San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-01-19
SLEDGING IN MANITOBA.
sport In Which Ono Should be Able to
speak Three Different Languages.

Sport In which Ono should be Able to
speak Three Different Languages.'
.noil Correspondence New York SUM-
/ WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Dec. $40 q
dweller in the greatest game preserve
in the world, the descriptions of the
doings of the Amateur Fox Hunting
Club along the flats of Long Island pro-
woke a smile. If the club lived here it
is probable that a loftier ambition would
possess It; instead Of hunting the MIN
BILE and elusive fox, his larger and more
aggressive cousin, the gray wolf, would
furnish the proper excitement. ga A party
Is organized here, wen mounted, each
member armed with revolver. A few
miles out upon the prairie awolf may
be scared up at any time, and then be-,
gins a wild scurry and chase ola dozen
or more miles, land'a discharge Of small
arms closely resembling The fire of a
struggling skirmish lineUs The chase is
glorious, leading over broad expanse
of level plain, covered ,onlywith q short
heritage of insufficient height to afford
the least cover fofthe quarry! For the
cool summer mornings, or the dry,
crisp days of autumn, there,is 'nosport
like it.ai-TgH edi ro1i ia,uua,a i
When, however, hunting the fox has
succumbed to thelicy influences of win
ter, the clubmight find excitement in
dog-sledging.1 No, otherpastime COM
bines more requisites of true sport 1 It
concentrates the poetry of motion with
the development Of Drawn and muscle,
oils the wheels of free and Uninterrupted
imprecation, and tends to elevate the
ornamental yellow dog into /an animal
OF utility hos 7"ya74 -iaylg99 go,
Suppose, for example, that you have
a bellgerent animal in your. train that
misses no opportunity of countermarch-
ing suddenly in his harness and pros
trating the unoffending steer or lead
dog next to him; the attack being made
with so much-vigor and suddenness that
the victim instantly capitulates, hnd
g turns turtle" in his traces, This.
unlooked-for assault is accompanied by
a flank movement on the part of the
"foregoer,". who, whenever there is
any thing in the shape of fighting going
on, is sure to have tooth in on his own
account, and never being very particu-
lar whether he attacks the head, of the
rear dog or the tail of his friend in
front. All this leads to fearful confu-
sion in the train. The dogs jump on
one another; they targle traces and
back bands and collar straps into knots
and interlacings that battle your cold
fingers to unravel. Very frequently
they roll themselves into one huge ball,
rolling over each other in the snow I'M
til they look like onehydra-headed dog,
with countless legs and unnumbered
tails. Under all these, provocations,
what are you to dor You climb out of
your sledge and try the whip, only to
find that its rapid application makes
them infinitely worse, by suggesting the
idea to Brandy or Capitaine that they
are being badly bitten by an unknown
belligerent. Nevertheless, you whip
and whip until, tired out to no purpose
you hire some one else to continue the
process, after which you sit down in the
snow with a misty impression that no
language can do Justice to the subjcct,
until, in a moment of frenzy you follow
the example of.the poet Of Perth, who
"stoode in ia middle of ia roode and
swoore at lairge.a AS though by magic,
the dogs cease fighting at the familiar
sound, and tug away at their collars in
peaceful tranquility, and the only true
secret Of dog-driving is learned. ',' -
! To become a thorough expert in, dog.
driving man should be..able to impre-
cate freely and with considerable va
riety in at least three different languages.
No one tongue affords explosives enough
to do the subject justice. The Indian
tongues are probably the poorest ones
employed in dog-driving, owing to theil
poverty of expressive ." adjectives
is the nearest approach
! to profanity in the Cres tongue, and
means, simply, bad dog. English at
fords larger vocabulary, and answers
/ the purpose tolerably well; but what
ever number of tongues the driver may
speak, one is absolutely essential to sue
\ cess in the art. and that is French