HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1939-03-30, Page 2PAGE TWO
Excels In Quality
sew
28
Trap Filled Staffs
Old Timer's Larder
(By J. MacT:avish ire the London
Free Press.)
Staffa Hill was not without its
quota of hunters and trappers back
in the 70's and S0's. And among them
was the person known to us as Old
,Geordie.
When atttumo had seared foliage,
and 'before winter set in, Old .Geor-
die's thoughts would revert from the
hollyhocks with 'fife bees, front the
earth with the grubs, hugs and bee-
tles, from the mountain with its leeks,
krinkle root and squirrels, to needs
for the larder, •cordwood to supply
fuel for the stove, hay and straw suf-
ficlent to fed and bed the cote,
During winter months he would
strive to locate and fell any tree that
'housed a raccoon; try to dig nut any
skunk ensconced in some under-
ground, hole; pull the head from a
hen, drag its body around the fence
inclosing a field bounded on one side
be- a woods, stake it to the ground,
set a trap to insure the possession of
the wily fox.
And whenever he caught a fox, it
w -as handled with the greatest of care.
It was skinned carefully, stretched
with the fur inside over the choicest
slab of wood he could find, suitable
for the purpose; well rubbed on the
outside with a mixture of saltpetre
and alum, then stored in the safest
and coolest place he could find, for
a fox pelt was always considered by
hint to be worth $r.
He was crestfallen if his coon
hides did not realize about $3 each,
and from the opening of the •'fall sea=
son till selling time, coon pelts of
various sizes could be seen stretched
and tacked to the outside boards of
the cow stable.
It was during the winter time that
he would turn his 'high back chair up-
side down, place it near the stove, lie
on the floor with bead and shoulders
supported by the Chair, and in this
position formulate plans for the
weeks ahead.
Every •daytitne was spent in this
way till the old man awakened to the
fact that spring's sharp nights and
soft noondays .were asserting them-
selves; that his busiest time was at
hand; that the muskrats would be
astir.
Traps with dangling Chains would
be taken from underneath the stair-
way and assorted; the 'gun would be
taken from the nail beneath the clock
shelf and cleaned anew; the long
cowhide boots would be 'greased and
softened with melted tallow, the
season for catching rats aplenty to
dispose of them at 10c a hide was
raider way,
And on trapping expeditions the
old moan nearly always went alone,
not even a dog being permitted to
go.
So, happy indeed, was the little boy
whom Old Geordie invited one morn-
ing to accompany him to the traps.
Dressed in rot torsade ,smock and
trousers, with weather—beaten slouch
felt hat, butte -made mitts, stub of
clay pipe iu urottth, Single -barrel,
muzzle -loading s'h'otgun in hand, the
old man's tracks were followed from
Itis log house to the graveyard, over
the hill to the hearer Meadow,
,which, although it was April, had ire
that bore both nate and boy.
.After going $xnc ,li ranee nearing
in and out etnottsr the _cedars. they
came te eSiat ele-,r,iie called
"The Mareey _-x. is Here and there
ri' t r i e, and ail
tt men d etneee the e ereelte, .:were
dot ker fn•:n fond.
grees. ,rex:: . - has.
\p: •t :he old
man handed zee. while
he examined it 'Na..;
explained was the .. .. - ....
nitskrat. To ac ut:r' tort
pole with a sharp et t
carefully dig or pi. ,'s arsre
enough to bring to hie' a trap ,.at
had been set the day before and
which had been eprung but field no
rat.
The trap was reset. the opening
filled with care. Then Old Geordie
shambled off to learn what was in
store for hitt' in the next nest.
Here luck fawned him. A flee rat
was in the trap. In order to escape it
made a hasty dire from its cosy nest
through the exit to the water, hut
the old man took hold of the chain,
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