The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-24
KANSAS COAAENT
HE KNOWS LEM ALL.


Commenting on the appointment of
Uncle Bent Murdoch as state fish and
game commissioner there has been a
disposition in some quarters to inti-
mate that that worthy gentleman hap
peneo 10 be little shy on his familiar
1ty with game although no one has
been ignorant enough to assert that
ne is not an authority on matters per-
tanning to fish. In answer to these
mild detractors Uncle Bent has this to
say In his own defense in his paper,
the ElDorado Republican:
shot prairie chickens, quail, and
cottontaIls on the John Ward farm
ka, IN the fall and winter of 1878
and killed dozens of black and fox
squirrels on the Shunganunga north
east or Topeka, the same year. This
OFTEN went hunting with the boys
in breckenridge county in the fall
OF 1853 and winter of 1860, and we
killed prairie chickens, rabbits, squir-
rels, quail and wild turkey, besides
three or four Virginia deer. I crossed
the plains with a bull team in 1860
and killed buffalo and antelope from
COW Creek to the Colorado line. In
August, 1850, 1 killed two black tail
deer, near the head OF the Arkansas
River-got one with each barrel OF my
shotgun. 1 killed grouse in the noun
talns that year. 1 shot prairie chick
ems In Kansas every season from 1857
to along in the seventies and have
killed wagon loads of them. In 1923
1 shot elk, black tail deer, bear, beav-
er, antelope and grouse in wyoming. l
never killed mountain sheep, al
though | have hunted them in Colo
rado and wyoming. / have shot N1r-
ginia deer in Kansas and Oklahoma,
bear in Arkansas and deer in Missouri.
but for all this do not claim to be a
mighty hunter never went up
a. afraC IJoN
helped capture 'coons,' possums and
bob cats; have dressed, eaten and
tanned the hides of most every kind
of 'varmint' to be found on the con-
tinent. Kansas is the home of the
prairie chicken and quail, and we
should have them in every county in
the state. Channel cat, black bass and
crappie flourish in the streams of the
state and we should have them in
abundance. I have fished off and on
fifty years. I hope 1 know something
about Kansas fishes. And that is the
end of this story, except that it might
be added that I haven't had a gun in
my hands in thirty years"
WALKING.
Edward Payson Weston, the noted
pedestrian, is again breaking into the
lime-light, being on a foot journey
from New York to San Francisco. 1t
has been but year or two since this
remarkable athlete, then past so,
walked from Portland, Me-, to Chica-
go in better time than he made the
same journey in his youth. The ex-
ample of Weston is worthy of note,
not that he is doing any great good by
walking across the country, except as
he exploits the virtue of walking, and
a few other things. Weston isn't any
particular kind of a crank. He eats
about what other men eat, except that
he has always made it a point to eat
in moderation. And he has walked,
and walked to the end that his health
is better at upwards of 60 than the
average mans at 40. Walking is
sane and always available method of
exercise that it too much neglected.
It cannot fail to benefit everyone who
indulges in it, from the invalid to the
athlete. 1t is an exercise without the
strain of running, rowing or bicycling,
which may work more harm than
good on some. And it is dignified,
interesting, and refreshing to the
mind, as we'll as beneficial to the
body. There ought to be more walk
ing clubs, and fewer card clubs. If
there were, there would be less bus
mess for doctors, and fewer hand
painted complexions.-Atch Globe.