Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-03-11

An INSTRUMENTATION by an Amend
ment to the Constitution, De-. de.
MAYwooD, Fayette Co., W. Va,
Feb. 2, 1882.
To the Editor Of the JoUESAL AND CoURUE:
haywood is not q town, it is not even q
village-it is simply the name of my prop
erty and of the postoffiee which distributes
the mail to this section of country for many
miles around. In the old days, when the
James river and Kanawha turnpike was first
built, and the whole of the Seweu ranges
was one unbroken wilderness. there was a
small opening about two hundred yards from
where my house now stands, and this was
known as 'The Camp" Here it was that
night-bound travellers built their fires and
hobbled their horses. The same rich chaly-
beate water which they drank still runs plac-
idly out of its rock basin-cold as ice in
summer-and the nnuch-used glass that lies
by it is covered with thick deposit Of din
gy red. The Camp" was the halfway
place" between Lewisburg and the Hawks
Nest. Those we're the days when the game
was undisturbed and the deer gazed in fear
less wonder at the traveller.
The spring at this camp ground is the head
water of Laurel Greek, little stream run
ming into the Meadow river. This brook has
always been considered a good fishing
ground but last summers drought played
havoc among the finny inhabitants The
stream dried up to such an extent that
what water still came from the more deep-fed
springs percolated unseen through the sand
and gravel of the bed. The trout were all
driven into the small pools which were left
in the more clayey parts of the rsyine, and
thus thickiy huddled together, they became
the easy prey of the wild hogs and var
mints,' or else they died from the gradual
evaporation of the pools. In this way the
trout in all the streams in this part of the
country died by wholesale; but the strange
part of it all is that at this season there is no
apparent diminution in their number and
sport is said to be as good as ever.
Speaking of fish reminds me OF nv carp
pond and the difficulty had in stocking it.
The pond was originally built for an ice
pond, but being fed entirely by springs the
water was too warm to freeze into ice. thick
enough to store away. It was then suggested
that the pond could at least be utilized for
fish. For months 1 importuned the State
Fish Commissioner at Hinton to send me
some carp. got nothing but promises until
about year ago when 1 was attending the
United States circuit court. at Charleston
There l met and became acquainted with
Fish Commissioner Lowry and obtained the
definite promise of five fish A day was also
appointed on which I was to meet him at Al
derson on the railroad and receive the carp
The carp were duly delivered in a milk can
by Lowry In person on the day named. Now
Anderson is twenty-seyen miles from May
wood, and any person who fondly thinks it
must be simple thing to carry five fish in
milk can on jolt wagon over twenty-seTen
miles of rough road had better make the ex-
pertinent.
It would take five columns of graphic de-
scription to tell how the driver and had to
jump around for day and half to keep the
water in the can fresh and properly ''ariated'
(sie) according to the Recommendation of the
commissioner how the water spfashed out
and the fish With it /; how the can sprane q
leak and the driver had to be sent skurrying
across fields to farm house to beg bucket
full of water; hos, at night, the can had to
be tied in bag and sunk In Meadow river
and how at length We got tie fish safely to
the top of the mountain and dumped them
into their new mud-bottomed home.
Since the day the carp were put into the
pond they have never been seen. They were
yesrlngs, and, as understand that they begin
to increase IN two years, we ought soon to
see the promised myriads Of little ish-z-i-n-
ming around If We ever have a pond full
of fish large enough to eat it viii be great
mental relief to the committee on ways and
means; for every farmer who lives so far
away from the railroad is hard pushed at
certain seasons of the year to provide the
necessaries of the table. In spring, for in
stance, the winter vegetables are apt to be
all gone and the sheep are too thin end poor to
be eaten, and the hens won't lay and the
COWS are dried up. Spring is the time
of year when neighbors run around and try
l. i r L
Certainly the farmer in the wilderness must
content himself sometimes with corn dodeer
and baeon-and bacon is terribly lean and
tough this year-or else depend on the city
wholesale grocer for his grub. Sometimes
We are able to buy q string of trout-we are
none of US fishermen-and they are always
most welcome addition to our bill of fare
The price of trout is invariably ten cents q
pair without regard to size. In summer
mutton is fat and tender, and is, of course,
our grand stand by. The best mutton ever
ate came near placing me in the criminal
dock 1t was thus. Two wild sheep belong
ing to a neighbor with whom / was on e1-
cellent terms jumped into my corn field and
nothing would induce them to leave When
chased they ran like deer and line of pros
trate cornstaIks always marked their course
They stayed there for about two weeks to
the great damage of the corn. At last got
desperate and deliberately shot one of them,
when the other took warning of his
comrades fate and jumped out. We waited
until evening and then my brother and /
dragged the carcass home and dressed It.
The whole family, together with friends from
the North, discussed the malaYoled sheep the
next day. Unfortunately certain busybody
witnessed the shooting. The whole country
soon had possession of the facts. There was
nothing left for me to do but to 60 to the
owner of the sheep, and humbly confsssing
the error of my way, pay something more
than the full value of the mutton The
matter did not rest there. Strenuous efforts
were made on the part of some of nv excel
lent well wishers to induce the old man to go
before the grand jury and indict me. Con-
sequently was not strictly easy in my mind
until the next court had adjourned, for
have been indicted for misdemeanor and it is
a business do not like.
l am like Queen Scheherezade in the Ara
blan Nights-one story suggests another 1
have nelghbor, very kind hearted, but
crochety old fellow. He owns great num-
bers of wild hogs-razor- backs, sand-split-
tiers, regular racing stock. Now, anyone
who has lived in region
where the law is fence out"
knows what terrible pest these creatures
are. They patrol every fence on a farm and
as sure as tree falls across il, or they find
hole large enough for squirrel to crawl
through, they are inside, and once in they
can turn as much sod in an hour as SO many
ploughs in a day. Well C's hogs used TO
bother me necessarily, and finally obtained
permission to pepper the animals with small
shot provided l did not injure them One
day was practicing with rifle and the next
day @. happened along and asked what had
been shooting at oh" said I, by way of
joke, Il was shooting your hogs" That
lie came home to roost. Some time after G.
brought some logs to mill and got mad be-
cause, as he thought, they were not sawed
properly. He was q member of the next
grand jury, which found true bill against
me for 'feloniously shooting, killing and
otherwise manning and destroying ten hogs
belonging &C., &c. was summoned to de-
fend myself safore the county court By a
clerical error was summoned for the wrong
day. When 1 arrived at the court house
court had adjourned. In my absence 1 had
been tried, convicted and fined forty -five dol
lars was not uneasy. as l had good de-
fence and L expected to be granted new
trial at the next sitting of the court on ac-
count of the error in my summons. Mean
while AIN execution was issued against me, and
had to pay, and then the county court was
abolished. ] applied to the circuit court for
a new trial, but the court said it had no ju-
risdiotion; SO that was beaten out of forty
five dollars, first by a mistake of the clerk of
the county court, and then by an amendment
to the State constitution, in which latter case
there was certainly a repetition of mountain
in labor. J, W
&wmran E~n-Ae,%~ ~ -.