The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-21
WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR.
Mr.. n. j. Travis Characteristic Re-
Spouse.

Mr.. IL. j. Travis Characteristic Re-
Spouse.
Mr.. r. j. Travis was down to respond
to the rather indefinite toast What
We Are Here For" He did so in his
own way.
1.-THE question which it falls my lot
to answer" said Mr.. Travis, sis one
which, ere 1 have finished speaking.
each one of you will be asking himself
and that. too, with ever increasing
earnestness. Had you, Mr.. Toastmas-
ter, asked me this only a few moments
ago, | would have answered that we
are here to be pleased by eloquence
and to learn from instruction Where,
for instance, could you learn more of
the traits of the fair sex than from our
eloquent friend Hitch, who, only re-
Gently, has become recognized as an
authority on this subject? And who
can tell us more of rifle practice than
our distinguished sharpshooter. Mr..
Stovall? Why his scientific lecture was
not surpassed by Cams exhaustive
manual of five pages. There is no
question but that Mr.. Stovall knows as
much of rifle shooting as does Anton
Wright of the Georgia Cracker And
having puritanical regard for the
truth. l surely cannot put it stronger.
But if Anton displays too much knowl-
edge OF the cracker, l put him on no.
tice that I shall diligently inquire as
to the books on this subject he has been
reading. And who, can tell us more
of the military than our distinguish
ed veteran of the Darien campaign.
Col. Lawton?
We are here as rihemen for the
pleasures of a social hour. We all
well recognize the advantages which
IN &C
practice; steadiness of nerve. accuracy
and precision-qualities not alone ply
seal, but which, in the long run, give
color to every phase of character
Prophet could not then foretell our
present grandeur. But we started TO
shooting and most of our civilization
has come from rife practice. Our earl
lest serious rifle practice began with
the Indian. AS he did not have the
regulation piece, he was entitled to a
handicap. l am afraid we jockeved
some in this contest At any rate we
did not give him the handicap. That.
too. was the day before the time of
Postell bullets and shoulder-pads and
no position was barred, the only re-
stricuon being that skirmish runs
could not be made in the wrong di-
recion. We outshot the Indian, how
ever, so that we now have a few tar
gets left which are preserved by the
government curiosities on some
Western ranges.
Our next rifle practice was with the
mother country in rs and so surprising
were our scores in that match that the
dissatisfied red-coats came back at us
for a consolation match in 1872, which
we readily obliged them with They
became satisfied. They made no COM
plant that there was any cheating in
the scoring in our favor
For a long time we had no contest
until we managed to entire our Mexi-
can neighbors into little friendly
bout. Well something must have been
the matter with their sights. They
needed to pinch off little more wind.
We not only madee high scores. but
subsequently even appropriated their
ranges.
Sad, indeed, was the day, however
deep the necessity when our fathers
turned their rifles upon each other in
internecine strife. Long lines of slabs
on many a Southern hillside tell how
deadly was the conflict
The last time, however the Ameri-
can has had anything more serious
than caribou shooting a la Battey was
on the occasion of the little skrmish
run on Spanish targets. We did the
Wilson act and fired all our cartridges
at the first few steps. Although we
met them on their own range. so
thoroughly We're they convinced of our
craftsmanship that up to this moment
we have received no request for con-
ISOLATION match
The Georgian has to shoot well.
With heart-stirring history, with an
ennobling past, with sons and with the
garden spot OF the South they should
make marksmen also in the range of
life A"