The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-23
By win n. sheehan.

umbrella and a rain-soaked overcoat in the outer office.
 He looked out at the leaden skies and
 the water-iaden trees in the Capitol yard A steady rain had been falling
 all day. a winter rain. cold and pene- trating Now and then a gust of shud- dering wind would dash the icy rain against the big windows of the Gov ernor's office. It was as nasty day as Montgomery ever has. Do you know" said the Governor T believe I will go? It has be,S bad winter. a very bad winter. I prani- ised myself when I got home from my long and tiresome stay in New Mexico
 that I would spend part of this winter in the pine woods of Alabama. fully intended to keep that promise that made with myself. But the official dL-
 ties have been so insistent, so much has come up that have not been able to get away among the pine woods.
 The duties of the Governors office are not always onerous. They are not always burdensome. But they are con stant always constant. There is si- ways something to be done and have remained through all the oppressive, trying weather of this particular win ter doing the duties that have come 10 hand. I'd like toNsee what irnmigra- tion work Is going on there, too. Yes, I'll go with you"
 In Lower Baldwin.
 [ had suggested the possible pleas ures of d two or three days stay in the pine woods of Southern Baldwin County I had spoken of the fine cli- mate that marked that pleasant sec- | tion of Alabama which lies along the | waters of Mobile Bay; of the excellent winter hotel established at Magnolia I Springs on Magnolia River, filled with Northern guests. the beautiful scenery which surrounded it all and of the fish and game, to be found about there. It all appealed to him, being as he is. in I truth a lover of nature and of the | woods.
 This was late of Monday afternoon. We were to make the start at II o'clock the next morning on a trip had already planned. There was much
 to be done in the intervening hours i The party had to be equipped, third | friend had to be invited, and couple of dogs had to be secured, And of
 these dogs more shall presently appear. | So, on a perfect January day, a day | that was as perfect as any which de- | lights the hearts of the NeapolLtans, with all of Naples famed climate, we l dismounted at the little station Of
 Foley. the end of the Fort Morgan and I Bay MlnSLLey ftOAu, 1 shine bathed the earth in a golden flight Its yellow glory dwelt upon the wire grass, spread upon the earth thicker and finer than any Persian car pet It's yellow glory dwelt upon the encrusted pearls that clustered about | the trunks of the pines, and marked | the coming and the going of the tur- pentine man. It was day shot to the core with sunshine.
 | utR xxyfth nn- tentment. among the csresses of the
 warm breezes from the blue waters
 of the Gulf of Mexico, q few miles away The wire grass leaned back lcoquetishly from the waving of the
 breezes from the south as the pine needles sighed their contentnGnt.
 One felt that he could go abroad throw his arm out and grasp great | handfuls of the golden glory of the of beauty to any man. to any set of
 men who had been cooped up in an ofice and chained to a desk by insis- Itent duties,
 A Party of Three.
 There were three of us--to say noth- ing of the dogs. There was the Gov ernor. Major II. c. Gunnels, of the Edu-
 cationaI Department, and the news paper man who had once before gone | QNcI lhio 6lOuths SN hSkoSSN train had broken connections at Bay Minette. Through its instrumentality we had to spend the night in the Baldwin county town which figured so prominently In the recent court house war But there were cordial and thoughtful friends at Bay Minette and the night was spent in their hospitality and the consideration of kindly hospi- tality
 But on this sun lit winter evening we left the Bay Minette and Fort Morgan train at it's terminal station at Foley thirty-six miles south of Bay Minette, linear the central line of the county and some thirty miles north of the most
 southern point in Alabama, And leav- ling the train we plunged into the sun lit wire grass and pines with guns and dogs.
 Now it is not revealing any secrets
 to say that the Governor was the oHly genuine thorough going hunter in the
 outfit He was the only good shot, thS
 only Knowing bird hunter in the entire crowd of three. He was the only ont
 that won and preserved the complete confidence and respect of the two ) trained and experienced dogs. Fol } your true pointer and setter knows th'
 z real from the spurious in the matte } of hunters. He sticks close to the maj l who knows the ways of birds and wh' knows how to handle gun. But l began to believe that the intelligen . and discerning dogs entertained some
 thing like a secret contempt for tn . man who didn't know much about bird 9 and who missed some five times ou
 of six shots
 . As to the Dogs.
 There were two of these dogs. Majo
 I westoott's Rod and Judge Richardson
 Bob. strangers to each other but work
 ing the fields and woods in entire har ' mony and accord, Rod was setter
 A wide ranger who covered an incon {. ceivable amount of territory. in swis ; Iono leans. He was an Illinois train 1 ed dog and grew up hunting pralrl r chickens He had sure nose Tor blrd s in ths-distance but the strange haplt . of tine Alabama cartridges Of dodgln' and running through the grass puzzle'
 him at first But he could think ou n inc birds in the distance and bring tn . hunters to them and on coveys he wa e certain and sure On the last day h 0 feu bit from grace He was seen ol dead point in the tall grass q hun
 drad yards away The Governor hur = ried over gun in hand, to find that Ro D hsd fourd two strange things, two yer e strange things for an Illinois bred doi two long necked frightened gophers
 poh inc nointer, was Alabama bre and Alabama raised. Bob was old an '. experienced. The Baldwin county part . ridges with the cunning or ther Kin 2 had no tricks that would fool him. ] 7, tha.. b,d under d tuft of grass, wei i and good He was there on the dea 4 noint And. by the way, there is no - tbinq nrettier, nothing more impressiy . af a,tao.I intelligence than the conn