Nov. 19, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
815 
condition, cannot fail to be proud of a Boy Scout 
son. The organization is democratic in its most 
sweeping sense, and distinction is gained only 
by achievement, and since there are no contests 
of skill—no honors being given for a race, for 
instance—jealousy is, in a great measure, absent 
among the ranks. There is no law forbidding a 
scout to smoke, but one who does so is con¬ 
sidered as foolish, and is looked on with pity by 
his fellow scouts. Profanity is looked upon in 
the same light, and the one guilty of it must 
smile while receiving the punishment invented by 
old Captain John Smith of a cup of cold water 
poured down his sleeve. 
We are indebted to Ernest Thompson Seton 
for a standard of honors which may be won by 
the scouts, and over which this painstaking gen¬ 
tleman has spent years of hard work and care¬ 
ful thought. They were first published, I be¬ 
lieve, in his “Birch Bark Roll.” They have been 
adopted by the Boy Pioneers of America, The 
Camp-fire Club of America, the Boy Scouts both 
here and abroad, and many other organizations. 
Mr. Seton was the first to classify and arrange, 
according to the best living authorities, a com¬ 
plete system of graduated achievements which 
are becoming universally accepted as worthy 
honor marks in the outdoor world. 
This movement is, as has been said, a moral 
revival and is not a religious one. In the ranks 
of the Boy Scouts there is a warm welcome await¬ 
ing Jews, Gentiles, agnostics, Roman Catholics 
and Methodists, and any or all shades of re¬ 
ligious beliefs. 
The religious belief of the scouts is acknowl¬ 
edged to be their own private concern, and is 
not questioned by their associates or officers. 
We seek the support of all denominations; our 
platform is broad and our organization elastic 
enough to make room for all who believe in 
purity, usefulness, activity and manhood, or as 
we put it in my society, The Boy Pioneers of 
America, there is room for all those who believe 
in the four big M’s—Muscle, Mind, Morals and 
Manhood. Dan Beard, 
Chief Seoul, B. P. of A. 
Executive Com. B. S. of A. 
New York Chief Game Protector. 
Binghamton, N. Y., Nov. 9.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The appointment of Llewellyn 
Legge as chief game protector to succeed Mr. 
Burnham elicited from you a comment to the 
effect that Mr. Legge has been an efficient war¬ 
den and deputy. I think it would interest the 
readers of Forest and Stream to know a little 
more of him. 
Mr. Legge belongs to that very limited class 
of individuals who, when they agree to do a 
thing, do it. His appointment as game warden 
came about through the efforts of the Bingham¬ 
ton Rod and Gun Club. Some of the members 
of that club opposed that appointment, but I be¬ 
lieve I am within the truth when I state that if 
it were left to a vote of the club to-day every 
single man in it would vote to make Mr. Legge 
even forest, fish and game commissioner. The 
members of the club believe in him. They be¬ 
lieved in him before he was appointed game war¬ 
den. His record is the proof of his capability. 
Whatever he does, he does well and thoroughly. 
I was speaking to him only the other day re¬ 
garding the injustice of a fine imposed upon a 
local citizen who had taken legally in Monroe 
county two Mongolian pheasants and had inno¬ 
cently violated the law by bringing them to this 
county, where he proudly displayed them as 
proof of his prowess as a hunter. 
“I agree with you,” said Mr. Legge, “that the 
man did not intend to do anything wrong, but 
I have no option in the matter. I am enforcing 
the laws as they exist, and the laws were made 
DAN BEARD. 
by the representatives of the people. If I could 
have my way, a number of them would be 
changed, but my feeling about the laws furnishes 
no reason why I should not enforce them. I 
have never played any favorites since I have 
been warden, and it is too late for me to com¬ 
mence now.” He once brought to book a jus¬ 
tice of the peace, caught with a short bass—a 
justice by the way, who had himself fined others 
when Mr. Legge, as game warden, had arraigned 
them in court. 
Mr. Legge has spent a great many nights on 
the river in pursuit of men spearing or setting 
outlines, and from the day he was appointed up 
to the present time he has been “on the job” 
every second. 
It is my prediction — now that he has been 
made chief protector—that the game warden who 
does not show that he is enforcing the law will 
be obliged to go. 
If every official place in the State of New 
York could be filled with men as zealous, trust¬ 
worthy 1 and honest as is Mr. Legge, the problems 
of our State government wouid need no solu¬ 
tion, for there would be no problems. He is 
that rare thing—an honest man, not a politician, 
in an important official place. 
G. W. Beardsley. 
Shooting in Ulster County. 
Hillair, Ulster County, N. Y., Nov. 10.— 
Editor Forest and Stream: There are a few 
birds and many rabbits within a few miles of 
this village. A party of three with two dogs 
flushed eight ruffed grouse and seven woodcock 
within two miles last Wednesday, but they only 
bagged one grouse and two woodcock. In the 
old days, when I was much younger, we knew 
the cock and grouse ground well as far up as 
Latintown, and on both sides of the Marlborough 
Mountains. There was, and probably still is, 
much ground of the most perfect description i for 
grouse and flight woodcock. From letters re¬ 
ceived 1 judge that there was a fair flight in 
October in Rockland county. 
A good sportsman in Sullivan county who has 
not much spare time at his disposal writes me 
that his October bag included twenty-five wood¬ 
cock, seven ruffed grouse and a dusky (or black) 
duck; not so bad for one or two days in the 
week. 
One thing struck me very forcibly in this 
neighborhood, and that was the almost total dis¬ 
appearance of the insectivorous birds after the 
breeding season. For several weeks the woods 
and fields were deserted. In July and early in 
August all our well known feathered friends 
were sufficiently in evidence, although the sea¬ 
son of song was over-—about the third week in 
July—but it was not until late in September that 
the migrants from further north began to ap¬ 
pear. These were heralded by large flocks of 
robins. 
A good many landowners now object to shoot¬ 
ing and trespassers. Theodore Gordon. 
New York State League. 
Elmira, N. Y., Nov. 9 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The annual meeting of the New York 
State Fish, Game and Forest League will be 
held in the Assembly Hall of the new Court 
House in Syracuse, Dec. 8 and 9 next. 
The sportsmen of the State may not be thor¬ 
oughly alive to the dangerous situation which 
they are now facing. With the many new faces 
in the State forest, fish and game department 
and the complete change in the State adminis¬ 
tration which will take place the first of Janu¬ 
ary, the enemies of forest, fish and game pro¬ 
tection will find new ground on which to work 
in pushing forward their many ruinous schemes. 
Never was there a time when the sportsmen 
should be more ready than at present to fight 
for their rights. It is only through united ef-\ 
forts such as can be obtained through such or¬ 
ganizations as the State League that power 
enough can be brought to bear so that we may 
have some influence. 
Let any sportsmen’s organization in the State 
of New York that is not now a member of the 
New York State League get in line and work 
for better things. L. C. Andrews, Sec’y. 
