Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-02-27
CRIME OF HUNTING.
Plea for tho Old-Fnshioncd SPORTS
man.

No one who knows anything about the
trade Of making and selling books will
misunderstood the motives of the ma
ture writers who are protesting at every
possible opportunity against the wicked
practice Of hunting game with a gun
Instead OF a kodak, says the Louisville
Courier-Journal. They need advertising
and they secure it. But the nature low
ers, whose excitement over the crime OF
hunting is duo to the efforts of the
writer's, are doomed to disappointment,
and arc somewhat deserving of ridiculc.
They should know better than to take
seriously the gentlemen who champion
the cause of the coyote and the timber
wolf for the vulgar purpose of raising
scads and who denounco the savagery OF
the sportsman. because every line that
Is printed upon the subject of their
views increases the probability of sales.
The project OF preserving game to the
end that amateur photographers and
makers of hooks shall have an oppor-
tunity to study wild animals and birds
will hardly appeal to any considerable
number of lawmakers.
OF course. hunting as form OF rccrc-
etion for human beings would not be in
dorscd by congress OF wild animals.
but was pork packing as legitimate
Industry over Endorsed by a hog? Did
right-thinking hen ever look with
favor upon the pastimc of eating fried
chicken a la Maryland? Was a steer
ever known to regard the raising of
cattle for the deliberate purpose of
making boots Of thor hides, beef OF
their flesh. and glue OF tho hoofs. as
just and humane?
1t Is easy to exagEoratc the cruelty OF
hunting and to picture the sportsman
as savage, satisfying his thirst for
gore by shedding tho blood of theinno-
cents. But getting down to brass lacks,
the deer although somewhat appealing
TO the eye. Is not whit more innocent
than n fat berkshire hog walowing in
mud puddle and enjoying life with a
zest never experienced by the timid,
nervous beast OF the forest, accustomed
from infancy to start at the swapping
Of twig and bound away at the sight
OF an enemy.
Again the hog is. in a way, nourished
In the bosom OF the family during his
pighood and shoathood. He is boguiled
with suffccncy Of corn ~ he ap-
proachcs hoghood. To prevent him from
taxing 100 NOC0 CXcTclSc ana pN'pHll'iS
too slender he is provided with a pen
and encouraged to lead sedentary life.
with a full trough and 4 wallow as the
limits OF his world. He is coddlcd into a
state OF perfect confidence in his owners.
Then he is ruthlessly sold in carload
lots to strangers who butcher him upon
a wholesle plan, or he Is held down by
bloodthirsty farmland while another
equally bloodthirsty farmland Sits his
throat from ear to ear and jabs n long
knife into his heart. After that he be-
comes sausage, spareribs, bacon, hams
rhittcrlings and what not
Yet who has compassion for the hog?
Where is the nature love whose eyes
grow humid when considering the mel
sncholy fate of the innocent gIileless
animal? who sits up o'nghts and weeps
over the cruelty and bleating lamb that
ls incident to the production of lamb
chops?
Providence never provided cartridges
rs targets for the camera alone. Had
1t been so ordained the would probably
have been fat-chested birds, with the
flavor of the wcodpecker. Deer were in
tended to be killed and eaten by man
kind, and not used as illustrations for
fairy tales told by Ernest Thompson
Seton to provide that distinguished
ycntleman with the where-wthal to
buy the flesh OF the morcilessly muir
hered sheep and the cruelty assassinated
chicken