Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1891-02-13

cracking of brush and a momentlater
q deer with huge antlers burst into
view and coming directly toward me.
Now, thinks I, for venison, the old
man has missed you but l wont.
/ waited till he was within ten rods,
took deliberate aim and fired; the
gun went off and so did the deer.
had supposed that when my rife
cracked he would drop his flag and
surrender, but nary q drop, there h.
was sailing along in full glory with
head up and tail very prominent.
Chagrined at my failure, Ihastely re-
loaded and fired seven more shots at
him In quick succession, till the noun
tain farley "bellowcd and reverbrat-
ed" with the Internal din. Crushed,
broken, Inundated and in deep dis
pair resolved to do better or quit
the business. Hastily filing the mag
azine waited, looking around me,
wiped tear from my eye, looked
! at my gun and discovered a slight
tremor. looked at my hands and
found | had a full fledged attack
| IF Buck-fever.
Hank! again the crack of a rifle ia
heard and soon another comes bound
| along over the same path followed
by the preceding one. Again l re-
solved to have venison, again COM
,nenced to pump and fire, over him,
under him, ahead Of him, behind him,
the bullets whistled and ricuchetted.
Eight shots at point blank range and
and no deer, only one Of the liveliest
ones you ever saw, no venisOn, six
teen shots and nothing; smell blood?
nary u drop, only smell powder and
that pervades everything, even maxi
eth the forest stink. Conclusion gun
is not good. not reliable. all Winches-
tiers unreliable, especially 4O-S2, will
go home to the valley and shoot
luails and rabbits with a shot gun.
Shot guns are good. reliable, they
kill game and u rife does not. Went
to camp and rested. Noon, Barber
came in. had fired three shots and
and killed three deer; hungup two and
brought one to camp: told how he
killed them, shot through the
head, he had Winchester-40-S2-
good gun, made in Los Angeles, cas-
tern guns no good, will go to Los
Angeles and buy a good gun and then
will hunt deer again. Subject chang
es. was out upon the hill the other
day-a January day the Almanac
told me that it was but the birds.
butterflies and springing grass told
a story OF anything but winter. The
skies too, were blue, and golden with
sunshine; not Il cloud to be seen III the
whole heavens, and the air had the
breath Of the south and the balm
mess OF June. ] lay there under the
curtain of blue skies and looked
around me, and came to the conclu-
sion there could nowhere under the
sun he found a land so to be desired
rs this same semitropical, heart Of
California. What stories of freezing,
cold and starvation and suffering we
read OF else where, with rivers ice
bound; seas frozen; men and women
dying of cold in their homes and in
the fields: fires built in the streets Of
cities at which poor, wretched, freeZ-
ing humanity can warm itself,
while the biting winds cut through
their worn and tattered garments.
Look at these life pictures of this VIM
ter's experience and then turn to our
green fields. our orchards golden with
their ripening harvest; our fields of
growing grain our gardens rcd with
ripenihg berries, and spring.
ing vines; bssk In the beautiful sun
shine and drink In the pure air Of the
mountains: let your ears listen to the
song of the birds and the melody of
the crystal streams; breath in the
fragrance of thousands of flowers,
| and then tell me if the spirit Of con-
tent does,not brood over you, and
tell me, too, If here you would not
rather pay a thousand dollars an
acre for the soil than fifty where ma
ture marshals her forces against you
and smites you with frosty spears
and icey swords and adds awful cold
to gnawing hunger? Here on the
bosom of the green earth, l look up
to the blue skies and say. mo other
| land for me: here let me make my
home while the sweet years pass amid
plenty and unclouded sunshine
T. J.