The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-02-23

am haled before the Creator that
VIII have a bad half-hour explaining
my lesser faults, and wouldn't like tC
nave lined up as exhibit A" a long
line of defunct beasties that were
cheated by me out of the few years
of happiness that nature designed
for them here.
Surely there are plenty of ways for
a man to achieve happiness without
any necessity for him to trail every
form of animal life with a gun, and
1T would seem that he might manage
to fill out his small quota of years
without to the savagery that
marks the wild beast that must kill
to live.
No Killer
/ have been known to go to the
other extreme, and have been ridi-
culed because I hesitated to kill a
chicken for the family dinner. and
instead of using M own fowl sent
to the neighbors for one, STIMULATING
that 1t must be departed this life
before delivery. My own fowl were
all pets and were known variously
and according to gender as Beatrice
and Maude, and Jennie and Bill.
| have been accused also of saving
flies from a watery grave, drying
their feet and placing them in the sun
so that they might enjoy the happi-
ness that was designed for them. I
am no hunter and can see little ex-
cuse for anyone killing for fun. This
tale, however, hinges largely on a
hunting expedition, as will appear
later, a kind of "reminiscences of the
old time when / was easily led to do
foolish things, ever to go on a hunt
ing trip, albeit sans hunting.
A Mean Man
The friend who led me astray on
this occasion, as is usual in male in
timacies, was Numerically opposite
to me in every way, and was not con-
tent unless he was creating trouble
for some of the lower forms of animal
life. He trapped flies, he beat his
dog and quarreled with his wife, butt
never seemed to properly quell
his lust for slaughter. Always he was
fixing guns or preparing new snares
for fish.
So n day when it was reported
that ducks were plenty, and that deer
we're eating the morning papers from
ranchers' doors, comes my friend
with a great to-do, and in an evil
moment seduced me from my quiet
to go on a hunting trip, en-
on the wonderful good that
would come to me from a few days
IN the open. He referred to it as
being "out in Gods country l
a feeling, however, that God
must hate to have his country shot
and blood-smeared.
I don't ever seem to understand
What it is that makes a man who
Gems normal, and with a full meas
Ire of common sense, do things on
he spur of the moment, at the sug-
of someone else, that the ord-ls
nary reasoning powers of a monkey
would decide as absolutely foolish.
That was me. I agreed to go hunt
ng with no desire to hunt, and with
deep-rooted dislike of the hardship
hat goes with life in the open. 1
ont like camp outfits nor the bugs
nd discomfort that goes with them;
like to sleep in a deep wide bed,
nd | like to sleep long and hard.
In the Dead of Night
Providence has SO arranged that
uniting trips begin always at some
heartily hour, so that n must
ccording to this arrangement, get
p at going-to-bed time, and go forth
ito weather that was intended for
Their purposes. Always it rains or
nows, or it is beastly cold. No one
hunts in fine weather. This
was not unusual in that resi-
ect; it was a bad night, and we took
lie train at two in the morning.
This happened in Montana, in "
ute, to be explicit, and while game G.
as to be had almost in the back |
ard, nc M ever hunts except after 81
long journey, and arduous toll. / W
this is to key them up to
lie necessary cruelty that seems part
the game. People were coming p
II way to hunt while we invaded d.
leir territory. Always game is to st