The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-04-13
DEL WING THE EONG nor,
a Few Facts of Interest Concerning
Archery.
Southern Edutat onal Monthly.

Archery.
! Southern Edutat onal Monthly
The first direct mention of Tic bow
is in Genesis, where Isaac said TO
E$au. "Now, therefore, | pray thee
take thy weapons, thy Quiver and thv
! bow, anh go into the iields and take
ne some vcniSon.' But although this
is tn" first recorded instance OF tEc
use Of thc bow. there can be no doubt
that it wHS Il we'll Known instrument
at 4 mach earlier date. probably be-
fore The dclugr, aad 1t least as early
as thc.timc OF Nimr0l. The mighty
hunter. The bow and arrow was
doubtless the chief instrument bv
which tie descendants Of Noah obcyrd
the injunction Of the Creator, "cvcrv
moving thing that liTctn shall be mcat
for vou."
l!t addition TO :hc Biblical mention
Of Archery, wc.havc well preserved
testimonies Of the sculptures OF
Nincrch, where Che bow is represents
cd rs the inTorite weapon Of KINGS
and their warriors. hoii. in battle and
Tie chase. The Oriental nations were
the uost famous for their superiority
! in Archery, and in many we'll con-
tested battle briWccn The Roman Lc-
gions with their javcinS and broad
swords, 'lr inrolnpHrabir infantry
and horse arrhrrs OF Tic ASiaic tribes
proved their superiority.
The great triunphs OF The boy and
arrow may he said to have coinu,cl!crd
with IN" accession Of the Norman line
to the E.GGlisl Crown, and !:on, that
time "" may ua.c ihu supremacy Of
Tie long UrW as Il military weapon
and III" perfection, ni skill! in lis usc
pom Tor r'AGr ana penetration, be-
sides is Wouhcr'u! nrr,;r"rv, which
ral!Nri ii ii 81 retain its place Us the
ciilt' ar!'S "f ,hc ii,i;ntE, long after
! the Introduction Of ii.r ;,i':nS. Ii was
thc HN@ri!" weapon OF Tie Nursr
tr!i:r- Hr't was brought by Duke Rolip
and his followers ii,o Southern Du-
rope. The bow achieved its greatest
! rcr"Wn. however, after the comuing-
ling OF Norman and Saxon into one
nation, and The :SnXons adopted the
| Norman long bow as the National
English weapon.
! The SaXons, driven to the forests
and morasscs by the oppression Of
their Norman .conlucrors, Hdurtri
| Archery as Il nicans Of drirncc. and
soon became 50 frarl'uIiy dcxieruu,
with the bow that the weapon which
had played so important Il part in their
sublu@ation was turned with marked
effect against their prosecutors. v hen
at length Norman and Saxon merged
into one united English nation, the
long bow became the terror OF the
enemies Of England. Tie i.urorcau
Continent, and even the SaracanS.
during the Crusat"s, soon learned TO
avoid the English Archcrs is thc mos.
Formidable ORAL foes; the lwHng of
the cord OF thc English long bow be-
came 10 be universally dreaded in
spain. France. the Netherlands, and
even among The Alpine i;a.incSscS ,of
Switzerland. In ~ tic Important
pitched battles OF The En"lish pian.a-
gcnotS on The soil OF France, against
the most imposing odds. il was the
English long bow that achicvrd the
most clirctual results. SO much was
the weapon dreaded that the report
that 'cnry or an Edward was ar-
proacching with an army OF eight or
ten thousand archrrs was enough TO
set The alarm bells ringing from Calais
to Notrc-Danc.
The long bow was tic principal
weapon Of the English infantry as
late as the sixteenth century, and al
though DOW only used as Il rcr!vativc
and hca!thinl rastimc, we think that
ITS entire uiscontinuanoc as Il weapon
or warfare was, in some respects, I'M
wise. The correctness Of aim. the
power OF flight and penetration Of the
terrible missiles were prodigious; ia
shooting matches, three hundred yards
was the common range and ihc orii-
nary mark was straight willow rod
as thick rs MANS thumb and five
feet i'll length, which II really good
archer held it shame 10 miss.
Nhrn shooting in volrrs, they
sometimes used Il much longer range.
at two hundred yards, no Hrmur but
the Spanish or Milan steel plate could
resist the English arrow.
In the collections OF. the Earl Of
Pembroke, DR.. Mayrick and others.
there IS abundant proof OF the shaft
OF the archcrs being driven through
the brcaSt-piatcS Of The best material.
and tho whole body Of ,hc wcarcr, and
then through the steel back-platc.
AZ the battle OF Crccy was Il fearful
illustration OF the terrible effect OF thc
English loug bow. The graphic de-
Scription Of this battle given by
fr"i>&ar! Is, i'll fact, virtually the ac-
count OF the most victoriouSly fought
battles OF the English against tho
French and Scots during the Middle
Ages. Long after the introduction
and complete success of muskctrv,
which may be said TO date from Tie
battle ottawa, archery still continued
to be cherished in England ard re-
gardcd as the mainstay Of the national
defense.
| -~-----<oo o;---.------.
y TOUCHING SrONY.-IIon. a. IT.
Stephens, Of Georgia, in an address
delivered in 1910 at q 'mcctinu in a.
eXandrin for the benefit of the orphan
asylum and free school of that CITY.
| rClul cd iiln InllnANinu. nnnu.l.I.. a..