Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1894-11-14
The Shooting Season.

The Shooting Season.
The time for sport has come. There
is new life in the cool crisp air. The
ground is yet dry, but there is no haze.
All the streams are crystal clear. The
night frost vanishes before the rising
sun. All animated nature thrills with
new life as the blood is revivfed in
preparation for winter. The country
dweller finds keener relish in every
sort of food. He springs from his bed
in the morning freshened by sounder
sleep. He does his work with such
ease that exertion is pleasure and he
breaks into hilarious song and shout
ing, glad that he is alive.
tis then that the country editor finds
it pleasure to canvass among the
farmers. 1t is SO refreshing to saunter
through the woods and lust happen
in" about dinner time when sweet po-
tatoes just from the soil that morning
and fresh pork or game smoke on the
table, when butter is hard and milk
cold without ice and all the fall fruits
are at their best. The politician Is out
too. There is speaking at the country
school house at night, where the other
party is roasted" and the cause of
these hard times" set forth in English
which far more than makes up in force
what it lacks in refinement. Truly our
dialect poet was justified in his roll
locking parody:
oh, who would die in autumn
With all fruits so fl for eating.
When all good things are getting ripe
And candidates are treating?
The wild creatures, too have their
fun at this season. The crow, of all
birds The knowingest, calls his fellows
into consultation, and after the pend
ing question is settled he takes his en-
joyment IL teasing other creatures.
The quail know when the season"
comes almost as soon as the hunter
does, and the watchword, "A man
with a gun" flies rapidly from field to
field, or, if it does not, why is it that a
covey which one day will run along by
ones horse SO near that the rider can
almost strike them with his whip will
day or two later keep car fully out
of gunshot? Surely they have means
of learning when the game law runs
out" Just before cold weather is the
time to enjoy society of squirrels. One
may then sit perfectly quiet in the
woods, and these pretty creatures will
come SO near him that their every mo.
tion may be studied. But then let him
make the slightest stir, and, whisk,
those little bright eyes have recognized
an enemy, and the nimble creature is
on the opposite side of the nearest
tree.
The latest conclusion of advanced
Darwinians is that man is descended
not from the monkey, but from crea-
ture near akin to the present squirrel,
which survived the horrors of the pleis-
tocene era because of its great brain
power, and there is reason in it. 1t is
fun to surprise the squirrel when he
has but one tree for refuge, and that
one with no leafy top, and see how
skillfully he maneuvers to keep on the
side opposite; hence the current rural
conundrum: If the man goes around
the tree, the squirrel always on
the opposite side, does the man go
around the squirrel? 1t is strange
that the question could be raised.
Surely man who goes around cir
Gle goes around every thing inside the
circle, and what difference can it make
whether the thing moves or not, SO
long as it remains within the circle?
Indian summer is indeed beautiful,
and the cold, clear season which fol-
lows it is pleasant, too; but alas, much
of the old time glory has passed away.
We no longer have those long stretches
of primeval forest-miles on miles of
walnut, oak and other splendid trees,
with scarce stick amiss. We no longer
crack jokes, tell stories and drink ci-
der by the cracking hickory wood
fires. We have to burn coal now, and
too often in stove. We never-that
is, hardly ever-hear the faraway honk,
honk of the wild geese in the clear
cold air of late autumn as they wing
their way to the South. We can no
longer range at will in deep woods for
wild fruit or game. Will our children
have any romance of early days at all
to look back to? Is it possible that
they can forty years hence look back
with sentimental regret to this open
country and endless fields, to coal
stoves and their accompaniment as
wedo to those magnificent forests alive
with game and the roaring fires in the
old broad fireplacep
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