EXPERT SHOOTING.
Every custom, vocation, or study that has for its object the protection
of home, self, or one’s just rights, the defense of the weak or the
protection of the innocent, is justly denominated “manly,” and commands
universal respect and admiration. If such attributes or qualifications
as a steady nerve, a clear, penetrating gaze, and intensity and
earnestness of purpose, are combined with quickness of action and
courageous bearing, the admiration grows stronger and the respect
deeper.
[Illustration: BREAKING GLASS BALLS AT FULL SPEED.]
Years ago scarcely anybody save the professional duelist would ever
have thought of making an accomplishment of rifle or pistol shooting,
unless, like the enlisted soldier or the dweller on the prairies, a
practical knowledge of fire-arms and their uses became an absolute
necessity for self-protection or the performance of duty. Yet now
so-called “fancy shooting” is considered rather a “fad,” and its aptest
exponents are objects of laudation and applause. The huntsman is no
longer a slayer of game and wild beasts as a means of subsistence for
himself and family, or for sale to neighbors or in the public market.
The elephant is now rarely killed for his tusks, the tiger for his
skin, or the buffalo (what few there are left of this species) for
his flesh. Now the “chase” is a mere sport, like “hunting the covers”
in Merrie England, and men boast of their prowess as hunters much as
they do of their skill at billiards. Yet an expert with the rifle or
the pistol is an object of applause and admiration, and even the
more courageous of the fair sex love to try their skill at a target.
For a time the old pastime of archery was revived, but, whether its
difficulties or its present-day impracticability was the cause, it has
been abandoned by the fashionable world, and shooting-galleries are now
the “thing” rather than archery clubs.
In the march of progress the club, the lance, the javelin, and the
long-bow have been thrown aside, and modern invention has given us
the cannon, the shotgun, the musket, the rifle, and the pistol. Some
writers have even argued, and ably too, that the invention of gunpowder
had a most powerful and active effect upon the civilization of the
world.
However, the acts of aiming and discharging the projectile, and
successfully striking the target, be it animate or inanimate, possess
a rare fascination for the world at large. What boy has not enjoyed
raptures of delight at the story of William Tell, and the fact of his
having shot the apple from his son’s head has made a more lingering and
lasting impression upon the readers of the story than his struggle to
liberate his countrymen from the tyranny personified in Gessler; and
you iconoclasts give mortal offense to the youth of the world when you
dare assert that their hero of Switzerland is a myth. There is no story
more interesting, told to the good little boy who regularly attends
his Sunday-school, than that of David’s wonderful marksmanship when,
by throwing a pebble from a sling, he struck the mighty Goliath and
slew him. David’s after-history, his glories and his sacerdotal power,
though ofttimes told the youthful Biblical scholar and repeated to him
in sermons when he grows older, may have an effect, but still it is
the incident of David’s meeting with the giant and his victory over him
that most surely impresses him.
To learn the science of accurate shooting by constant practice in
a gallery especially prepared for that purpose, the target being
inanimate and incapable of retaliation, may, and often does, result in
aptitude with the revolver and the rifle. To preserve this cleverness,
however, the conditions must always be the same. The proper light must
fall correctly upon the target; nothing to disturb the serenity of
the surroundings or to distract the attention of the shooter must be
permitted.
A grade higher comes the hunter. His targets are living, breathing
objects. Sometimes he may stealthily approach, unobserved, and secure
an aim while the object is at rest; again, the bird flies, the beast
runs, and then his scientific calculation must be quick and accurate.
But in both of these the disturbing element of probable, almost
certain, retaliation is lacking. The excitement of rivalry or the
enthusiasm, added to the uncertainty, of the chase may somewhat agitate
the nerves of the shooter. His own safety is assured, however. How
often do we read of a meeting on the miscalled “field of honor” of
two men, both famous as pistol-gallery shots; men with whom to hit
the “bull’s-eye” nine times out of ten shots is a common occurrence,
yet who exchange leaden compliments that are as barren of results as
would be the feeding of a hungry man on “angel food.” What is the cause
of this? It is the actual, assured knowledge that in this instance
the targets are equally animate, equally prepared thoroughly for
retaliatory action, both equally anxious, and as capable of hitting the
target the one as the other, and a sure consequence is that the nerves
of both shooters are “like sweet bells, jangled, out of tune.”
The soldier whose lessons in the handling of fire-arms have been
learned on many a hard-fought field has acquired a steadiness of nerve,
a sort of reckless fearlessness, and, at times, even a contempt for
danger which its constant presence has taught him. All honor to the
soldiers who in steady column, shoulder to shoulder, or in dashing
charge to the shrill cry of the bugle, have fearlessly breasted the
scathing fire of the enemy’s guns. But in this case the inspiriting
association of comrades, the encouraging sense of companionship, cheers
them on, and they at least momentarily fail to really appreciate the
thorough seriousness of their situation.
How different from all these pictures is that of the daring scout, the
intrepid cowboy, the faithful guide, of the unsettled West. To either
of these danger is so constant, so frequent in its visitations, that
it has become an expected presence. An ear quick to detect a rustle
of the leaves, a footfall on the turf, the click of the hammer of
a rifle; an eye to instantaneously penetrate into the thickness of
the brush; to detect, locate, and photograph a shifting speck on the
horizon; to measure distance at a glance, and to fix the threatening
target’s vulnerable point in an instant are absolute necessities.
Added to these, as an absolute essential, must be nerves as tense as
steel. A tremor of the arm, nay, the slightest quiver of a muscle, that
sends the bullet a hair’s-breadth from the point aimed at, may cost
not only the death of the shooter, but the lives of those depending
on him for safety. No fancy shooting this; for more than life--honor
and reputation, the preservation of sacred trusts and cherished lives
committed to his care, depend upon his coolness, his courage, and his
accuracy. In a moment all will be over for good or ill, and upon his
single personality all depends. The stake is fearful.
These indubitable facts considered, is it surprising that these
danger-baptized heroes of the West stand to-day as the most marvelous
marksmen of the world?
The amateur sportsman, the society expert rifle-shot, the ambitious
youth, and even woman, to whom all real manly exploits and true heroism
are admirable, all take sincere pleasure in witnessing the feats of
marksmanship of the cowboy, scout, or guide expert, and wonder at his
marvelous accuracy. It is because actual necessity was the foundation
upon which their expertness was built that these surpass all others
in the science. What appears wonderful to others is in them but the
perfection of art.
Looking at expert shooting as a pastime, a science, or a means of
protection or self-preservation, the awakening of the manhood of
the country and the up-growing youth to its possibilities is surely
to be commended and encouraged. No man is more to be credited with
the accomplishment of this than Gen. W. F. Cody. His romantic and
picturesque history and his wonderful accomplishments have attracted
to him the attention of America and Europe, and no one man is more
capable of exemplifying the science of shooting than he. A graduate,
with high honors, of the school where expert shooting is taught by
the best practice and actual experience, he is master of his art. The
object-lessons he gives are of incalculable benefit to the ambitious
student of marksmanship, and sources of delight to all. His trusty
rifle is now a social friend, whose intimacy is founded on dangers
averted, heroic deeds accomplished, and honors nobly won.
[Illustration: A NOONDAY HALT ON THE PRAIRIE.]