
upon the fine lines and mathematical calculations of the 
theoretical modeller. Give me an ordinary fishing smack, 
or working boat with a tolerable reputation for speed and 
such a crew as the jolly and gentlemanly Ellsworth’s and 
their comrades, and I will take her against any crack crew, 
manned with such a crew as I have seen on some yachts, 
working only for their monthly stipend, and will take hold 
of the sheet of a fiying jib asif it were a thousand ton 
brig they were working. Give mea crew who will jump, 
and have their hearts in it, against such a crew as I have 
named, and your fine theories vanish in the wake of your 
vessel, and the smack is home ahead, and I would win my 
wager. Isit not so? Much of the success aud pleasure of 
the cruise depends in a great measure upon your selecting 
a sailing master and crew, and I imagine that the owner of 
the peerless ‘‘Sapho” paid as much ‘attention to these points 
and more perhaps than to useless and imaginary calcula- 
tions as to the hull. Of course I do not ignore proper at- 
tention as to the model and lines of hull, but look to your 
sails, rigging, crew and sailing master. 
But I leave these points to some one better qualified than 
Iam, feeling that my view will find assent; and let us go 
over.in imagination some of our cruising recollections. 
What a glorious cruising ground for a summed trip is 
the Long Island Sound, seemed formed by nature for such 
a purpose, with its merry anchoring grounds and safe har- 
bors at just convenient distances. Who will not remember 
the beautiful harbor of New London, so longa favorite an- 
choring ground for eastern going yachts, with the dread- 
fully stiff and formal ‘“‘Pequot House,” so aristocratic, and 
as a sequence, cold, though ‘“‘us boys” use to wake up the 
echoes of the gloomy bar-room, down below stairs, with 
our songs in amanner that must have surprised the stately 
occupants of the dignified mansion. I think we were all 
rather glad to get on the more free and fuller fun of New- 
port, which place although as aristocratic still was more 
cosmopolitan. 
But the culmination of fun was reached when we ar- 
rived at Martha’s Vineyard, with its pretty girls, its lovely 
walks, and oh! that blnff. Those who have ‘‘been there” 
will sigh when they recall the place of vows and declara- 
tions made to Martha, Jane or Hetty. ‘Can I trust you? 
You yachting man are so hard to understand.” Ten to one 
the girl with her New England cuteness was getting the 
best of it and laughed after you were gone, and looked out 
for the next yacht. ‘‘Oh, Josie, there’s a gun, it must be a 
yacht. Perhaps George has come back any way. I hope 
there are some handsome fellows on board.” They arrive 
and soon Josie and George are walking together, and the 
campaign commences. Theseason of 1869 was an exciting 
one. We had with us on the cruise the English yacht 
“Camilia,” and her well known owner, Mr. Ashbury. Be- 
fore the Camilia arrived at Oak Bluffs, at the Vineyard, I 
think the day before, there was a jolly party of yachtsmen 
assembled at the Vineyard, among them Dr. Sayres, of 
New York, jolly, fat and up to anything in the shape of 
fun. I hope he will excuse me for using his mame. He 
was arrayed in ared waistcoat under his yachting jacket, 
and looked decidedjy British. The thought struck us to 
pass him off as the owner of the Camilia. So he assumed 
the English in accent and style; we addressed him as Com: 
modore Ashbury, and soon all around were paying him at- 
tention. We entered one of those saloons where every- 
thing to eat and nothing to drink was the bill of fare, but 
what you did get was so good 
the party, ‘“‘try an American dish;” handing him some pork 
and beans. ‘‘Eh, what’s that; really, ah; a queer kind of 
food; I neyer eat them, you know, at ’ome; ugh! beastly; 
possible you can eat such food ’ere? ’ardly fit for the dogs. 
Lan’lord, ’ave you chops?” &c., &c. It was laughable to 
see the attention that ‘“‘lan’lord” paid him. With a hun- 
dred eyes looking through the window, and the serious and 
lordly manner with which the Dr. played his part, it was 
all we could do to restrain ourselves; but the climax was 
reached when the landlord’s daughter went into the adjoin- 
ing room and from a wheezy, camp-meeting melodeon com- 
menced to dole out ‘‘God save the Queen.” Even the Dr, 
himself could contain himself no longer, and all exploded 
simultaneously in a peal of laughter, the landlord adding 
fuel to our merryment by saying in disgust that we ‘‘were 
a trifflin’ lot of city nobodies:” and when we paid our bill 
by saying he ‘‘knew we were foolin’ all the time.” 
The next day came the real Ashbury, and we soon initi- 
ated him into the mysteries of the camp meeting, for as the 
evening shades began to fall he was walking, tall, erect 
and stately, with a New England lass on either arm, seem- 
ingly delighted with the American style of camp meeting, 
and Oak Bluff in particular. i 
But a short sail from the camp meeting grounds, is New 
Bedford, that city of oil, piety and pretty girls. Here too 
was a great spot for the ‘‘boys,” whenashore. There was 
one feature, though; you could not buy a drink for love or 
money, and this was upon some occasions rather an objec- 
tion. I case of sickness it could be had at the drug store. 
Fortunately we had two doctors with us who gave us each 
the required prescription for brandy and water; in fact gave 
ustwo or three apiece, which we of course uscd. After 
having gone to the drug store two or three times each, the 
worthy druggist ‘‘smelt a mice,” and broke out, ‘‘you are 
the healthiest lot of sick men I ever saw; this is played out; 
you get no more from me, doctor’s writing or not.” 
Following the sailors motto while we were sailors, ‘‘a 
sweetheart in every port,” we were soon in full and plato- 
nic acquaintance here with the fair lassies, much to the 
annoyance of their more sedate conntry lovers. But all 
these pleasures like everything else mnst have an end, and 
“Commodore,” said one of 


FOREST AND STREAM. 
when the orders came for breaking up the cruise, we point 
our bows westward, healthier, wiser and better men for the 
trip, having the fall regatta to look forward to, of which 
more anon. 
The run up the Sound to New York is but a repition of 
the sail eastward, with the difference that going east we 
were full of anticipation, now we are satisficd with its re- 
alization, settled in our minds that in yachting at least the 
realization is fuller of enjoyment than the hnjicipation. 
E. M. 
Sea and River ishing. 
FISH IN SEASON IN DECEMBER. 
SOUTHERN WATERS. 



Pompano. Trout, (Black Bass.) Sheepshead, 
Snapper. Drum, (two species.) Tailorfish. 
Grouper. Kingfish .- Sea Bass, 
Rocktish. Striped Bass, Rockkfish. 
—_——_—4—___. 
—The Grayling of Michigan, must be a remarkable fish. 
We thought we were tolerably well informed of its times, 
seasons and habits, but confess ourselves puzzled to deter- 
mine our precise bearings when we read the following ex- 
tract of a letter from Mr. Fitzhugh, of Bay City, the true 
discoverer of this splendid game fish. He writes early in 
November, as follows: ‘‘My last day’s fishing was in a 
furious snow storm, with six inches of snow on the ground. 
The Grayling rose like mad, and I only stopped fishing for 
the reason that enough had been caught.” We don’t know 
which to admire most, the pluck of the fisherman or the 
determination of the fish. The Grayling is a late spawner, 
and is in season long after the catching of trout is tabooed. 
It is taken from May until November. Of its game quali- 
ties there can be no question. It is an opponent even more 
determined than the trout. For the table it is superior. 
One of these days Grayling fishing will be all the rage for 
those anglers who desire a new experience. The favorite 
streams in Michigan are the Au Sable, Hersey, Muskigon, 
Manistee, and Au Gres. 
—The Baroness Burdett Coutts has offered a prize of £10 
for the best essay ‘‘on preventing nets from rotting,” and 
another prize of the same amount for the best way of killing 
fish, such as of the basking shark, sun-fish, &. These 
subjects are now open for competition throughout Ireland. 
The Prize essays to be printed and published with the 
authors name, at the expense of the Baroness Burdett 
Coutts. 
—The Fish Association of Salt Lake, Utah, has bought 
twenty-two acres of land for their operations. There isa 
cold spring, with a discharge of about 500 gallons per min- 
ute, which furnishes water for the ponds. ~The trout are 
of the black speckled variety found in the streams upon 
both sides of the mountains, and their habits, as learned at 
their estabishment, show them to be a distinct variety. 
While our Fontinalis spawn in November, and in the wild 
brooks are generally through in a month, these do not com- 
mence spawning until the last of April. While ours re- 
quire from forty to seventy days to hatch, these hatch in 
fourteen days. The eggs also are smaller. The stock trout, 
about 250 in number were taken from Weber river about 
two years ago, and will weigh from one to three pounds. 
They are not equal to the Fontinalis in flavor. The com- 
mon price is twenty cents a pound at retail. 
—Formerly no market was so well supplied with fish as 
that of the Golden Gate; to-day the San Francisco Builletin 
complains of a decline not only in quantity but quality of 
fish. The Bulletin says that fish are now almost as 
dear on the Pacific coast as they are on the Atlan- 
tic. Only the unsavory sturgeon seems to hold its own 
defiantly and multiply in the muddy sloughs. The 
belief has been expressed that the sea lions are principally 
responsible for the depopulation of the waters, but those 
who are acquainted with the habits of these animals assert 
that such is not the case, and very plainly too, for the mon- 
sters were doubtless quite as numerous and as voracious a 
score of years, or a century ago, as at the present time. 
Another explanation which is now given is the ravages 
which the Chinese aye making upon the young fish. Hun- 
dreds of these assumed despoilers of every blessing are em- 
ployed constantly in catching the young fish, including 
every species in the bay, just developed from the ova, in 
which work they employ fine nets, scoops, and other 
effective methods. This material is esteemed a prime deli- 
cacy among the heathen, large quantities being consumed 
in the city, and the business of preserving the young fish 
and shipping them to China has become an important enter- 
prise. Thousands of young salmon, from two to four 
inches in length, may be found among the large supplies 
brought in daily to the fish shops in the Chinese quarters, 
and this is undoubtedly the true explanation of the alarm- 
ing decline in the quantities of the best fish. This process 
continued for a few years will render salmon and other 
favorite species a rarity in these waters, and some enact- 
ment seems to be called for to afford protection from this 
particular encroachment of the Chinese scourge. 
—The St. Lawrence fishing fleet have all returned to 
Gloucester, Mass., closing the mackerel business for the 
year. One hundred and seventy-five barrels were sold on 
Monday at $18.75 for No. 1. About 100,000 pounds of 
codfish were brought in, some of which brought $5.25 per 
quintal. The herring fishing is about to begin, and about 
twenty vessels have already started for the Grand Menan 
and Newfoundland fisheries. 
—Land and Water tells of a salmon weighing fifty-one 
and a half pounds, caught lately at Lennel Haugh, in the 
Tweed. 
285 
—A correspondent of the Cultivator, writing from Salt Lake, 
says :— 
in Bear lake, in the northern part of this valley, there is 
a red fleshed lake trout, which is said to be very fine. Mr. 
Rockwood hatched about 200 eggs his first season, and 
10,000 the present spring. He had secured some eggs of 
the Fontinalis from the East, and about 600 of them had 
hatched and were doing well. He has lost very few of 
his parent fish, and he has the prospect of alarge supply of 
spawn next spring. He had received from Prof. Baird 
about 6,000 shad fry from the East, which were planted in 
Jordan river in July. The attempt to raise shad in this 
stream, which flows into Salt lake, but has no communica- 
tion with the sea, is an experiment of great interest to all 
fish culturists. They will have access to salt water in the 
lake, but the brine is so strong that hitherto no fish has 
been found in its waters. The mouth of the Jordan isa 
large ‘hay of brackish water, which is said to abound in 
fish, _Will the shad find here its favorite food, and de- 
posit its spawn in the upper waters of Jordan? No one is 
well enough acquainted with the habits of the fish to tell 
the result. 
Art and Drama. 
GOSSIP OF THE WEEK. 




BY T. B. THORPE. 
Gs Wednesday evening there was an unusual excite- 
ment among our habitual playgoers. There was to be 
inaugurated the New Fifth Avenue Theatre, a building that 
had been in its course of construction most frequently herald- 
ed by the press as promising to be in all its appointments the 
unrivalled playhouse of the metropolis. That ihe occasion 
might have a real novelty, it was advertised that Oliver 
Wendell Holmes was to speak a prologue, and then was to 
follow a new play in five acts, written especially for the 
initiation, by Mr. James Alberry, of London. Certainly 
here was material for a legitimate flutter. Tickets were of 
course at a premium. The ladies who were fortunate in 
having the entrée under the protection of gallant gentle- 
men were in ecstacies. They were thus charmingly excited 
by the fact of a “‘first view;” the prospect of that keen en- 
joyment so peculiar to a fashionable “ opening,” all the 
same, whether it consists in the display of the latest fash- 
ions, or the dedication of a costly dramatic temple. We 
were not excited. Some weeks ago there was “ dedicated”’ 
the Lyceum Theatre, under favorable circumstances ; its 
location and interior would be found quite faultless, but we 
inquired, after the manner of the prophet in the wilderness, 
what demand is there for this new place of amusement— 
what novelty has the management to offer the public? and 
the experience of the first night’s exhibition answered, 
“There is no demand.” There was not even a full house; 
there was no curiosity excited regarding its primal history 
or its future fortunes, and after a fitful struggle for recog- 
nition it put out its feverish lights, and, cold and repulsive, 
stood a monument of the folly of attempting to make ar- 
chitecture, upholstery, and scenic display take the place of 
“holding the mirror up to Nature.” Men and women testi- 
fied by this proper indifference that they desired to have 
their hearts warmed and their souls inspired, and did not 
want all the stage cunning simply addressed to the eye. 
They want, if possible, to have the deep fountains of their 
nature disturbed—feel emotions which reach the affections 
and the passions; seduced, indeed, into a mimic world, where 
they can realize the strange fascination that comes from 
living for the hour in others’ woes, or enjoying others’ ecs- 
tatic delights. 
The Fifth Avenue Theatre is unquestionably a marvel of 
construction and internal adornment, It looks, indeed, as 
if it were a reception room of some wealthy Croesus, 
where alone could enter the children of fortune, and where 
the public, through the common medium of a purchased 
ticket, could have no part. The frescoes are entitled to the 
claim of works of art; the taste displayed in the choice of 
the prevailing colors being faultless. Where draperies are 
demanded, or can be used simply for adornment, you find 
the choicest crimson silks. Costly mirrors multiply the 
illumination and the audience into one interminable, fascin- 
ating maze. How ‘‘sweet” lisp the ladies; how ‘‘appropri- 
ate” to our habitual surroundings think the gentlemen; how 
superior to the severity of the theatres of the unhappy 
Greeks—those poor benighted souls of Athenia; and the 
miserable French, who for more than a decade aghile ago 
were satisfied with ‘‘Rachael” and piays that never changed 
the scene throughout five long acts; how in advance in re- 
finement and luxuries is this metropolis of the western 
world write the astute Bohemians. 
We do not deny that we have money to buy, and taste to 
bring together, material things that are splendid beyond 
comparison. But how stands the wealth of themind? The 
great Elizabeth, of England, was compelled for want of 
something better, to have the floors of her palaces covered 
with rushes, and the theatres of her day were barns com- 
pared with the “Fifth Avenue;” yet she had Shakspeare 
for a playwriter, and actors the record of whose powers re- 
main bright after a lapse of nearly three centuries, Why 
did not Mr. Daly, with his superior advantages, order along 
with his frescoes and gilding a prologue, for instance, 
which was as good intellectually as his tapestries are splen- 
did in color and material? and then conclude his ambitious 
work by-procuring a play that was equal in all particulars 
to the general perfection of his comely house? 
That it is possible to get a prologue written that is pass- 
able by comparison with the most commonplace of Gold- 
smith’s time, we doubt. Garrick, Sam. Johnson, and their 
contemporaries, could rattle off felicitously a yard or twe of 
