Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-17
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

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81 would be the last man in the world to
say that bench sf1ows have been the cause
of deterioratipg the field qualities of sport
ing dogs" said Tom King, thu well-known
sportsman. at the Riggs House last night,
''but | am convinced that the in-breeding
Of settlers and pointers that has been
brought about by breeders trying to I'M
prove their bench show points has worked
disastrously on the hunting capacity of
both species. The famous old double nose
Spanish pointer, Jwho could hunt every day
of the season from daylight to dark and
find every bird In a. scattered covey, has
been bred out Of existence, and our present
pointer Is becoming more and more attenu-
ated in body. and nIuzzle, and losing
strength and staying powers with every 50
called pure bred litter that is born. Settlers
are suffering the same way. The muzZles
of the high bred settlers of today are sharp
ened nearly to point, and the noble domeS
have given place to fiat foreheads while
their noses seem to have lost their cunnfng.
1t is not an unusual, experience for gun
ner nowadays to go out with q dog OF emil
nent breeding and who has had the ad
vantage of good handling and have him
run right over birds without, apparently,
having any knowledge of their where
abouts. donrtmean'to' say that all pure
bred dogs of the present are faulty In the
field bat many Of them are; and their con-
tinued in-breeding, 1 believe, accounts for
IL. IL,
times I long for the old times when 1 used
TO go out behind what we used to call a
'chuckle headed setter, who found birds IN
plenty, and was stsurch and true and was
ready to range the. ,stubble all day and
every day as long as a man with a gun
cared TO follow Kim"
"a man. may recover, from a crazy de-
sire for gambling or give up whisky, after
he has been it's slave" said Robert Searles
40 -at
"but when he goes quartz crazy there is
no further hops for him unless he strikes
a bonanza. Thepl his insanity will be none
the less intense, but ii will not be so pro-
iounced, because he will have the means
TO pursue his passion without undergoing
discomfort or creating remark. What do
mean by quartz crazy? Well, it's evident
you have never been in the western coun-
try. out where the mountains are piled
on top OF each other those lunatics abound.
A man who Is quartz crazy Is e individual
who catches the mining fever and becomes
convinced that his mission on earth is to
md the greatest vein of pay ore ever dis
covered. In pursuit of his quest he suf-
fers more hardships and overcomes more
obstacles than did all the knights who
ever searched for the Holy Grail lie will
leave home, family, friends and comfort,
and all alone, with meager supply OF
provisions and a few tools, he will plunge
into unknown wilderaesses and when he
finds place that holds out mineral pros
peCt ne VIII DurTOW IN the lreacueTOuS
mountain side Ike a"fabbft and dig from
daylight tor. dark, expecting with every
stroke Of his pick to uncover his expected
fortune. Nearly every prospector in the
west, or the rest of The world for that mat
ter. Is afflicted with the nalady have de-
scribed Some of them keep up their
ceaseless search with every recurring sea-
son and sometimes, strike a good thing.
In such cases somebody else, the party
who has the money to deyelOpe the find,
reaps the profits. There are exceptions,
however. and oil Tom Cruise of Helena
is one. Tom was and Is, a character. He
reached, Montana , when Last Chance
Gulch where Helena Is now located, was
yielding up the riches of its gravel to
the ds Sperate~ pioneers, who had struck
the piaceewherr starvation seemed the next
thing to contemplate. When the gulch
gave out he began to travel through the
mountains looking for his bonanza. He
could neither read nor write, but his min
eral knowledge was something wonderful.
Every spring for years he Started out with
grub stake and every fall he returned
empty handed, but yet full Of hope. Every
body laughed at him and made him butt
for their jokes. but aid Tom took II all
good RatdrsalSs and IN sariably found some
body during the winter to fit him out for