The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-12-12

--- ~ wore tft>HFHf tuu syil5
yellow ours ike litle
II girl, but cannot remember
lsl l9lll Wien did not love gan.
-, -uns satisfied my early child
hood, but with my first pair Of pants
came the longing for real gun, which
rapidly increased us grew oder. My
brother VIII, two years my senior was
possessed with the same longing, and
by The time ! was nine and he eiev-
cn years OF are, we had come TO seri-
ouS.y consider ways ana means Of &c
quiFiug Il gnn. Our father was a very
positive iii his refusal to assist MS M
any material manner, and even went
SO far rs to forbid our attempting it
ourselves, considering rs too young TO
be trusted with gun.
Inclined TO obedience, we gave the
matter mp for season, but could not
bring ourselves wholly 10 abandon it.
One day brother Will came TO me IN
great excitement. saying he had found
a gun that could be bought for $1.5O,
ana that we must set about raising
the money at once, before some one
else secured the prize. 1t was large
sum Of money for us to get together.
and it cost much thought and labor
10 do it, but the possibility of owning
a gun stimulated us 50 that we speed
ily accomplished the task, and one
fine morning purchased and proudly
bore home our first real gun. 1t was
an antiquated army musket, rusty and
battered, but to our eyes all that a
gun ought to be-
We found It a heavy load to carry,
but no burden was ever borne more
cheerfa.ly A careful and critical ex-
animation of our treasure, after we
had gotten IT safely home. developed
the fact that it was 50 heavy neither
Of US had the strength to hold it out
in firing position. But VIII solved this
problem by suggesting that we could
shoot from 4 rest on some convenient
stump or fence.
Then on further Investigation we dis
covered that neither Of US was tall
enough to reach up to the muzzle Of
the gun to pour in the powder and shot
with which to load it, This was more
serious, and not so easily remedied as
the first difficulty. / suggested that
we might carry box TO stand on
when loading, but this plan did not
seem quite practical, and was not very
well received by my brother 1T Is
ali we can do TO carry The gun. without
1,,urtnrr a l,ie, bo.- 4oo ~,fI IL tfA,d
who ever heard Of anybody going
hunting with a gun and box TO stand
on when loading it:9 lie rather indig-
nantly inquired
/ think the fact of its being so unor-
thodox. rather than it's novelty. caused
us to dismiss it as wholly lmpractical
for we could not consider any method
not approved by sportsmen, now that
we had a real gun.
We finally consulted an OIL gun
smith, telling him our troubles. aud he
advised that we have the barrel Of the
gun cut off thereby reducing the
weight and the length and agreed to
do the job himself for the modest sum
OF forty-fve cents.
We promptly resolved ourselves. for
the second time, into ways and
means committee and after a few days
of as earnest financierlng ever fell
to the lot of men engaged IN ar enter
prise Of Importance. W. allied forth to
the gunsmith's with our gnn and the
price OF the desired improvements.
With something like two feet cut eff
the barrel and the same from the iron
ramrod, we had an arm that .i,her o.
us could hold-very briefy-in firing
position. and readily reach the muzzlc
Of from the ground
Cooking our gun gave us much
trouble at first but this we finally
learned to do by resting the muzzle on
the ground. bracing the stock against
our chest. and pulling on the ponderous
lock with both hands. The sound OF
the two clicks" announcing the
stages which we knew as half" aad
"whole cooked" was thrilling in the
extreme. bearing a strong Resemblance
TO the noise made By a heavy iire-set
falling on q stone hearth Ii was sim
ply sweet music 10 our ears. and we
knew that no gun ever had n stronger.
or more business-like click.
II was some time before we could
persuade our father to allow us to
fest It's shooting qualities and when
we did. our further knowledge Of the
gHn. and its strong characteristic
might be thus summed up. 1t had
wonderful capacity for ammunition.
taking q handful each Of powder and
shot at a load. with a handful Of paper
on EACH A very loud and booming re-
port when fired. A recoil. which led
US seriously to consider. at times.
whether or not the propelling power