Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-04-14

ry or anything that Will collect a crowd. and
enable its inhabitants to enjoy just a little of
the dust, dirt, stink and wrctchdness of II
city.
We have taught our people that city
heavily in debt. and half of its inhabitants
living from hand to mouth, is better place
to live III than Il country town where there
are no public debts and all its inhabitants
prosperous
| In the constant desire to become civilized,
metropolitan. everything that savorcd of the
backwoods has been carefully DESTROYED
Every rod of brick sidewalk in a village is
hailed with delight as "A mark of approaching
greatness. and in the meantime all our covers
for game a.e ruthlessly destroyed. and our
waters rendered uninhabitablc for fish. But
we could have our towns and dams and our
game also if we had valued present blessings
while ready to receive more.
There are barren hill tops deep ravinos,
and even road sides. that ought to have been
| left to grow wood, now cleared. seemingly
for no reason thln that tree growing nat
urally is flaming insult to an average cit-
zen.
The good farmer will laborousv plant a
straight row of naples near his dwelling
perhaps along that artistic fence sometimes
called picket. and which is source of pride
to every well bred man. and as he pats down
the last sod around its roots he will contem-
plate with the greatest satisfaction the work
of his hands but as his eyes wander away,
he may spy that most graceful of all our
evcrgreens. fir, rising its head above rag
gcd stone wall. The moment it really at
racts his full attention the hired man is sent
To cut it down, or at least to trim it. forget
tul that a more hideous sight than Il scrub
evergreen with its lower branches chopped
off. cannot be seen. \ tree or bush grow
ing in a natural state is never appreciated:
man must have hand in it somewhere
Our ladies keep pace with the men in their
tastes. They will cultivate any amount of
foreign weeds, and not know the name of
single wild flower or shrub by the roadside
That sprawling pest of Florida the cactus,
is the delight of many a New England wo-
man, while her English cousin across the
water is happy in the possession of the Amer
lean velvet plant, which call pasture
weed the mullen. Many of our ladies can
talk glibly about Bcgonias, Bonvartlias
Oleandcrs and Jasmine, which perfume their
rooms occasionally, but cannot saw word
about the shrubs and flowers that perfume
the air from every cope and brooksd de
only expected to speak of some of the
causes of fish and game determinations The
subject could well fill whole evening. and
proftably. too: but | believe | have started
| other can be presented by others more com
petent to do so than |.
Whether we can restore some Of the old
time abundance, consider settled question:
and the habit of our people of eagerly seek
ing the artificial will aid us. for we have so
little now, that restoring it will seem to them
! like new work and there will be little diff
Guilty in growing game among its friends
quite different from preserving it when it
was despised and hadn't single friend and de-
fender.
Anything that is new or that has an IL
ported air about it, is eagerly received by our
people. Men in my town subscribed money.
years ago, to aid in placing pickcrel in the
trout ponds west of Waterville. not because
the trout was not good enough. but the pick
erel was stranger. The black bass inter
ests everybody. and will be easily propagatcd
for it has hosts of friends. 1t is the same all
over New England. Men in Massachusetts
spent money freely in buying nests for that
rascally little fraud. the English sparrow. and
were perfectly oblvious to the fact that their
worthless house cats. destroyed ever wear
thousands of better native birds. If We could
only get some new variety Of long tailed deer
or short legged moose to turn into our for
ests we could have plenty of venison in a
short time. We must encourage the impor-
tation of Messina quail and everything else
that is new and foreign. Anything that costs
us money will not be ruthlesslv DESTROYED
and the mania among sportsmen to bring in
horse loads of game and fish will naturally
subsde.
There is no doubt whatever that we can
have an abundant supply of fish and modcr-
ate amount of game, if We make
the effort. And then comes the
question, will it pay? And on that
question rests the whole matter. If We can
show that it will be profitable, then 1t can
easily be done, and firmly believe that it
will increase the material wealth of our State
as much as anything that is likely to be done
for the next ten years, not to mention the
benefit arising from furnishing to our people
healthy recreation; and really this alone is
sufficient to induce a vigorous effort in its
behalf
That Il man cannot engage for an unlimited
time in any occupation without some rest or
change, and not lose vigor. has been too long
demonstrated to need more than ts be restat-
ed here. The human animal needs recrea-
tion, and first and best are field sports. Not
only because they take men out into the open
air and gives IA complete change from
almost any kind of employment, but they ac-
cord with the natural instincts. Many of our
tastes are acquired, and of rather forced
growth at that. The boy takes 20 a gun and
fish line with exactly that same instinct that
duckling takes to the pools and brooks, 1t
doesn't matter if the mother is an old hen the
duck will take to the water, and the father
may be hen-pecked man, yet his boy will
have warnings for the wood and brook. which
only long years of repression will eradicate,
if it ever does. Why not assist and direct the
boy in his natural instincts. rather than have
him acquire taste for poking bit of ivory
around square of green cloth. and inhaling
indoor air contaminated with the odor of
cheap cigars and mixed drinks?
In learning how to shoot. the boy may be
acquiring a knowledge that will be useful to
him in after life. Lieut. King now of Water
Vile, went ont as a recruit in Massachu-
setts regiment He arrived on the field while
the company to which he was assigned was un-
der fire at Gettysburg. A wounded soldier,
going to the rear, gave him his musket and
cartridge box. After betting on the box.
King took up the rifle, looked it over, and
then asked the soldier how he 'loaded the
thing?" After brief instruction, he went into
action and learned how to shoot under fire.
Would he not have been a better soldier and
served his country better that dav, had he
handled a gun when boy?
| believe every boy ought to know
how to row and manage a boat. While in
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