8 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



never get a smith to replace that delicate piece of work- 

 manship, for this gun came originally from the hands of 

 a famous maker, who got fifty, or perhaps even seventy 

 guineas for it years ago. It did not shoot to please the 

 purchaser guns of the very best character sometimes take 

 use to get into thorough order and was thrown aside, 

 and so the gun became the keeper's. 



These fine old guns often have a romance clinging to 

 them, and sometimes the history is a sad one. Upstairs 

 he still keeps the old copper powder-flask curiously chased 

 and engraved, yet strong enough to bear the weight of the 

 bearer if by chance he sat down upon it while in his 

 pocket, together with the shot-belt and punch for cutting 

 out the wads from card-board or an old felt hat. These 

 the modern system of loading at the breech has cast aside. 

 Here, also, is the apparatus for filling empty cartridge- 

 cases a work which in the season occupies him many 

 hours. 



Being an artist in his way, he takes a pride in the 

 shine and polish of his master's guns, which are not always 

 here, but come down at intervals to be cleaned and 

 attended to. And woe be to the first kid gloves that 

 touch them afterwards ; for a gun, like a sardine, should 

 be kept in fine oil, not thickly encrusting it, but, as it 

 were, rubbed into and oozing from the pores of the metal 

 and wood. Paraffin is an abomination in his eyes (for 

 preserving from rust), and no modern patent oil, he thinks, 



