St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-06-20
lFrom the Atlantic Monthly.l
A-Hunting of the Deer.
BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.

who have cleared the Adirondack region
of catamounts and savage trout, what
shall be said of the army which has so
nobly relieved them of terror of deer
The deer slayers have somewhat cele-
brated their exploits in print, but l
think that justice has never been done
them.
The American deer in the wilderness,
left to himself, leads comparatively
harmless but rather stupid life, with
only such excitement as his own timld
fancy raises. 1t was very seldom that
one of his tribe was eaten by the North
American tiger. For wild animal he
is very domestic simple in his tastes,
regular in his habits, affectiOnate in his
family. Unfortunately for his repose
his haunch is as tender as his heart.
OF all wild creatures he is one of the
most graceful in action, and he poses
with the skill of an experienced model.
l have seen the goats on Mt. Pentelicus
scatter at the approach of stranger,
climb to the sharp points OF projecting
rocks, and attitudinize in the most self
conscious manner, striking at once those
picturesque pictures against the sky
with which Oriental pictures have made
US and them familiar. But the whole
proceeding was theatrical. Greece is
the home of art, and it is rare to find
anything there natural and unstudied.
| presume that these goats have 10 non
sense about them when they are alone
with the goat herds, any more than the
goat herds have, except when they
come to pose in the studio; but the
long ages of culture, the presence al
ways to the eye of the best models and
the fOIms of immortal beauty, the
heroic friezes of the Temple of Theseus,
the marble professions of sacrificial an
imals, have had a steady mOlding, edu-
eating influence equal to society OF
decorative art upon the people and the
animals who have dwelt in this artistic
atmosphere. The Attic goat has be-
come an artificially artistic being,
though of course he is not now what he
was, as a poser, in the days of Polycle-
tus. There is opportunity for very
instructive essay by Mr.. E. A. Freeman
on the decadence of the Attic goat un-
der the influence of the Ottoman Turk.
The American deer in the free atmOs-
phere of our country, and as yet un-
touched by our decorative art, is with
out self-cOnsciOusness, and all his
attitudes are free and unstudied. The
favOrite position of the deer-his fore
feet in the shallow margin of the lake
among the lily pads, his antlers thrown
back and his nose in the air at the
moment he hears the stealthy breaking
of twig in the forests still spirited
and graceful, and wholly unaffected by
the pictures of him which the artists
have put upon canvass.
| (Outlining the various ways in which
deer are hunted, the story continues y
The pleasurable excitement of a deer
hunt has never, L believe, been regard
ed from the deer's point of view. l
happened to be in a position, by reason
of lucky Adirondack experience, to
present it i'll that light.
Early in the morning of the 23d of
| August, 1877, doe was feeding on Basin
mountain. The night had been warm
and showery, and the morning opened
in an undecided way. The wind was
| southerly it is what the deer call a
dog wind, having come to know quite
well the meaning of ''a southerly wind
and IL cloudy sky" The sole companion
of the doe was her only child, charm
ing little fawn, whose brown coat was
Just beginning to be notified with the
beautiful spots which make this young
creature us lovely as the gazelle. The
buck, its father, had been that night on
long tramp across the mountain to
Clear Pond, and had not yet returned ,
he went Ostensibly to feed on the sue
culent lily-pads there. "He feedeth
among the lilies until the day break
and the shadows flee away, and he
should be here by this hour but he
cometh not" she said, leaping upon the
mountains, skipping upon the hills.
mother to go with her fawD for nights
pleasure. 1t was fashionable water
ing place at this season among the deer I;
and the doe may have remembered,
not without uneasiness, the moonlight
meetings of frivolous society there.
But the buck did not come he was
very likely sleeping under one of the
ledges on Tight Nippin. Was he alone ,
81 charge you, by the roes and by the
kinds of the field, that ye stir not nor
awake my love, till he please"
The doe was feeding, daintily crop
ping the tender leaves of the young
shoots and turning from time to time to
regard her offspring. The fawn had
taken his morning meal and now lay
curled up on bed of moss, watching
contentedly, with his large, soft brown
eyes, every movement of his mother.
The great eyes followed her with an
alert entreaty, and if the mother step
ped pace or two further away in feed
ing the fawn made half movement as
as if to rise and follow her. You see
she was his sole dependence i'll all the
world. But he was quickly reassured
when she turned her gaze on him and
if, in alarm, he uttered a plaintive cry,
she bounded to him at once, and, with
every demonstration of affection, licked
his mOttled skin till it shOne again.
1t was a pretty creature-maternal
love on the one part, and happy trust
on the other. The doe was a beauty,
and would have been SO considered
anywhere /; as graceful and winning a
creature as the sun that day sbOne on
Slender limbs, not too heavy fanks,
found body, and aristOcratic head, with
small ears and luminous, intelligent,
affectiOnate eyes. How alert, supple,
free she was What untaught grace in
every movement What a charming
PoSo, "hoh sue lllJcu ner neau anu
turned it to regard her child! You
would have companion picture if you
had seen as | saw, that morning, a baby
kicking about among the dry pine
needles on a ledge above the Ausable.
in the valley below, while its young
mother sat near, with an easel before
her, touching in the color of a reluctant
landscape, giving quick look at the
sky and the outline of the Twin Noun
tains, and, bestOwing every third glance
upon the laughing boy. Art in its in