PASS SHOOTING. 329 



But this we did not do, and after we saw the awful pile 

 of game we had when we got it together, every one of 

 us was mighty glad we had killed no more, even the 

 question of the law aside. All of these birds, except 

 those eaten by ourselves, were taken to Fargo and there 

 disposed of, Mr. Bowers and myself laboring faithfully 

 till we had them all given away. It is sure we killed 

 enough. How many we could have killed had we all 

 shot all day long as steadily as possible I should not like 

 to say. I believe we could easily have fired from 500 to 

 600 shells apiece and have killed perhaps one- fourth or 

 more of that number of birds apiece. But what a 

 butchery that would have been, for even our one party. 

 What a butchery it would be for many parties, taken 

 for not one day, but for many days. I never had the 

 lesson of moderation more forcibly impressed upon me. 

 It was not at first pleasant, I admit, and I vaguely 

 found the customary excuses for doing what I wanted 

 to do, just as human nature always finds such excuses ; 

 but once the temptation was overcome we each of us 

 felt happy. We are each ready to say that the killing 

 of twenty-five ducks on a red-hot pass is fun enough for 

 one day for any man, and that the law is a good one 

 and should stand and be respected. This limit is one 

 which should be set in every gentlemen's shooting club 

 all over the land. It is enough. It is at the moment 

 hard to realize it, but it is enough. Stop at twenty- 

 five, and you feel bad at the time, but good after a 

 while. 



So we went away long before evening, while a cold 



