The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-08-30
JUST WHAT A BULL MOOSE IS
ANIMAL is EASILY FASCINATED
BY TOO BRIGHT A LIGHT.
Stares Too Long at 1t, as Politician
Who Looks Too Long ON Glory,
and EIonnders Towards 1T.

moose ne prOpduIS nav
that he was adding new amman TO
the political menagerie and giving
the cartoonists and paragraphers the
chance of their lives. But if he did
not he has found it out since, says
the Literary Digest. And along with
if we have all discovered now little
We know about this denizen of the
wildwood. whose feelings are SEEM
inglv so similar to those of great
statesman about to go on a rampage.
The editor Of the New York indie
pendent. unable to restrain his curl
ositv about the bull moses traits,
annaaled In the Rev VIM. j. Long
who was denounced by the colonel
some time back as nature faKer'
and Mr.. Long has responded feel
ingly. He writes what we fear is
rather satirical article, pretaced
with a letter to the editor, in which
he disclaims any expert knowledge
of the subject, saying that he has
met only three or four hundred
moose in their native haunts. he
congratulates himself, however, on
having found in a secondhand shop
an old volume written by IT. Roose-
Welt. who. you remember, once had
considerable local reputation as a
naturalist. especially among federal
office holders whose positions We're
not secured by civil service regula-
tons" And he goes on:
I find upon examination that the
esteemed author actually killed two
bull moose that were not looking
and chased three more that would
not wait to be shot. He was also
intimate with Hank Griffin, who once
saw a moose somewhere out west.
He speaks, therefore, with author
ity.
That Mr.. Long has poorNQpoinion
of the bull moose is made very plain
in the following paragraphs from his
article:
The bull moose lives on the pub
lie domain and is a very wasteful
feeder. AS T. Roosevelt well says,
mo beast is more destructive to the
young growth of forest. When
his great paunch is full to bursting
of the delicacies he has gathered
from the common supply he wanders
toward his day-bed, stripping the
bark from the tender young trees,
especially of the rarer and more
beautiful kind, like the mountain
ash and the striped maple. His
method is to strike his long front
teeth into the bark and tear off
great strip By lifting his head. He
chews a bit of this, only to throw it
aside and strip another tree farther
on. In trailing a bull moose one
can follow his course far ahead by
the unsightly gashes or 'peelings"
which he leaves behind him. An
other destructive method of feeding
is by riding down the young trees
whose tops are above his reach. He
straddles the trunk, bending it down
with his great weight and holding
it under his belly while he eats all
the tender buds and twigs. A tree
thus moose-ridden rarely RECEIVERS.
1t remains bent or broken, like dis
earded boss; it cannot breathe with
out it's leaves; it dies and the win
ter SHOWS cover it from sight.
Another noticeable characteristic
Of the bull moose is his inordinate
and Interchangeable selfishness.
Whether roaming the woods in sol
itude, or tearing up the earth, or
coming headlong to the call, he is
thinking, first, last and all the time,
of the safety of his own skin and the
fullness of his own stomach. / can
take my hat off to a COW moose, haV-
ing frequently seen her sacrifice her
self to protect her offspring or to
protect the herd in the winter yard;
but l never yet saw bull moose do
anything for anybody but himself.
He is the incarnation of self-interest.
A COW, or even a calf moose, il she
sees danger approaching, will warn
the others before she takes the first
step for her own safety; but the bull
moose will sneak away silently at the
first sniff of peril, leaving all 9TH
E4S " lOOh Jul IOi Iu6InoC1NOSs @AAAN
that, by the way, is the real reason
why a female animal is invariably
found at the head of a band of moose
or deer of any kind. If they are APP
preaching danger you will invariably
find the COW ahead, the calves close
behind, while far in the rear comes
the bull, taking care not to expose
his precious hide and running from
safe distance at the first warning
Of danger. This characteristic Of
the noble totem, however, need not
be emphasized-unless, perchance,
the new party goes over bodily to the
suffragettes.
Further indications of the bulls
essential selfshness are found in his
frequent abuse and browbeating Of
all other moose that are smaller than
himself. He cannot tolerate a rival,
but flies into a jealous rage at the
first suggestion that there is any 9th
er bull moose in the universe His
voice at such times is a squeaking
grunt, ridiculously small for so great