Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

 

     Some parts of France are still infested by wolves. An exchange says: “Every now and then in Franch journals there are paragraphs inserted telling of wolves not only killing stock, but attacking people, and French sporting prints abounds with such wolfish items. A recent report on wolves issued by the French authorities estimates the number of those predatory animals contained within the French frontiers to be 5,000, and that every year they inflict a damage of not less than 50,000,000 frances. These wolves are concentrated in a few districts,-Lourraine, Dauphine, and the Pyrenees. During last winter German Lorraine had its wolves, and the authorities paid a handsome sum for their heads. But a hundred years ago in France wolves were counted by the thousands, and even in 1798 as many as 6,478 wolves were killed in the twelvemonth. One of the curious reasons why wolves have not been exterminated years ago in France was because the killing of them developed on a privileged class designated as louveliers. This office of wolf-hunter dated as far back as the time of Charlemagne, and in time the post of louvelier was sold at high price, so that during the reign of Charles VI. It was forbidden that any one not a gentleman should kill a wolf. These wolf-slayers had certain privileges, and could quarter themselves on a village, exact food and lodgings from the people, and even insist on the peasants taking part in the battle without pay. In 1775 Louis XIV had his louveliers, but abolished rewards for killing wolves. During the Revolution wolf-killing as a privilege was abolished, and 300 francs was paid for a she wolf with young, 200 francs for a male, and 100 francs for a cub. Napoleon, however, desirous of a return to the mannors of the old regime, revived the louvelier. During the last empire wolf-killing became a fashionable sport, but it really did seem as if in certain portions of France these animals were preserved by the gentlemen sportsmen, just like in India, it is stated, tigers are more or less cared for the pleasure of killing them. To-day the commission on wolves abolish the louvelier and establish once more rewards for wolf-killing, and under exceptionalcircumstances the Mayor of a village has the right to organize a hunt and call on trackers. Perhaps next year some of our own people, tired of the Maine woods and the Adirondacks, might take their Winchesters or Sharps and distinguish themselves at wolf-hunting in Lorraine or the Pyrenees.