Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-21

this time with both army and VIM
chester automatics. These Wlncnes-
terS shot the size, bullets that Ern-
est'S big deer gun shot, only l could
hit something with them, and when
you hear that the targets were an
! set at 100 meters distance you il
agree that was something. Surprised
myself and the official scorer again
the second day by getting six planes
out of six shots at the moving tar
get with rifles, and, going to the
machine gun where they moved one
around while he was sighting, made
six whites and eight bullseyes out
| of forty shots. Pretty punk, thought
| until discovered some never hit
1t at ALL Sure was great sport,
, though. and any one wishing noise
would sure have had his fill there
| They also had another machine
with all the controls of a regular air
plane in it, the machine gun in front
and the controls arranged by
springs and air pressure so that they
had the same functions as II one
"as in a real airplane. That was
the darndest thing to steer and shoot
that ] ever sat in.
! C'ne would get the level with his
stick" control quite easily. bat the
| rudder was a sticker. Push lust n
| little too hard and the target would
! fly past so quick you couldn't pull
| the trigger; push too lightly ani The
coHtraption wouldn't move At all.
! And there one was, juggling hi:
! feet, hands, eyes and trying 10 use
his air feel to get a line on the tar
get long enough to pull the trigger.
| ! say with pride that | hit it once
out of forty times. which was quite
enough to get a swellcd head over.
as half dozen others never hit it
/ at all.
Speed Up Things
The last day we were given the
rifles and told to shoot six shots in
twelve seconds. Hit the target three
| times on this stunt. They speed ed
everything up that day, espe tally
| the machine gun shooting, as we
were required to shoot forty shots
at Il moving target while it ran 150
yards. This was supposed to be done
regardless of jams and | had ten
while ] was trying it. Even at that,
| got six hits. ] don't know whcth-
err Re called that good or not, but
when the three days were up, oar
aN erages totaled and ALL the officers
in charge said we were all good.
but that | was the best in the bunch.
| only found this out through Il mis-
understanding, because | wanted to
| know If our marks received for
shooting made any difference in re-
| CARDS to which part of the front we
would be sent to, and what esca-
/ drille. whether one with a iiShtins;
reputation in an exciting sector, or a
new one in quiet part of the from.
Since he spoke a little English
| asked the man in charge of our
| Il nf
| He misunderstood me and thought
| wanted to know who was the oest
shot in the bunch. That's how I
! found out how good l was; at least
| he thought so. but | didn't and still
do net And it amuses me to think
that IL l am good, what is bad ?
| Furthermore, If only one shot out
OF forty hit the mark when l used
the dummy plane. it begins to look
as If the Germans won't need "Gott
nit them Yes. indeed, my aver
age will have to go higher than that,
or your prayers may be given The
acid test. OF course. | have not
actually shot from a plane yet, but
expect to very shortly, and that may
be little different.
| Those postals / sent were pictures
OF Il village near the shooting
school. If one could buy that LAND
| behind those targets he sure would
get rich digging up lead, for the
way lead is thrown into that hill
SIDE is caution. l must have blaZed
away some $50 worth of cartridges
myself every day. AS a Fourth of
July celebration I have yet to see its
equal, either in noise or enjoyment
I'll probably see a bigger celebration
before Xmas, for / should be at the
front by that time. No, was not
hunting a quiet sector of the front,
and that was not the idea in ask
ing the shooting instructor about
my probable escadrille. Merely
curiosity on my part, for they
seemed so interested in us and so
pleased when we made good show
ing that l was curious to discover
the reason. OF course, / didn't ,et
any satisfaction, unless it was to my
vanity: but one only gets things by
askine-or taking. And you know
| would not steal unless ] happened
to be near a pretty girl on a moon
light night. But that's another
story and doesn't come under a war
head.
Declines With Thanks
1 could write more of my impress
sion of the shooting school, but my
hands are too numb to write more
and this is my stenographer's day
off-yes, it's Sunday, and the old
lady whose house we are staying in
now wanted to take me to church
this morning. She called it mess"
and thinking she was referring to
the French army meal, l declined
with thanks. Later my roommate
explained the word, which was
mass" ] don't wonder the old
lady was shocked, but, then, my re-
ligious principles always seem to
shock people. In fact, flying does
not seem to make me any more re-
ligious.
We had "repos" this morning, SO
stayed in bed late, and now 1 can
smell the savory fumes of boiled
rabbit arising from the kitchen,
which is tres bien," because we are
! invited to dine with the old couple
to-day, and they have killed the
| fatted rabbit in honor of the occa-
sion. They are quite an amusing
couple and treat we two Americans
like long-lost sons, probably because
my roommate talks to them quite
a lot, he speaking French quite
fuently.
They also have a lot of fun listen
| ing to me taking a stagger at it once
in a while, too. This morning the
madame brought in a great big rab-
bit, carrying it by the ears. We
thought it was dead until she let ii
on the floor and it began hopping
around. Sure was a fat boy! After
| letting us view it for several min
utes, comment on its price and
toothsomeness, she picked it up by