OLD FOLKS AND THEIR FIRELOCKS. 205 



just the proper charge, and as it is detached from the 

 horn or flask there is no danger of fire being communicated 

 to the magazine ; so that an explosion, if it happened, 

 would do no serious injury, being confined to the loose 

 powder of the charge itself. Paper used as wads will 

 sometimes continue burning for a short time after being 

 blown out of the gun, and may set fire to straw, or even 

 dry grass. 



The old folk, therefore, when it was necessary to shoot 

 the starlings on the thatch, or the sparrows and chaffinches 

 which congregate in the rickyards in such extraordinary 

 numbers — in short, to fire off a gun anywhere near in- 

 flammable materials — made it a rule to load with green 

 leaves, which would not burn and could do no harm. 

 The ivy leaf was a special favourite for the purpose — the 

 broad-leaved ivy which grows against houses and in 

 gardens — because it is stout, about the right size to double 

 up and fold into a wad, and is available in winter, being an 

 evergreen, when most other leaves are gone. I have seen 

 guns loaded with ivy leaves many times. When a gun 

 gets foul the ramrod is apt to stick tight if paper is used 

 after pushing it home, and unless a vice be handy no 

 power will draw it out. In this dilemma the old plan 

 used to be to fire it into a hayrick, standing at a short 

 distance ; the hay, yielding slightly, prevented the rod 

 from breaking to pieces when it struck. 



Most men who have had much to do with guns have 



