Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-02

days of August Is. HaHd47. 1905 This
will come during the ssseatisa days, and the
members of the association expect many
new recruits from the ranks of the BUSH
ness men of the country and the students
The present efrieers t3f he association are
Presidents aaTar Amos of Msshnk
ton, D. C.. vice preside and W. G. VAL
entine of Chicago, I'll Askree Dry and treas
urer. The execntfy@comnntteeS Is COM
posed Of DR.. Edward B. Weston, president
of the association; Mr.. Wallace Bryant of
Boston, Mass. Mr.. w. A. Clark of Wyom-
ing Ohio: Mr.. Benjamin Keys, of Chicago.
ILL., Mr.. Homer s..sTsE1o4 Is Chicago. H.:
and DR.. William Carver Williams, of Chicago,
given a part at the olympic games at the
Louisiana purchase exposition with the
other ancient and modern sports for the
contests with the bow and arrow were
used at times by the ancient Greeks dur
ing these games. They were also included
in the Isthmian and Nemean games, which
are like the olympic games in many re-
Spects The game has never fiourished in
this country like it's early promoters had
hoped that it would. and the National
Archery Association of the United States
selected st. Louis as the meeting, place be-
fore it was known that the olympic games
were to be held or archery to be included
in them.
In War and in Sports.
as an athletic snort-and the mythology of
the ancient Greeks tells us that Ulysses and
Hercules We're devoted to archery and that
the arrows of Hercules were feathered
with the plumage of an eagle The poet
Homer sang the praises of archery and
his writings today show the interest he
took in archery. History repeats that
civic guard of archers was maintained dur
ing the middle ages by the city of Athens as
one of the sources that the city might look
to for protection in time of war or at
tempted invasion. The great Roman en-
pire fell captive and was overrun by the
Goths, Vandals and Huns, whose ancestors
the barbarian people of middle Eu-
rope were expert with the bow and
arrow. Rome fell because she neglected to
improve her legions in the art of archery.
The Greeks used bows and arrows at the
seige of Troy and the sacrifice of lives at
that ancient city from this source was
large. The archers of the olden days were
to the great armies assembled upon the
fields of battle in those times as the sharp
shooters are to the armies of today The
Parthians were very skillful in discharging
their arrows. The great army that Xerxes
gathered at Marathon and at Plataea were
equipped with bows and arrows to a great
extent and skilled as no other soldiers of
the day were, and during these battles the
cloud of arrows was SO dense that the sun
was shut off from the. sight of the be-
Hgerents and the battlefield became dark
ened. During the medieval ages the Eng
lish adopted this form of defense as the
best and their armies were equipped with
the bow and arrow. .~
At Battle of Hastings.
England first saw the use of the bow
and arrow when at the battle of Hastings,
during the Norman conquest, Harold was
slain by an arrow. This loss upon the part
of the English hosts filled them with dis
may to such an extent that their army was
overthrown by the Norman archers. Eng
land, ever wise, took the hint that had
been impressed upon her in such a force
full way and in a short time the reigning
monarch ordered the armies of his country
to be equipped with this means of defense.
The English by constant practice became
expert archers and were much feared by
the rulers on the continent of Europe at
the time. AT Crecy, Poiters and Agin-
court during the wars with France they
overcame the French in each instance, who
greatly outnumbered them by their ability
as archers. At Agincourt the army COM
posed of 10000 French surrounded 1900
English, the greater part of whom were eX-
pert archers. The fate of the French dur
ing that encounter is well known. The
French cavalry being unable to maneuver
on account of the wet condition of the
ground had to remain in their position for
a considerable lengthzof time, during which
the arrows from the surrounded English
came in such numbers and were thrown
with such accuracy that the loss of the
French during that engagement alone was
upward of 10000. This taught France
lesson, and straight waysshe took UP the
Improvement of her arnig by inducing the
soldiers to take up arehefy4iR grea ter-num-
bers than they had previously done. When
firearms We're introduced about the middle
of the sixteenth century the civil wars of
the Roses had been fought and the Eng
lish were so aroused that they passed laws
the same militia laws of today, pro-
viding that the army should be drilled in
the use of this means of defense even more
than it had been done in the earlier days.
When firearms came the two weapons were
used together and the bow was in no way
supplanted by the more modern weapon Of
warfare.
Loss of Life Large.
During the engagement with the Spanish
Armada the loss of life caused by the
arrows of the English were large. When
the English first landed upon Plymouth
Rock 1t was found that the use of the
bow and arrow was well known upon the
great continent of the west and that the
American Indian was to be ranked among
the foremost archers of the world as his