Some TOllmblc&on Ibcroes 6r, 5 



an act of patriotic duty, do their best to become 

 proficient in the use of their weapons. But not one 

 in a hundred will retain his intn hooting when 



the crisis is past. And a rifleman cannot be manu- 

 factured in a day, or a year. 



If rifle-shooting is ever to become popular it must 

 be made more attractive, and I think the Continental 

 system of carton targets at medium ranges would hold 

 out a more alluring prospect than the methods in vogue 

 at Bisley and similar meetings. If a man learns to 

 shoot straight at ring targets up to 350 yards, he has 

 at any rate mastered the rudiments of the art of 

 rifle-shooting, and that, with the prevalent scarcity 

 of long ranges, is as much as you can reasonably 

 expect. 



And then, why should not rifle meetings be invested 

 with some of those social attractions which made 

 Wimbledon so popular in its early days ? Why should 

 there not be something of the gala and the fete surround- 

 ing the competitions of riflemen 



With store of ladies whose bright eyes 

 Rain influence and judge the prize ? 



Think what an incentive to strenuous endeavour the 

 presence of pretty and gaily dressed women 

 afford ? The ladies would come if they were only 

 encouraged to do so. They could not be more bored 

 than they are at cricket matches. They would take 

 quite as intelligent an interest in shooting as they 

 do in cricket, if they were told that it was the correct 

 thing to do an interest not incompatible with charming 

 ignorance of the game in each case. 



