HANDLING THE GUN 197 



held upwards ; and in giving the gun to another person 

 it should be held perpendicularly also, and the stock 

 delivered in this position. 



A schoolfellow of mine was shot dead on the first of 

 September, a few years since, by his friend handing his 

 gun to him through a hedge. The piece was on full-cock, 

 and a twig catching the trigger, it went off, and lodged 

 the contents in his side. Similar accidents are continually 

 occurring from the careless manner in which guns are 

 handled by inexperienced people. From the incautious 

 use also of powder and the powder-horn, serious disasters 

 will ensue. Of this kind I have known many accidents, 

 one rather of a ludicrous nature, which happened in my 

 own family. 



We had been out shooting, and afterwards were sitting 

 round the fire in the dining-room, when a loud explosion 

 in the bedroom above lifted us at once to our legs. Upon 

 running upstairs we could not at first see any living 

 being, from the smoke which filled the room ; but soon, 

 by the light of the fire, I could distinguish what appeared 

 to be a bundle of clothes, lying against a chest of drawers, 

 which, upon examination, turned out to be the under- 

 housemaid in happy unconsciousness. On further search 

 being made, and the window thrown up, the form of my 

 youngest brother, a lad of about twelve years of age, 

 was brought to view, extended also at the foot of the 

 bed, with a face as black as a chimney-sweep's. By the 

 application of the contents of the water-bottle over the 

 face of the sleeping beauty under the drawers, who was 

 more frightened than hurt, consciousness was restored, 

 although not in a very intelligible form, for between 

 hysterical sobs and sighs, Httle information could be 

 obtained as to the cause of the explosion. My brother 



