Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-09
LET THE boys SHOOT.
give Your Son Gun when He Under
stands Handling IL

Give Your Son Gun When He Under~
stands Handling 1t
By all means let the boys have their
rife and shotgun, furnish them rea-
sonable amount of ammunition and pay
their license to shoot, if we ever come
to that protective measure How else
can the boy learn to shoot? If 1 had
my way every boy and every girl should
learn TO shoot, even though they never
killed alone a single head OF game. 1t
is not the extinguishing of the vital
principle Of either bird or beast for
which men go afield, and the game
butcher should never be classed as q
sportsman.
The rifle and revolver are weapons,
the use of which demands physical
conditions never found in the indolent,
effeminate or dissolute. They are
Weapons for men and women, not for
dolls of either sex. If every boy and
girl was early taught the use aud the
abuse of firearms the death rates from
accidents caused by carelessness would
be reduced to the minimum; the num-
Der of corner loafers, cigarette-smoking
round-shouldered, delicate boys, and
girls afflicted with corsets, nerve-tire
and headaches would decrease in direct
proportion TO the increase of recruits
to the army of those now enjoying such
sport.
And what is to hinder? Any one of
half-dozen American manufacturers
makes rifles sufficiently light for ladies'
or boys to use: prices are such that any
one of moderate means can own the
very best; accuracy is unsurpassed; and
ammunition, that is, the 22-caliber
cartridges, which are plenty large
enough for all ordinary range, is very
cheap. But alasl tickle fashion has
decreed that the girl-child shall be a
woman before reaching womanhood,
and must never condescend to mingle
in manly sports unless the thin veneer
of fashionable polish should be marred.
Fathers forget they were ever boys and
wanted gun; or being without desire
that way compel their boys to think as
they do or to use weapons surreptiti-
ously. No, l,give those boys chance,
and the girls too.
| Let those parents who are not sports
men, and are blessed with children i'm
bued with those instincts, take the time
and trouble to learn the art themselves
and instruct their boys and girls. Ny
word for it, such children will love you
with deeper intensity, will spring to
obey your commands with q better
| grace; for has not their father-their
ideal of all that is good and great as
sociated himself with them in their
play? And where is there normal
child who would not rather associate
with his father than with any other
companion?
You who yourselves love the gun dc
not, I beg you, think it bore to guide
the youngster in the paths you love SC
well, or think it tiresome to initiate him
in the mysteries of an art fascinating
alike to young and old. Bear in mind
your own youth and how your heart
would have gone out to any one who
would have taken time and trouble tc
help you become good shot,
Our boys and girls are to be the
fathers and mothers Of other boys an6
girls, and how can we mold tn,
generations of those who shall take ou
places unless we stand sponsors to the
sports as we'll as to other educationa
advantages? And where is there to bt
found cleaner, more scientific, more
manly sport than rife-shooting p
Forest and Stream.