The First Time I Saw God

The First Time I Saw God

It was about 5:15 p.m., 108 miles northeast of Oran, I remember, when the starboard gunners shouted, ‘’Torpedo off the bow!” The helmsman tried to swing her so the thing would run parallel to us, but the old bucket was bottom-heavy with about 9,000 tons of high...
Mister Howard was a Real Gent

Mister Howard was a Real Gent

The week before Thanksgiving that year, one of the Old Man’s best buddies came down from Maryland to spend a piece with the family, and I liked him a whole lot right from the start. Probably it was because he looked like the Old Man—ragged mustache, smoked a pipe,...
People Like Us Never Grow Up

People Like Us Never Grow Up

I do not mean to sound bitter about this, for perhaps it is not the fault of the wet-eared young… This piece is being written in a bug-ridden swamp on the banks of the sluggish yellow Tana River, in northeastern Kenya, where the big elephants bugle and the...
Broken Down and Shot Out

Broken Down and Shot Out

When the Tin Liz breaks down five miles from home, the Old Man and the Boy discover a new way of bird-hunting. A classic from the September, 1956 issue of Field & Stream.

But Not On Opening Day

But Not On Opening Day

“I promise you,” he said, “on my word of honor, I won’t die on the opening day of the bird season.” Now you know your first big cock pheasant is a sight to see. There maybe ain’t nothing as dramatic, whether it’s an elephant...