Evening journal., 1913-04-26

The afternoon is grey; a moderate
ly stir breeze, with a touch of winter
chill in it, is blowing across an up
land field on the north bank of the
Brandywine just outside the city of
Wilmington, Delaware.
Below, in romantic grandeur, lies
the valley where, in the stirring days
OF the Revolution. momentous chap
ters of the nations history we're en-
acted
Later. during the War of 1912.
when the newly-constructed fleet OF
the valorous Perry rested upon the
waters of Lake Erie, awaiting battle
stores, caravan of prairie schoon-
ers" laden with black powder and
conveyed by squadron of American
cavalry, wended its way along the
road that skirts the historic Brandy
wine. A few weeks afterward, Amer
lean powder, made in little water
power mill on the bank of the Brandy
wine. was first used in an American
war, and Commodore Perry's name
was destined to illumine the pages OF
history
Such are the surroundings amid
which the writer is to spend a few
hours with the members of the du-
Pont Gun Club, whose membership of
over five hundred makes It., perhaps,
the largest in the world.
Within the clubhouse a monster log
blazes in the great stone fireplace,
while circled around, club fellows and
guests swap stories of days in wood
and marsh and of wild animals l
have met" or would like to meet
Other shooters are busily engaged
assembling their guns and receiving
boxes of shells at the window OF a
caged-in space in a corner OF the
ROOM
A young man. with a pad in his
hand, calls: Squad number one
Doremus, MacMullen, Hammond
Belts, Colfax; on trap number one.
The shooters whose names have
been called grab guns and shells and
make for the firing line, for each must
be at his peg within two minutes.
The crowd around the fireplace
breaks up and follows the squad
"Pulli" a shooter calls.
. Bangl
A lark quickly takes wing from
among the long brown grass and
bDtbuc cAN dl al a tdtt Ahol RhtJ h-N'~N
of danger could make possible. Hac
the bird been able to speak, II would
no doubt. have declared that an at
tempt had been made upon its life
, But the lark would have been wroni
In its conclusion, and this in spite o
: the fact that a charge of shot haC
been sent in the direction of the bird
and that four more loads followed II
: pull bang order.
However, FIVE birds" we're kill
ed" but not a feather was rutne'
or a drop of blood spilled. The quar-
ry of the shooters was clay pigeons.
Breaking them. or doing your best to
is called trap-shooting.
If YOU have never tried the sport
there is a new JOY in life that yol
have little dreamed of-that is, II yol
have the red blood of the sportsman
in your veins.
Likely you have never seen it; i an
sure | never have, but It is at th'
gate of every gun club, just as trul
- as If il were painted in the blackes
black upon the whitest white. IL is
sign Read it, This is no Place TO
Mollycoddles."
Let chaps Of this class spend siren
nous p minutes in knocking mol
fensive croquet balls about th
So green sward or sip tea on the countr
club veranda. A shooting-ground
not the place for them. Do not TAX
this to mean that trap-shooters ar
boorish or ill-mannered, for at tn
traps every man is a gentleman
or he will feel the ostracism of tn
"gilent treatment" The shooter ma
not be proficient in the use of tn
arnnnffif if
may be as unmeaning to him as dii
= ferential calculus. but in the fund;
mental-respect for the rights of oti
ers. the first essential of a gentle
mana trap-shooter must qualify {
early leave the game.
Ability to shoot--to consistent
break a goodly number of a string
;, targets-is the one consideration tn
determines a mans place in the spoi
Proof of this lies in the fact thi
in any gun club whose membership
open to the general public "a butche
a baker or candlestick maker as Il
old saw runs, may develop a degr'
of skill which his millionaires Gu
toner. shooting in the same squa
would pay handsomely to posses
There is no class or caste In tn
game. which is as broad as the gre
out-of-doors where it is enjoyed
y But let us go back to the traI
Number one squad has moved up
the second tray to finish the scol
and another five men have taken the
places at trap number two.
The man on the last peg has
even "dusted" a single target Wi
every shot he finches. His fifteen
and last shot on this trap, like {
others he has fred, has simp
punched a hole in the air. "Straigl
: aways,' "right-quartering' and lie
auartering' birds have been shot
with the same disregard for "lea'
"elevation," angle or other techn
aIity of the science of the sport.
Science Yes, that is the word, T
there is no other game. not even {
cepting baseball, which is me
scientific than trap-shooting Y
with the human equation not so gre