The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1888-03-31


Outdoor Sports-Physical Results.
The woman who shoots is at present rare
BIRD, and we only know, writes Lady Fairlie
Cuninghame, u few who attempt it. The
Comtesse de Paris is a crack shot, and her
bag has been chronicled pretty regularly
every week lately. On three days visit to
Lord and Lady Coventry, at Croome court,
she shot no less than 222S rabbits to her own
gun. Very likely this sport, like all others,
Will soon have its following of fair enthusiasts.
The best makers have now some very light,
small bore guns, whose killing powers, if
only held straight, quito come up to the
leavy twelve bore of twenty years ago; so
there is no reason why the example set by q
few should not soon be generally followed.
Even now there are some ladies who shoot
grouse i'll the Highlands, just as there arc
very few who have brought down their
stag i'll deer forest.
Many ladies walk with the guns part of
tho day, and the going is often sufficiently
rough to tax tho powers Of an ordinary wo-
man, whether it be tramping knee deep over
Highland heather, or crossing an Irish bog
That shakes at every step, and whose deep
bitches, full of peaty brown water, with a
doubtful taking off, present difficulties only
to be overcome by the young and active.
Even the tanner sport of partridge shooting
in England requires good walking powers;
tho sticky clays are very heavy going, and
stumbling over turnips when bit tired is
not over pleasant.
Covert shooting is no doubt, tho kind
ladies' enjoy most, and to stand beside good
shot for an hour or two in the afternoon at d
warm corner" and see him bowl over hare
or rabbit as they cross the ride, and rocketer
after rocketer, us they swing over the high
trees, is very exciting. One quitecnters into
the spirit of the sport, and feels as much all
noyed if fair shot is missed, and as much
delighted if q difficult one comes Off, us if one
held the gun ones self. Whether ladies' actu-
ally shoot, or merely walk after the guns, or
help to beat n covert, they must be properly
equipped. The boots must be of tho strong
est; the petticoat, il not of leather, ought to
be OF strong homespun; and tho whole cos
tune one that can stand wetting
The same advice may he given about fish
ing, if this sport is to be taken up seriously,
and not merely as an excuse for dling along
II river bank with IL rod, whose butt is as
often in the water as the flies and line arc
hung up i'll bush or tree. Fishing, as prac-
tlced by tho Duchess Of Roxbursh on the sill
yer Tweed, or the Ladies Gordon Lennox on
tho "thundering' Spey. is very different
business. These ladies are real fisherwomen,
and as Highland gillie said of one of the
latter, ut was just pairfect wonder to SEQ
her fush." 1t must he remembered that with
heavy SALMON rod, to make cast Of some
forty or fifty yards of line so that the fy
shall alight gently within few inches of the
desired spot, is by no means child's play. 1t
requires not only great skill, but certain
amount of strength To play and land u
salmon on Highland river means to be able
to dash up and down rocky banks, jumping
from bowldcr to bowlder, now in the water
and now out, to have ones wrists and all the
lculties of mind and body at tension pitch
rsometimes half an hour together, and, in
fact, to have every nerve and muscle in full
play.
There arc ladies who callathemselves fish,
rrwomen who hand the rod to the attendant
lille to do all the work, but to take tic bit
.er with the sweet, rs the Indies we have
named and many others do, requires energy
md perseverance, strength and some skill.
The same may, in degree, be said of most
'thcr outdoor amuscments-indeed tbey
m'lly existed i'll any form; but now all is
hanged with vengeance. The real fact is
.ilat women have been gradually emanclpat-
ing themselves i'll all countries from the con-
ventional trammels that used to fetter their
lives. Especially is this the case within the
last ten or fifteen years, and as in other
countries america in particularly women
hive taken to battle with the other sex in
professional life, so in sporting England do
they vie with man in many athletic pursuits.
Nowadays there arc few girls who cannot
either ride over u fence in good style and
follow lead across country, or play tennis,
cricket, fish and even shoot, aye! and very
WELL too; and who can tramp over moors
and tl,rnip fields, and in every way arc not
left far behind in those very pursuits which,
few short years ago, were looked upon us
entirely the privilege of man.
Kingsley says it is the hard east wind that
makes hard Englshman, and we in our turn
may add it is tho love Of outdoor life and
sports spced with danger that help to make
so many English women fearless and reso-
Lutte, and with "a heart for any fate. Home
Journal.