The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-09
The TWELFTH OF AUGUST
A Day on Which the British Sports
man Turns Himself Loose
on Grouse.
The Annual Pilgrimage Made Into
the Shooting Boxes Of
Scotland
Etiquette of a Hunting FORTHCOMING of
Deer Now Thing of
the Past.

Especial Correspondence Of The INDEPENDENT.
GLEN AFFAR1c, Scotland, Oct. 2O.-If a
shown in the preceding article. $50, 600, 90
is annually expended by British sportsme,
in hunting and fishing in Scotland, it ma,
be easily understood that, of the three Qrea
British popular days, Derby Day" whicl
is movable. sporting day, Bankers Holt
day, on which day every British subiec
feels entitled to his ease and sport, and tn
statutory feast-day of the 18th of August
the latter, which is the annual day dedi
Gated to the slaughter of grouse is Away,
rife with the most intense thrills of antici-
petory pleasure.
The pent-up yearnings of an army o
British nimrods explode on this day. TIL,
very mention of the glorious Twelfth a,
any other season of the year fills their
WjDle beings with flashes and quivers OF
hunger for the moors and fields. 1t would
be national crisis indeed that would com
pei parliament to hold over this initial
epoch OF the seasons outdoor sport. II
last week the social, political and financial
season was at its height; if all the mi
lords, the honorables This or That, and the
whole list of artists, actors, literators,
bankers, manufacturers, clerics, sci
entlsts, and what-nots, whose doings
make London the real center of the
world. and this whole tight little
island" the brain and Drawn workshops for
European civilization and progress, we're at
their tensest strainings of activities; this
week, if it contain the exalting Twelfth"
the foremost people of Great Britain are
wholly different set of human beings,
There is now an enthusiasm. heartiness,
geniality and hilariousness about the Brit
ish man that makes you feel you have mis-
judged him. He is no longer stone. He is
radiant, generous human. In Justice, this
Will even apply to the grave and austere
Scotch. High-lows and CATERS. balmorals
and Tam Oshanters, corduroys and collar
less necks, endless flap pockets and sug-
gestions of TASKS, show the British man of
the hunting season off to good advantage
besides. His language is honest and hearty.
his laughter has, l am sorry to say. more
integrity than the American laugh, which
always seems to be begging pardon or
casting challenge, and his face is contin-
ually wreathed i'll smiles. The world seems
good to him. and anybody where he is. And
therefore, It he spends forty instead of
twenty millions for the thing which makes
him for even brief period of the year a
bright-faced instead of a bear faced Briton,
he has not done amiss. After all, the beg
carly sasas sss t RtaaTsssa
kneed and skinny deer he has
knocked over with his expensive fowlinp-
piece. is not 80 much the yearly motive
which impels him to immense expense and
labor. Whether or not himself conscious,
ho INN 1s,o1N IN loE, IL - :
that sweet nature ever calling to man to be
bettered, is what draws him on. The wide,
free moorlands odorous with countless
flowers and vagran5 weeds; the glorious
sides OF mountains, endless panoralnas of
scene and color as the shine and cloud
wings OF mountain mist softly tapp..g the
grim old peaks; the purple heather; the
rocky glens; the stupendous straths; the
feathery waterfalls; the whipping burns;
and above all the deep and dreanful lochs
OF Scotland; these are the British SPORTS
mans real quarry after all.
For a month before the twelfth all kinds
OF preparation are making. The first eleven
days in August almost gives the impression
of the gathering of an army of militia, and
on the day itself and indeed for a week be-
fore, the Princess street station, Edinburgh,
pool, and particularly the Euston Square
station OF the London and Northwestern
railway, in London, present most animated
scenes. All other passenger traffic gives
way to the hunter hosts. Horses and
heavy luggage have been sent on by the
platforms arc massed with hamp-
ers, pouches, cases of fowling- piece,
dogs. boxes of dogs food, and count.
less paraphernalia of hunting, while
excited groups Of kennel keepers,
masters, servants, leaders," old hunters
vyh nj int hn
of garments, and excited amateurs dressed
to proclaim their destination, jostle each
other in good-natured desperation in extra
ordinary efforts to monopolize the atten-
tons OF porters, guards and train men.
From six to eighteen hours bring them all
to their journeys end; for there is no
shooting" in the remotest portion of Scot
land which cannot be reached in the latter
time from London.
The moorland cabin and the Highland
sheeling, which were formerly the abode
OF the British sportsmen, have given way
never less than handsome cottage, and
the lodge" which ID often as grand as
the magnificent palace. Aside from these
exclusive conveniences for sportsmen, it is
becoming more and more the custom on
the part of titled owners of large northern
"shootinGs, Or who lease them to others
with privilege of themselves and certa in
number of guests shooting over their own
preserves. to discharge many of their Lon
don social obligations by entertaining their
city friends with "a few days of shooting"
We Americans have no comprehension of
the uviversality of the sportsman instinct
and education in Great Britain. Read
ing English fiction, and particularly
kingsley's novels, give an insight into
the importance of hunting and shoot
ing to every English bred man. So
that the greater the man be socially, politi-
cally or financially in England the more
likely it is that he is bred from youth,
though always living in London, TO follow
ing the hounds and shooting grouse on the
moors or pheasants within the bounds
walls of great demesnes. He may neither
own nor rent a shooting" But he has
great London house. This is open to his
northern noble friends during the London
season" The return courtesy involves
entertainment during the Shooting sea-
son. and it is often the case that large
number Of the genuine aristocracy of the
island will be found at any one of the num-
berless great northern palaces during the
autumn than are ever at one time crowded
within sitting walls at the most exclusive
of London winter receptions.
If you were pilgrilning afoot and alone in
Scotland and should suddenly come upon
one of these hunting parties, whether beat
ing the moorlands for grouse. or in q mad
gallop after the hounds for fox OF deer, YOU
could never make an error in Judgment as |
to whether you we're basking in the sun
shine of nobility, or merely having the dust
flung in your eyes by parcel of common
IuOftAlS. The latter, every wear COmprisino