Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, i NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 
Six Months, $1.50. I ’ ’ -J* 
1911. 
. VOL. LXXVII—No. 26. 
1 No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
Close Season. 
TWO WINTER PICTURES. 
The Brook. 
From photographs by Miss Carita Lemmon. 
Old Buck 
T OLDAN TOPLIFFE grew early to man’s 
estate, for when he was eighteen years 
old he made a journey to New York as 
deputy for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
On both his way out and back he stayed a few 
days at the plantation of Captain Wyncote, a 
tobacco planter, who had moved from the South 
to the Connecticut Valley on account of his 
wife’s health—or lack of health. The Wyncotes 
were people of education, refinement and some 
means, and had an unusually well built and fur¬ 
nished home. It was a blockhouse, with over¬ 
hanging second story, with porches and out¬ 
buildings, all contained within an area surround¬ 
ed by a high, thick and stout log fence or pali¬ 
sade, defended on the inside from a platform 
By CHARLES WINTHROP SAWYER 
and towers. Every part of this Southern plant¬ 
er’s home was scrupulously neat, and it had an 
air of comfort, security and even luxury most 
unusual in the wilderness. 
About the border of the valley in which it lay 
was a rim of hazy blue bills. Through the val¬ 
ley’s midst a river gently flowed through wide 
fields of soft green grass and orderly stretches 
of waving tobacco plants. Grouping with the 
buildings were several fine, spreading shade trees 
adding by their mighty size and pleasing forms 
and shadows to the feeling of peace and home. 
Cattle grazed in nearby pastures, and wander¬ 
ing flocks of poultry clucked and quacked 
and gobbled with an appearance of perfect 
security. 
Toldan’s first view of the place was as he 
rode out of the woods in the quiet of a late 
afternoon, when shadows are long and the shel¬ 
ter of a home is most appealing. Although not 
surprised, because from hearsay lie had formed 
a complimentary picture, he was nevertheless a 
bit impressed, and he felt thankful according y 
for his own good appearance in the matter of 
clothing, horse and arms. 
Until the laying of the evening meal, Captain 
and Mistress Wyncote kept him so well enter¬ 
tained in talk that he forgot that rumor had in¬ 
cluded a Mistress Betty in the family. Sitting 
in the long, rather dim, low-ceilinged room he 
modestly tried to hold his own with his elders 
in the serious talk upon politics, the war and 
