Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-01-25
ALEX ANDRA GAZETTE AND VIRGINIA NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. o. 1859

carried up with his head, fills behind hls
tail: he cannot cut the spikes out by morn
inr. and cannot turn in his cage. "Old
Tom" informs me that be never misses, and
in no instance has ever failed in which he
has tried it in our neighborhood. | hope |
have been sufficiently explicit in my dcscrip-
ton.
VIII some of my Spirit friends describe
to me trap from which pigeons are shot
have never seen one and have not sufficient
inventive genius 10 manufacture one. IL We
had trap, we could form very respecta.
bic Club. rs we have some good shots and
plenty of pigeons.
Having tired You out with old Tom Ash
lev and his foxes, would say, in passing,
that as To CONS and pOSSHns, our woods are
full Of them and they furnish fine sport TO
the bows and servants. When boy, twas
NV glory, and many has been the night that
have hunted till 1.-THE chickens were crow
ins for dav:' but that time has passed, merer
,,,ore to return. and | now am Il grown up
man, with boy of my own sufficiently old
TO take my place \ few years ago | was
fooled into coon-hunt-the last | ever ex-
pect Ia take We had magnificent run,
great as in my boyhood DAYS. When the
dogs had freed. and We were tearing through
the woods at quarter-horsc speed, friend
who was in advance land who is now, poor
fellow, in his grave and who has long since
been forgiven by me- deliberately caught
hold of limb, and waiting until | came
within proper distance, let fly and took me
right between the eyes, laying me out as cold
as II wcdgc-and. to mend the matter, he
sworc that if he had not held the limb it
would have killed me completely.
So far a fishing is concerned, we have
neither salmon. bass. lake trout, nor whaieS-
but the Shenandoah and its tributaries fur
ni>h us with delightful sport. We have the
white sucker, or mullet the yellow sucker,
the yellow perch, the fall fish, and the Shen-
andoah trout. or hog-fSh, To say nothing of
considerable sprnkling Of eats and Skiipots.
We fish altogether for the river fish with
mus>cl bait. which we procure in any guam
titles in the Opcquon. or even in the edges
Of the river when the water is sufficiently
clear | have never fi>hcd for trout, or. in
fact for any OF your game fish; but in my
opinion there Is no fish which requires more
perseverance, and skill t. take successfully
than our river fish, especially the white and
yellow sucker: their bite is by no means rave
nous but, on the contrary Il bare nibble or
touch is the Indication of their presence
We 20 out in a small skitf, seldom more than
four in company. and anchor in six or eight
feet water. then open quantity Of mussels,
throwing the shells high enough up stream
for them to sink about the boat: in a little
while YOU hear the fish sucking or smacking
their lips all around: then put on your bait
and top out a party of four or Eve can, if
skilfu!, take in Il days fishing a couple Of
hundred. We frequently catch. in the
spring, when they are running up the small
streams which make into the river large
quantities. BY gigging and netting. but there
i, little sport in that, and it is only resorted
to for the sake of the meat.
In our immediate ncighborhoOd was situa-
ted, fifteen years ago, the harem Of more than
one hgh-mettled racer There stood, in his
day, Old Industry the sire Of Atalanta and
other fast ones; Emancipation and Sarpo-
don Imported one of whom is the sire of
the dam Of one of the cold blaze-faced rips
distinguished sons. There stood DrOne
Maxcppa, and Pamumky-but the place
which knew them will know them no more
Oh earth. and, Ike the grave Of De kalb,
there is nothing now to mark the spot where
they lie but THE tall green grass and waving
corn" odd Hector" has himself not only
/ retired from StWddom. but from the rural
scenes of life, and is delightfully."- spending
the evening of his days ut the famed "Tay-
/ lor Hotel" of Winchester. where he every
I ChriStmas-to use his own expressive Ian
/ guage-drinks egg-nog enough 10 slopa car
and the only thing now upon the old place
which makes any pretcnSiOnS to blood is
bob tail ram OF the celebrated mouht0in
I blecd. and bull which claims as its sire the
! animal distinguished in prose rs the indiyd-
ual which experienced such difficulty in keep
img himself comfortable in ny time.
( We have some very promising colts coming
on. bv Vermont Black Hawk. owned By
Mr. Dulany. Of Loudoun. and by Morse
Grey Il very superior trotting stallion. owned
by Mr. Nathaniel Burwcll. of this County
The only thing that know of with dash of
fashionable blood is a Revenue tlly of Mr.
Beverly Randolp h's-whch by the way, |
think he holds at 81, 800, and intends sending |
next month to be trained by the Doswells.-
/ She is fine slaShing mare and will doubt |
less make her mark She. together with
Morse Grey each took premiums at our Agri
cultural Fair in Winchester last tall-a no
, tice of which had intended sending you,
/ but neglected it. but will try and think Of it
next October. capt. Hugh Nelson, the ener
getic President of our Society. has also a
very handsome little Arabian horse. which
he calls Araby, and which am told is rs
affcctonutc Us child, and as docic as
lamb.
Some of Your correspondents scout the
idea of our horse or the English racc-horse
being improved by an Arabian cross. OF
/ that know nothing, and shall not venture
. an uuinun--but this | d0 know. that the
TIVE or three Arabians which we have in our
1 county, sired by the horse which was sent as
IA present by the lmaum Of Muscat Il think
t. Van Buren, have not their equals for har
dincsS and endurance this side of the desert
Of Arabia. One Of them III particular, owned
bv our physician, Dr. fauntlcroy, who has
probably the largest country practice in |Ir-
gina. is always seal fat and as lively as L kit
ten, with legs ~ clean and smooth as ivory.
She is now fourteen or fifteen years old and
would easily pass for four-year-old.
And So Albert Pike is really not dead, at
ter ALL wonder when he saw the many
handsome and complimentary notices which
were taken of his death if he did not think
he had missed glorious opportunity Of
shutting off this mortal coil; but go when