Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-10-04
THE GUN. AND THE DOG
by D. w. Norr is of Grinnell1

by ~. w. MOTT
Not long ago one of the editorial
writer's of the T.-R. moralzed on the
boy with the gun. The text was the
accidental killing of little girl, by a
boy shooting at a mark with a % rifle.
When | read the headline "Confiscate
the Rifle" l was encouraged. Here at
last, l thought, is a daily newspaper
of wide circulation and great influence,
advocating just what have been adj
vocating formany years, but before had
finished the reading l was disappoint-
ed. In his conclusion the editorial
writer advocates only the confiscation
of the rifle In the hands of his neigh
boris boy not his own. He deplores
the almost criminal carelessness of the
boy with the gum but, 1T is a good
thing for a boy to learn to shoot well.
1t is a clean sport and to be encour-
aged" etc, etc. This reminds me of
the mothers advice to her boy to learn
to swim before going into the water
Now why should boy learn to shoot
well? Will some one please answer
this inquiry? The writer has lived all
most sixty years. ard he never learned
to shoot. He has nothing to regret. As
an accomplishment, and that Is all 1t
is, shooting is ~ most contemplate
one People in civilized communities
no longer have to shoot to get food.
The profession of the soldier is on the
decline, and for that matter. to shoot
well is no accomplishment even to the
soldier. for soldiers do not aim when
they fire. To shoot well is about as
useful as tennis, or diving, or walking
a tight rope. know of no one who
can gain livelihood by shooting.
Several years ago we heard often of
one Colonel Budd, of Des Moines, who
excelled as a shooter. Colonel Budd
is about as useful to society. as John
L. Sullivan the prize fighter, and just
about as prominent. Then why should
a boy learn to shoot? Os a sport it
has absolutely no athletic value.
Guns go with dogs One has about
as much right in a civilized community
as the other. The man with the gun
always has dog, and where you find
dogs, you will find guns.
The gun habit and the dog habit go
together Neither can be Immediately
eradicated, but both can be minimized
ana Dull IldOlIS dIC Sluls
ply manifestations Of the brute instinct
in mantle gun is used to kill, the
dog to mangle and destroy. A few
days ago a prominent insurance man
of Des Moines, useful member of So
ciety, man who had wife and chill
dren dependent upon him, died, the re-
suit of an accidental wound received
while hunting squirrels. The beau
tiful little fox squirrel had never in
jured this man. Its little carcass may
be toothsome, but it would hardly serve
to stay the pangs of hunger. This
man started out to kill them-just for
fun. l regret the result. I feel deeply
for those who grieve for him. At the
same time there is a sort of retributive
justice in the tragedy. Yesterday one
of the leading lawyers of northern
Iowa gave up his life to the gun habit.
His wife mourns a husband, his child
rem a father, because this man started
out to take innocent life just for fun.
/ may be crank and I may be wrong,
nevertheless, I have profound con-
tempt for the man who kills an in
nocent, harmless thing, Just for fun.
and just as sure as there Is retributian,
lAC lllllS WILL SOllON WA1Oll Gil A15
minded men will feel just as do now.
But the gun goes with the dog and
while one is tolerated, the other will
be. We read every day of the grief
and misery caused by dogs, yet, be-
cause of prejudice, and the. brute in
stinct within us, we submit to things
that 100 years hence would shame a
Feejee. Several weeks ago, in a town
in northern Iowa, six little children
We're bitten by a mad dog. There was
absolutely no excuse for the cur that
wrought this havoc. Mammals darling
wanted a dog to play with; he got the
dog and six children were mutilated.
Four of them We're Immediately taken
to Chicago to be treated, to avoid, if
possible, the horrors of hydrophobia.
The parents Of the four children taken
to Chicago, were subjected, each, to an
expense of $100,and all the agony Of sus-
pense, in order that mammals darling
might have dog to play with. About
two weeks ago, two little girls in a
northern county were bitten by a mis-
cradle dog, afflicted with rabies, and
they were hurried off to Chicago, to be
treated.
If one should take one daily paper,
and beginning with January 1, should
record all the tragedies caused by dogs,
until the next January /, he would
have a record that would appall men.
About six weeks ago, A. j. Blakely,
of Grinnell, who has farm near town,
lost twenty-eight thoroughbred sheep
in one night by dogs. The tenant, Mr..
Roseland, found three dogs among the
,,11 I'M taoriY1O nd
mangling them. They skunk away. He
thinks he can locate the owners of the
dogs, but unfortunately they are all
execution proof These men lost TWEEN
ty-eight beautiful, useful, valuable
sheep, thoroughbred and registered, In
order that some of their neighbors may