Arkansas intelligencer., 1857-05-01
For the Arkansas Intelligencer.
Dallas Co, Ark, April Is, '57.

Tor your paper. 1his long and continued de-
lay, however, is not the result of premedta
ted and wilful neglect, or :maice afore-
thought" You know that l have been
schooled in better institution than such as
teach spirit of prevarication. Nothing
strange or interesting has turned up since sv
last communication. The old earth whirls
in its orbit from west to east as usual. The
sun rises and sets; the moon sheds its golden
beams; the stars deck the diadem of night;
men talk and speculate; buy and sell; get
rich and display their gsudy trappings; WOO,
win and marry; take their bridal tours-re.
turn; borrow money at high per cent. to pay
up old arrearages, and commence their vain
FITTINGS after the same old sort. The order
of things is not reversed in anywise, and here
in You have the reason of the long Difference
of my letters. l have no doubt after you
shall have finished the perusal of this hasty
scroll, you will wisely conclude that it had
better been deferred longer.
The diversions Of the huntsman. ! have
noticed in several of your last issues, that
your editorial quill notes, announces and lauds
the sports of the field, and the chase of the
woods in the highest style of commentator.
DIR. T. associated with Messrs. w. d Co.,
displayed marked tact and ehivalry in taking
on the wing few 'crapper crowns" from
the waters Of Flat Rock and Frog Bayou
Again. "Our field sportsmen have been xii
ling snipe birds, and has bagged from forty
to fifty in half day" From these short but
signiicau. notices, have concluded that a
brief recital of an adventure in the hunting
department would not prove wholly uninter-
estinr Now, you know that | am no hunts
man. And up to this time the scenes and in
cideuts that find the hearts Of some as much
the smoke, flame and roar of the cannon,
more influence on my mind than the dim
glitter of the glow worm or the sharp crack
of Johns pop gun. But | confess yield,
give in. have been twice conquered with
in the last three months, and forced to the
testimony that there is an unutterable inter-
est-bliss- with the adventures of
the woods, whether in controversy with the
chattering squirrel Of the bough, the cooling
dove of the grove, the fleet footed deer of the
naked hill or the spreading valley. the cum
ming reynard of the deep tangled brier patch,
or the gruf bruin of Ouachita's impenetrable
cane brakes
Still hunt. My first hunt was, according
to the parlance of the hunter, 'stll hunt"
We provided wagon, mules. camp equipage,
guns, ammunition, &c. We are "of." There
are only three of us. One an old (not in age)
veteran of the chase, Of whom it is said, when
he is about the deer in the dav time betake
themselves to their most secret hiding places,
and at night Craze with their eyes shut, in or
der to shun the glare of his fire pan. leads the
march and commands the encampment. The
other two (myself and friend b. are treadng
strange territory. We may know a deer if
we it, and we may not; we may shoot
at it or we may not. We pitched our tent
far west of the settlement in the midst of
wild towering hills, whose silence is tearfulIy
still. Not voice is heard from the many
varied inhabitants of the wood. The leaf
above the head and the bush under foot, nei
ther rustles nor break, moistened and weighed
down by gentle falling rain. H., while his
servant puts in order our temporary dwelling,
directs b. to circle several hills, and myself
to thread the line of winding stream down
the valley to its junction with another stream,
and then return TO camp. H., the leader,
plunges far out into the dark wild forest, and
just as if he knew from instinct the way to
go, traces unerringly the foot prints Of the
unsuspecting animal, till he espies the tmor-
ous azure eyed fawn quietly sleeping in its
leafy bed of the secluded cove, then the wing
ed messenger Of death sure Of its mark, pier
ces its vitals, it bounds, it struggles, it dies
We returned with the spoil. He is in nowise
excited. 1t Is single victory of thousand
more triumphant. Is. somewhat doubtful Of
the result of too far tour from the smoke OF
the camp, ascends the steep activity of
high hill overlooking al the country below,
takes his seat quietly on an old pine log, with
one eye on the camp fire and the other on
the valley beyond, or both looking alternately
upon the one and the other. The evening
shades draw on, he rises and turns hi. way
toward camp. He progresses but a short
distance, strange animal leaps from behind
a rocky precpice, startled, shuddering, he
turns his gun in that direction pulls trigger,
by accident the ball takes effect, and a tre-
mendous buck shakes the ground. What
victory Caesar knew no greater bliss in
gathering spoils from the Galic and German
mountains He bears in the cantnred nrey-