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ARKANSAS SNIPE.Written for the “Spirit ot the Times by H. P. L.w + _ w“Good bye! Take care of yourself, and give those bears particular fits! sung out Dory, as the plank.of the steamboat, on which we were bound down the Mississippi, was drawn in, and we left our' friend Mon-roeVotoe night last winter—on the wharf-boat at Napoleon, Arkansas.We should have left him in pitch darkness had it not been for the pitch pine lights which shed a halo of glory around bis head, and the tail of his Newfoundland dog. They J were,bound up the Arkansas river.on a bear hunt. A more whole souled man, or a finer dog, never walked—^although a 11 Scotch terrier is a better dog forbears. andRidiClalaratatCHUm*i3satetrftoftewtcAlea14wtle*afrirePy8IiISyd0s8te5-8a3-ni-ni-S9*3fr2IFtcas we left him behind, there was a sense of somothuu lost. „ . .In order to find composure, and fill up thevacuum,,we adjourned to The Exchange, or Social Hall of the steamboat*TotaKea“snif ter. On entering this favored region we were at once made awareof the fact that the Hackensack.ans at Napoleon c tcsidered a ’ | fair “Exchange no .robbery; in payment of 3 jour Roland of a Minroe they hs*d .given us j ft „ t an Oliver of an Arkanaiao. He was a beau* j tfc 9 ty. Straight aa a h’ckory sapling, and fully j ffi j I as tough, he seemed to be juat the stuff that ‘ red-,eye. whisky-birrel hoops are made of— .water-proof at that. He was already a firm friend of the bar-keeper, having taken two drinks inside of 90 second*, and as be still f ] wore a thirsty,look in bis lefc eye, we at j B j once asked fain*, to take*anothej, . j.p“Stran-ger, said be, “count me in fchar! I ^ So we did, and .after drinks all round, we ; 2 . | settled about the stove with gegars. Con* “, j versation soon fell on bear-huntirg, deer* ^ hunting, and finally was closing up with ndescription a “iniguty big boon-boat,[ wherein our friend, the Rackensackian, bad ^ j performed:prodlgies of valor in tho way . of j putting whiskey hors du conftal, or ou t of i f' harm’s way—’cut down an untold number of Q cottonwood or pekan*tree , and pitched into n a live-oak till he'made dead-wood m i?; and | ^ finally killed, on that one night, one hundred coons, whose united weight he judged to boweil co to a ton! . ', ,g i After this we knew the mao, but Dotv, in g j whose looks the “bay-seed still gleamed, n was moved, in turn, to tell bis tale of . hunting, and dwelt loDg and feebly on a certain snipe-shooting excursion, wherein .each gunner bagged his four dozan birds—he drew it strong, being away from home—and went on sawing away about.how.the snipe rose and fell, until Rackensackian woke up with the question— - •,“What ar'snipe? ^ . i!“Snipe, said Dory, “are the best gime that flle9. The kind 1 me *n -are-called English or Wilson's Snipe, and arc splendid !— Eong legs, long, bills, dusky hue—•“Stran-ger,’ stop ihar J i’ve seen - the critters; k.oow 'em like an* old boot, interrupted the Rackensackian. “I’re been downin the Lewsianoy swamps—I have I Do you raaily eat them ar' critters on Norths.“Certainly we do, said' Doryj “but you said you bad seen them, down n the Louisiana swamps—they winter there, I expect.“Winter and summer Jb kb. Thar ar5 a few, i should think, in Arkansaw! Two of my boys was down einpVih*, wood for the steamer t’oth ir da , and .them ar’ snipe sung so loud they came back ,at-night, and said tbar war a camp meerin’goia’ oh down the river. , ' ' 1 .“Sing? inquired Dory. “That is singular. At the North, as they rise, i have beard them utter a low- whistle, but never I \ [y (knew they sungAefore! ‘ *# Sing!** said the^ Rackensackian—“theywo so they make my ha'r stand on eend.— You raaily shoot them ar5 critters on to the North? Stranger, if. you’ll only comer up to my plantation and shoot off the crop thar,Ifii give you the best horse vou can-pick out, and throw in a nigger to take keer of htin.; “Where do you live? asked; Dory. “If veyer. I am up your way, you’ll have to-owe j me a horse and a negro. *• / ““ Wall* stranger, I live at Powder-horn Pint, % on Meto Creek, 'bout, thirtymiles from Napoleon, atd .cuss me if the mao that' shoots off them at' birds for1 me don't be my eternal friend—he will I' Look Ryar, thein^fernal thing? pitched into my youngest childarter it was born, so that /its head swelled up ae big as punkia S ...* —“Pitched into your child Jr^swelled head ! bir as a pumpkin! Did snipe dojhis?’? aeked Dory in great hopes of having discoy erod something new*“ Wai they. did i ^Leastwise ,whai you call snipe. We call'cm muskca tera! —. .v..- Giani tableau. Durtain descends to slowmusic of todiy sticks, broken ice, and the song qfanTArkansas ^nipaJ..Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1855.—{Spirit of the Times.0 8 '1 Vt1(Tndy»iie[al-Iid4tiIIctlt;tifcetoto13titidte193310iewLBminadte;aie.r-f-o—cccfIlt;I\t£Iitieo-£I* «t*Iettlt;I11ete
Newspaper Details
Quincy Daily Quincy Whig
Quincy, Illinois, US
Sat, Dec 01, 1855
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Kevin S.
CA 12 Mar 2022
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