Year: 1869

Murray's Life I'm the Adir0ndacks.


Rev. Mr.. Murray has Written book which
we confess we have read with much pleasure


The author has true relish and fine taste


for sylvan life and wild sports. His descrip- |


ton OF forest scenery, of lakes mountains and |


streams is uncommonly brilliant, and his love |


OF angling is passion according to his own |


showing. No man in our country has written |


better book on Adventures in the Wilder |


ness" We have been more than once among


the Adirondacks and angled in many of the


lakes and streams in Northern New York,


and we can therefore fully appreciate his des-


cription of life in that wild region. There is


indeep a remarkable vitality in his book and


nothing that has ever been written by any


lover of the rod and the rifle has thrown such


charm over the wilderness as this volume.


The mantle of good old Izaak Walton has


fallen upon this authors shoulders, and next


to that quaint old angler he will be admired


by all lovers Of wild sports. True, some


readers may be so wicked as to think he drew


largely on his imagination for some of his re-


markable incidents.


Although Mr.. Murray speaks we'll of the


fishing and hunting grounds of Maine, yet he
gives the preference to Northern New York.


He does hot like old logging camps and
stumps, and is disgusted with the smell of


rotten wood. Well, we are not disposed to
blame him for that True enough, the un-
broken wilderness, where the sound of the


lumberman's axe was never heard, is more
solemn and impressive than stumps, fallen


trees, old camps, half decayed tree-tops, and
the pure waters of trout-streams discolored
by sawdust and old logs not fit for lumber
But many parts of Northern New York are
in that condition as well as Maine, and hun
dreds of streams in whose crystal waters the
| speckled trout were wont to disport are now
destitute oil those shining tenants. There are
some portions of our State where the forests


still stand in their original beauty and grand
eur, and where the streams that meander


through them and the lakelets that look like
mirrors in mountain frames in June morn
ing are filed with the '.speckled beauties" !"
We know and have seen such regions and
killed larger trout in their streams than Mr..
Murray ever struggled with among the Ad-
riondacks.


The truth is, there are more and larger
speckled trout in Maine than in Northern
New York, and there are several "ponds"-
we may venture to call them so now, without
giving offence since the lamented Deblois has
ceased to "cast the fly"-not far distant from
our city in whose waters are found larger
speckled trout than Mr.. Murray killed, to say
nothing of the land-locked salmon that play


in the clear waters of Sebago, which are soon
to refresh our city. We have taken speckled


trout in these spends" that weighed over five


pounds and can do so again any time this


month if we please. A few springs ago we


killed nearly hundred in the month of May,


not one of which weighed less than pound,
some over five, and the average weight was
over two pounds. Our angler under review
hardly came up to that among the Adiron-
dacks.


Much as we admire our authors book, we


regret exceedingly that he did mot practice
what he preached" The following extract
from his volume is full of good advice and


sound philosophy which all sportsmen would
do well to heed. He says:


Always observing the rule, not to kill more
than the camp can eat, which true sports


man never transgresses, have padded past
more deer within easy range than ever lifted


my rifle, at. The same is true in reference to
| trout. have unjointed my rod when the
water was alive with leaping fish, and expert
| enced more pleasure as l sat and saw them
rise for food or play, than any thoughtless
violator of Gods laws could feel in wasting
the stores which Nature SO bountifully opens
| for our need. am not in favor OF "game
laws, passed for the most part for the interest
of the few and the rich, to the deprivation of
poor and the many, but would that fine and
| Imprisonment both might be the punishment
| of him who, in defiance of every human in
| stinct and reverential feeling out of mere love
| for 'sport," as some are pleased to call it, di-
rects ball or hooks fish when no necessity
| demands it. Such ruthless destruction of lille
| is stGughter-coarse, cruel, unjustihable
butchery. Palliate it who may, practice it
who can, it is just that and nothing short.
He gives very exciting account of his
angling in beautiful cove. He and his guide
had worked hard all day to get there, and it
was near sunset when he commenced to
throw the fly. The water was all alive with
trout and soon he had triplet fastened to
his hooks, two of which he saved, but the
largest broke away. This is always so An
glers when they lose trout always magnify
him. The two he saved would average six
teen inches long. The one that escaped was
probably two feet long in the anglers eye.


He says: "Within the space Of forty minutes


nearly hundred had been taken" Fifty OF


the largest lay along the bottom of the boat,
the smaller ones being thrown back in the
water, Be it remembered he and his guide
were far away In the wilderness with trout
streams in all directions. Why did fifty trout
ly they could not eat them ALL True, they
had been without food all day, but we should
think it would take two men several days to
eat fifty trout with other 'fixings" He says:
II have an indstinct recollection that put
myself outside of eleven trout, aad that
John (hs guide) managed to surround nine
more" Twenty trout eaten by two men at
one meall They must have. been the smallest
of the 'catch," and then thirty large ones re-
manned. 1t seems to us chat more was killed
than "the camp could eat" and therefore he
transgressed the rule which he laid down and
which he say" "a true sportsman never trans
gresses."


Well, it Is not the first time clergyman


has failed to practise what he preached.
No doubt this author is an accomplished
angler and enjoys life in the wilderness in


high degree. We think he could find some
angling in Maine next month far more ex-
citing than he found in the Andirondack re-
gion which he has so graphically described.
We have rivers in Maine in which salmon
may be taken with the fly at the proper sea-
son, and this sport far exceeds all others in
the angling line. To kill a twenty-pound
salmon starts the blood into quick circula-
tion and thrills him who holds the rod with
pleasing sensations from cap to boots. The
probability is, our author has never enjoyed
such sport, and if not we advise him to visit


Maine this season and try his luck on the
Narraguagus or some other salmon stream in


Maine. Should he visit our State this sea-
son to indulge his passion for angling, we
~ l. s-T-a