The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1911-08-26

What blessing 1t would be to womankind IL
more husbands and brothers, being sportsmen
themselves. would say oftener: Come. go with
me into the woodlands cool retreat, to the clear
lake where Turk the willy bass and the air is
filled with the fragrance Of growing things" or
perhaps, Come where Bob White is hiding in
the lonely willow swale."
AS rule, man is, or has been a selfish crea-
ture where sport is concerned, and until recent
years has considered his work we'll done when
after fortunate day Of sport he came home,
glowing with exercise and vigor bringing the fish
or game for the ."meek and humble" wife to pre-
pare. But mankind also is beginning to 'see the
error Of his ways" and each season there
more and more recruits to the army Of happy
men who have fitted their wives out with all
necessary equipment for the life outdoors,
whether to meet the requirements of the gentle
art Of angling or the more exerting though not
less congenial recreation with the gun.
In the United States those women who have
asserted themselves either for their inherent love
for nature, or the acquired attachment that in
variably springs up-the result Of close COM
munion with nature-have proven the equal, and
not infrequenty the superior of man contestants,
in games that try the utmost skill and endur-
ance in his or her special sport. To the woman
who has, as she will probably express 1t, lost
her health" and whose strength and courage with
which to combat everyday tribuations Is fast
deserving her, the one physician who can answer
Doctor Outdoors, and his prescriptions are many
and varied. This physician will never advise
timid, nervous woman to go for the first time,
armed with shotgun. nor would he tell woman
who never had held before a more formidable
weapon than q straight flush to start out after
big game without some preliminary instructions
in this line. The FIRST advice would be: Learn
to love the outer world. cultivate a taste for
natural beauty. learn to look. learn to listen.
learn to walk correctly to tread the woodland
paths lightly, and learn to breathe, fully and
freely expanding. exhailng. till the blood cours-
ing merrily through every vein brings warm
glow to cheeks that have long been pinched and
faded
In using the terms, looking and listening, I
refer to the cultivation of the senses without
which life in the open air loses much of its
chantment. Cultivate the sense Of hearing
when out alone in. the woods pause occasionally
and note how many different sounds you can hear
distinctly and remember. Perhaps 1t is the music
of a stream as 1t ripples softly over bed Of
gravel; maybe 1t is the voice of the waterfall as
1t tumbles over great powders through
row gorge, and simultaneously you may hear
the twitter of feathered songsters in the neigh
boring trees and the cry of some great bird of
prey on its pilgrimage through the air. while
away of In the opposite direction comes the faint
tinke of cowbell. While grapsing these separ-
ate. distinct sounds and storing them in your
mind your eyes have kept busy. Perhaps you
may notice bent or broken twig or bush
by, so your eye involuntarily follows the course
Of the path and seeks the next shrub to find
more bent in the samo manner. Your conclusions