 20 cts. 
per agate line ($2.80 per inch). There are 14 agate lines to 
the inch. Covers and special positions extra. Five, 
ten and twenty per cent, discount for 13, 26 and 52 inser¬ 
tions, respectively, within one year. Forms close Monday 
in advance of publication date. 
THE SEASON’S GREETINGS. 
Forest and Stream extends to you the com¬ 
pliments of the season and wishes you and yours 
a happy and prosperous New Year. 
AUTUMN AND WINTER. 
So prone are most of us to lay our physical 
ills to the changing weather that it is a pleasure 
to find poetry enough in Cleveland to trans¬ 
form the succession of seasons into a delightful 
bit of imagination. To the average city dweller 
the transformation from late summer to winter 
is a jump from summer suit to overcoat, from 
open doors to coal bills; but a reading of Miss 
Elsie Schneider's interpretation almost leads us 
to believe that the coal barons and the caribou 
barrens are equally estimable: 
“The glory of rosy Autumn is past, and 
in its train is the white sister of the North. 
Bedecked in brightest raiment, Autumn tripped 
merrily along, ruthlessly snatching the leaves 
that turned to see her pass. She trod in the 
meadow, and the grass took on a deeper hue. 
She paused beneath the wild plum, to listen tO‘ 
the mockingbird’s last call. Stopping among 
the briars, she startled the ground thrush. She 
tarried long enough to hear the closing concert 
of the meadow larks. 
“But the wdiite sister raised an icy hand 
and pursued her until she fell, shrinking from 
the cold touch. Clad in drifting white robes, 
the sister marched slowly but steadily on, over 
the meadows. She covered the short-lived 
verdure with a snowy shroud, purified by her 
touch. From the wild plum tree she heard the 
hooting of the horned owl, while from the bare 
briars a startled rabbit frisked away. The lark 
took wing and the optimistic song of the chick¬ 
adee was stilled. She crossed the stream and 
it turned to crystal at her step. As she neared 
the woods, the trees seemed to stand in closer 
companionship with each other. They huddled 
together to delay her march. Sturdily, and with 
the strength born of mutual sympathy, together 
they stood the test of her touch and growled 
defiance in her ear. She stooped low and glided 
away to the little cottage on the edge of the 
woods. The rough logs were well put together 
and the chinks and crevices filled with moss 
and bark. The dripping eaves grew icicles at 
her glance. She loosened a bit of bark and 
peered in. The oil lamp sputtered. The flames 
in the cheery grate blazed higher and sent 
sparks flying up the chimney. The hickory logs 
snapped ‘defeat’ and she slunk away over the 
hills.” 
TAKING CARE OF THE OLD CHAPS. 
Isn’t it great to know of the pleasure the 
old sportsman, now not able, because of finan¬ 
cial condition, to take Forest and Stream, gets 
out of the publication. Any man who has shot 
a gun or played a fish never tires of reading the 
news from the front. Veterans of the army, 
the navy, or from the retired rod and gun 
navy or army—as the case may be—love to 
keep in touch with those who still are doing. 
Appended is a letter from the Commandant of 
the Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts. Have you 
time to think of thousands f other institutions 
whose residents would appreciate Forest and 
Stream? We have done our best to help them. 
How about you? 
SOLDIERS’ HOME IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
Chelsea, Mass., Dec. 19, 1912. 
Forest and Stream Pub. Co.: 
Dear Sirs—I have the honor to acknowledge receipt 
of your communication of yesterday bearing the informa¬ 
tion that some kind-hearted gentleman had subscribed 
for Forest and Stream as a gift to the Home. 
I have every reason to believe it will please the old 
fellows very much, particularly those who in the past 
have been able to shoot and fish in the forests of the 
country. We have with us many men who have known 
what it is to have the best of everything in this life, 
and have enjoyed in their younger days everything which 
is talked about in Forest and Stream. 
Please convey to the gentleman who has so kindly 
remembered us our thanks for his generous gift. 
Thanking you for the part you have taken in the 
matter, I am, very truly yours, 
(Signed) Richard R. Foster, Commandant. 
A. G. P. & P. ASSOCIATION DOINGS. 
English pheasants and wild mallard ducks 
have recently been sent to all parts of the 
United States by the American Game Protec¬ 
tive and Propagation Association, according to 
an announcement just made at its offices, iii 
B roadway, New York city. The birds were 
distributed free to members of the association 
who agreed to protect them. 
These shipments are the first to be made 
in accordance with a plan for restocking the 
country with game through the establishment 
of sanctuaries on which birds can increase un¬ 
molested. The overflow from these sanctu¬ 
aries will provide shooting on contiguous lands. 
With the aid of its members the association 
hopes to start such refuges in every suitable 
community by supplying the birds to stock 
them. 
Although only pheasants and mallard ducks 
were reared last summer in sufficient numbers 
for distribution, experiments with quail, ruffed 
grouse, wild turkeys, woodducks and Canada 
geese proved very satisfactory and resulted in 
a supply of these birds from which it is hoped 
that enough can be raised next year to warrant 
sending them out. Especial attention is being 
given to the native upland birds, and if suc¬ 
cess with quail and grouse continues, they will 
in time entirely supplant the English pheasants 
at the association’s farm. 
MAKE IT A CRIME.. 
Numerous mortalities and casualties to 
human beings, resulting from shooting of men by 
hunters who mistook their fellows for game this 
season, as in other years, prompts us to reprint a 
suggestion made years ago by Forest and Stream. 
“Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any 
hunter, or other person, carrying firearms, to 
shoot at any object without knowing by actual 
sight and observation that such object is not a 
human being; and any such hunter or other per¬ 
son who, by so offending, shall kill any human 
being, shall be adjudged guilty of manslaughter 
in the second degree; and any such hunter or 
person who, by so offending, shall wound or in¬ 
jure any human being without thereby causing 
death, shall be adjudged guilty of an assault in 
the second degree. 
“Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission to post notices re¬ 
citing the provisions of this act in the same 
form and manner and in like places as notices 
for the prevention of forest fires as are now 
posted by said commissioner.” 
Such killings as are here concerned would 
appear to come legitimately under the definition 
of manslaughter even as the law now stands, 
but to incorporate in the statute some such spe¬ 
cific provisions respecting these particular acts 
would doubtless emphasize the criminal aspect 
of the deed, and the effect could not but be 
salutary. As we have often pointed out, the 
knowledge that it is a crime to shoot at an 
object without knowing that the thing aimed at 
is not a human being, and the consciousness that 
one violating the rule incurs a penalty for this 
criminal act, must exert a constantly restraining 
influence. The thing to be attained here is re¬ 
straint. The necessity is for caution and pre¬ 
caution which shall prevent the act, not for an 
added penalty after the deed has been done and 
the perpetrator has punished himself with the 
remorse which follows. If we had such a law, 
and the warning notices containing it were posted 
where they could not fail to impress themselves 
upon the hunter who goes into the woods, the 
list of hunting “accidents” would certainly be 
lessened. 
DAYS OF REST FOR DUCKS. 
The Long Island Game Protective Associa¬ 
tion has under advisement the question of using 
its efforts toward closing the duck season two 
days each week on Long Island. One of these 
days will of course be Sunday, which day at 
present is observed to only a small extent on 
Great South Bay, where most of Long Island’s 
ducking is done. The other day, probably, would 
be Wednesday. This proposition sounds a little 
harsh on gunners who go down to Long Island 
to shoot, but as a matter of fact the only ones 
hurt would be the hotels, Long Island railroad 
and the bay boatmen who hold out all sorts of 
allurement, and after the first week of the open 
season take your money without returning its 
equivalent in sport. Two closed days would 
benefit the gunner in that the ducks would have 
a chance to feed and get fat, undisturbed, so 
that on the open days they would not be so wild 
as to require a high power rifle to bring them 
within range, as is the case at present. We trust 
President Van Norden and his organization may 
do more than agitate this question, which, if it 
comes to an issue, will have our support. 
