The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-11-20

body could 80" where he had any more
points M a hunter than a score Of others
among IA In th. covers near home my
friend and seldom failed tn bring In -
many bir,.s as he IND. and We never
Dragged about II
L"t him plug AWAY a. the hiTds b.
can manage To put up around here. said
my companion that fall Wen take a
hunt over ground whcs" ,s.pg ard gur
haven't scared the giZ,a rd ont Of every
bird IN tho woods until you think you We
struck great luck II YOU come home with
half a dozen after knocking about over
ten miles or more of tedious cover. Well
go hunting once for fair and suuelch him
so. keeping our own counsel. We
started one driZzly morning toward the
and Of October TO got into tn. big stretch
Of WOO d. We had mapped out 80 our choice
for the hunt We drove thirty-two miles
to the nearest station on the railroad We
had 20 taxi. rode Fifty miles on the rail
roHd and dropped on NJ scranton. Pa.
with our dog and guns Seventy miles
to the east of us as tho crow flew lay the
gam. covers we had left ut home. all so
scant If birds Not far heyond tn. east
"rn outskirts Of Scranton tn. thickly
wooded hills marked the beginning OF the
Wild extent of country through which
one might tramp clear To the hills over
looking the Delaware at Milford without
cncounterinc any greater evidences OF
civilization than an occasional logging
camp
No, that there were not settlements
here and there in that vast extent OF Wild
for the slwmll and the tanneries were yet
in service. and had called into existance
their colonies Of employees and the neces-
sary collateral Industries There were
numerous farming communities that had
n"cessitated thu building Of trade centres
thrifty hamlets in the backwoods. like
GASES in the desert But none Of these
na"i I've in the path of one who might roam
through that forest donna in IL he chose to
avoid them.
Old wood roads rutted only by the
occasional passing OF the bark wagon or
the OK team Of the cord wood chopper.
wound or zigzl gged their solitary ways
through the woods al infrequent intervals
Long ago thoroughfares. once busy and
well kept highways that had found short
and direct routes through that wilderness
from destination 10 destination for travel
and traffic between the eas 1t and the west
and the north and the south. in the days
befor. the railroads came 10 silence the
rumble Of the stage coach and the creak
Of the freightnrs wagon might be crossed
and recros-ei.
Areas Of great pines and hemlocks
wide :. stretches Of beech woods. high ridges
Of oak timber and slopes thick with chest =
nut and maple groves. hickory swales.
LAM san If ,-tn ,nv,s
reaches Of man defying laurel and tama-
rack swamp. sunhurnt scrub oak and
hucxlcberry hirrens. hill valley. hollow.
streams winding through the dark shaded
woods. glitiering in the opens. where the
sua looked on them. tumhling noisily over
rocky Lodges lakes shimmering on noun
tam Crests. crystal Of water. sandy
he lch"d. like mimic seas or sonbr. in
cuplike hoilows shadowed by the over
topping forest crowned hills marshy
borderrd murky watered all these and
morn. ~ nature ordered their dispersion
form" the environment of on" vino
sought tho-oIghf1r" through that three
score pf miles 81 Wild that Law between the
SusIu-hAnnI waters and the Della war
Valley and lies there yet save that its
pine and henlock forests are gone and in
their place are coming still denser hard
wood grov'ths
And this was the stretch Of woods that
my hunting companion and ] had chosen
10 beat the covers in that fall from its
western fringe TO its termination on our
native hills The very character Of ~
was rich IN promise Of results. and the
morning aftH- arriving in Scranton
-houldcrei our guns and headed for the
woods. tramp Of four miles on tho
public road was n"ce '.arv before We could
strik. into tho hills for the fore jourrcY
! wore n pair Of roomy. ol-y going shoes
that | had bought for tn" purpose. ""
wor" still on IN" four mil. road tramp
when tn" bottoms 81 my f.ct began to
feel 80 unComfoftabl ~" that sat down and
took IN M shacs TO investigate. I, was
a chcr-fIl discovery | made NV shoes
w"-" p"yc"i instead 81 s"w"d. As !
wals"d IN" T"gs mad worked up out Of tho
dry leather Of IN. solos and all around
the but;oms 81 my fee had worn a circle
# TIM hlI~to-S
Tho prospect 81 4 sin, y-ti.. mile tramp
an blistn-"d feet 20 start with was not an
entirely "a, oura Eing one. but thor" was
no help for ~" "Nc-pt to back out and 20
horn. the wav -" had come. and money
"ouldn have induced me. 10 do that. 81.
pounding III" pegs down ~ well a.
could With stone. and improvising in
-olas by S:Ifing bits 81 newspaper IN the
shoes We resumed our tramp.
Tvs a liitl" tough. said my companion
Consolngiy 'but when We get into th..
woods and get Ia banging away AT the
birds vpu forget all about it,
Having sporting blood. said Their"
wasn't any Doubt about ~. We had
Jlaur"d :" max" tho hills overlooking n
ittI. farming village IN valley on the
border Of l.I2"rr. and Wlyna counties
.w.ntv mics from Scranton. and put up
for IN" night Their. b. and 10y got
INTO thewood- And we We've IN the woods
all day. Tn. sim was about an hour high
got when v.. came ont IN sight Of IN.
vIilagn And IL certainly did look good to
me. for somehow or other no birds had
got mp for - To- bang at aud | hadn't
forgotten about fhos" feet III mine "A
sIngl. minute"
We went out across field toward
II "A