ON SHOOTING. 153 



ON SHOOTING.-I. 



THE VALUE OF EXAMPLE. 



TO sportsmen of riper years several seasons of almost total 

 abstinence from social shooting may have meant a certain 

 amount of inconvenience inseparable from the upsetting 

 of crusted habits. Even those who took it thus were in 

 a minority. Most of us had enough to do otherwise, 

 and too much by far to think about. But to the youth 

 of Britain those four years are a dead loss in the 

 matter of sporting education ; and that the youth of 

 Britain intends to shoot, the market for " lets," and even for 

 " sales," is a sufficient indication. Even the boy of unmilitary 

 age prior to the Armistice has lacked that experience which 

 goes far to shape his prospective qualifications, not only as a 

 good shot, but also and this is far more important as a 

 safe one, and, incidentally, as a welcome guest now and perhaps 

 as a tactful host in the future. For such a desirable con- 

 summation is the result of observation of the best models 

 and imitation of their technique. Going out with a keeper 

 may teach a boy the habits of game and vermin, and then 

 the elements of shooting, the safe management of a gun in 

 limited company ; but not so well as would going out with 

 his father, if his father is of the right sort and can spare 

 the time. Many fathers of the right sort can scarcely buy 

 cartridges at their present price ! The keeper's " style " in 

 shooting is usually a nightmare, unless he be one of the 

 competition-winning order, in which case he will improbably 

 be a good keeper. The latter is more skilled in the use of 

 traps and climbing-irons than of the " deadly hail." 



But the interruption in the career of a boy of the age 

 under consideration is as nothing compared with the 



