i 7 6 



The Review of Reviews, 



Fekrumry M, 1HS. 



WHY NOT A NATION OF MARKSMEN? 



Mr. C. B. Fry's Scheme of National Defence. 



•The Blot on British Games " is the title of the 

 first of a series begun by the editor in C. B. Fry's 

 Magazine. The blot is that " not one of our games 

 or popular sports has in any degree a martial 

 character. Not one of them — beyond the improve- 

 ment in physique which they effect — is of any mili- 

 tary value.'' This blot he proposes to remove, and 

 thereby render a service to the cause of national 

 ■defence. He proclaims himself " a most bitter and 

 extreme opponent of militarism,' 1 the introduction 

 of which would be, he says, " to the last degree 

 abominable." He would fulfil the first duty of an 

 able-bodied citizen to be able to bear arms if re- 

 quired, not by coercive enactments, but by enlisting 

 the national love of games and sports. In the old 

 days archery was a national sport of England, and 

 Crecy, Poictiers, and Agincourt were the result 

 What corresponds in modern times to the bow and 

 arrow is the rifle. 



THE SPORT OF RIFLE SHOOTING. 



The rifle alone is the weapon that counts, and 

 he asks, Why is not rifle-shooting one of our great 

 national sports? If only rifle-shooting were formally 

 established as a national sport, if the rifle to-day 

 were to the youth and manhood of the country what 

 the bow was of old, if we became a nation of 

 marksmen, what would we gain? he says. He 

 answers, " We lay, once and for all, the bogey of 

 conscription." We achieve a complete, potential 

 system of national defence. He adds: — 



Please bear in mind that no interference with existing 

 military forces is suggested. The auxiliary forces, in their 

 position as reserve and complement of the regular army, 

 are as necessary as the regular army itself. The numbers 

 and efficiency of the volunteers will not he reduced by the 

 fact that the man in the street is, for his own pleasure, a 

 good marksman. When, behind navy, army, militia and 

 volunteers, we have the youth and manhood of the country 

 -trained, and voluntarily trained, in the use of the rifle, 

 then is the nation, in the hour of need, indeed armed. 

 It is a nation capable of bearing arms, as a nation, at 

 short notice. Then, again— and this should have been put 

 in the van of my argument — rifle-shootins: in some form or 

 ether is eminently suited in every wav to be a national 

 pastime. 



At present he laments that rifle shooting is not 

 popular. It is not even common. It is the pastime 

 of a few. He goes on : — 



This state of affairs is due chiefly to (1) lack of facilities 

 for rifle-shooting; (2) ite tamenesB as at present practised; 

 (3) its sedentary nature; (4) the absence of the sporting 

 interest and of that co-operative principle which is the 

 prime factor in a popular sport. 



A COMPANION, NO RIVAL TO CRICKET. 



He absolutely abjures compulsory rifle-shooting. 

 He equally abjures the idea of it taking the place 

 ■of existing games. He wants to see rifle shooting 

 an additional sport parallel with cricket, football, 

 and the rest. It suits all physiques, it can be prac- 

 tised conveniently at any hour, under conditions 

 prohibitive of almost any other pastime. He in- 

 sists : — 



Universal marksmanship, founded on the sporting in- 

 stinct, is no chimera, but an ideal which can be realised. 

 Why should not Bolton be as keen on its shooting eight 

 as on its football eleven? Why should not Newcastle be 

 as proud to beat Sunderland on the rifle range as on the 

 football field? Why should not Lancashire and Yorkshire 

 be as enthusiastic over bull's-eyes as over boundaries? 

 Whv should not the winner of the King's Prise be as big 

 a "sporting hero" as the man who plays an inning? that 

 wins a Test Match? 



HOW TO DO IT. 



He then indicates how he proposes to bring this 

 about. He says : — 



I hope to show how present target practice may be re- 

 formed and popularised, and rifle-shooting transformed 

 from a dull and prosaic pursuit, not only into a sport, 

 but into a game; how the interest and keenness of our 

 manhood may for this purpose be aroused and fostered 

 and fortified through the medium of our great inter-club, 

 inter-town, inter-country, and international organisations; 

 how the existing lack of facilities as regards rifles and 

 ranges may be remedied; and especially how the. cooped- 

 up townsman, at present debarred from active participation 

 in sport or games, may be provided for. 



He is convinced that the " real solution of the 

 problem of national defence is to be found in the 

 sporting spirit of the nation." 



A PLEA FOR READING THE DICTIONARY. 



For some unaccountable reason the reading of a 

 dictionary is derided by popular wit as an absurd 

 practice. Yet there are few things more interesting, 

 not merely to the trained philologist, but to the 

 man of average intelligence. It may consort with 

 the highest order of imagination. Robert Browning 

 prepared himself for his vocation as poet by a sedu- 

 lous study of the English dictionary. In C. B. Fry's 

 New Year number, in his " Straight Talk " the 

 Editor asks : — 



Has it ever struck you that a thorough course of dic- 

 tionarv would he an immense factor for good in the 

 education of the Board and the National School child? 



He refers us to the man or woman of the people 

 holding forth to cronies as you pass along the street, 

 and asks if he or she would not be the better for a 

 more varied stock of adjectives. The poverty of 

 their vocabulary is " lamentable and surprising." 

 He asks : — 



What can be a better legacy to a child, after the rules 

 of its catechism and the knowledge of the value of soap and 

 of fresh air, than the power to use its own national 

 language freely and in the right wav? Give it a dictionary 

 lesson every day. Give it continual exercises in the mean- 

 ings of words. Give it lists of words that express clear 

 meanings. Soak it with the beauty of words. Stir the 

 pride of the right word in the right place in its mind. 

 Show it the souls of words, the old original meanings that 

 should still be current, but are often forgotten in new and 

 perverted meanings. Teach it how to talk. 



If you don't, it will learn to swear and decorate its 

 language with the sanguinary adjective. Mr. Fry 

 adds : — { 



Believe me, Nuttall, properly administered and imbibed, 

 is a surer means of culture than a study of the piano, 

 or many another elegance of refinement. Let the children 

 be taught how to express their thoughts as spontaneously 

 as they play. To drive out bad words you must pack In 

 good ones. 



