48 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[February 19, 1880. 



&rih*rs. 



ME, THOMPSON'S LETTERl.TO THE NATIONAL 

 ARCHERY ASSOCIATION. 



CitAwTonDSVLbLE, Intl., Jan. 26fn, 

 T tM Officers and Members of tlic National Archery Association 

 the United Stales: 

 In response to (he proper official call, you have met In order by 

 yoiu- delegates to consult regarding preparations lot the second 

 aunua National Tournament. 

 The grand meeting at Chicago last year was a markedand cheer- 

 ing success. By reference to the history of the English national 

 meetings it will he seen that our champion medal was won by a 

 much higher score than that which stands opposite the first British 

 champion's name. 



Our next national meeting will, I think, surpriso the archery 

 world, not especially perhaps by very high scores, but by the 

 large number of good scores. From reports of private practice 

 coming in from every direction I am led to believe that the score 

 madeby our champion last year will be equalled and passed by 

 lr coming meeting-. 



glad to report that lady archers all over the 

 siastically advocating and practising the longer 

 ild recommend, in order ro make our meetings 

 England; the adoption nf the "National 

 h'itain in place of our " Columbia liound." 

 il features of Ottr first meeting 1 should be glad 

 i the Team Contest, with the modification of 

 hotter ranges and confining it to a fixed mun- 

 is .,..;■ sixty and eighty yards. It ought 

 r Association to especially foster and encour- 

 oting. An international contostwith English 

 of i he near future, and we must meet 

 tound. 

 :ompliment to c 



myarche 



I am especially 

 country areenthi 

 ranges ; and 1 wo 

 uniform with tin 

 Round" of Great 



One of the spec] 

 to see retained, v 

 droppm ; 

 ber of arrows at s 

 to be the aim of" 

 age long range sb 

 archers is a prob 

 them at the York 



Itie 



x gratif yi 



refined and healthful pastime of ar 

 relations have followed i; 



ought to see that in adopting such ; 



sociatlon has taken taken a step fa: 



policy. Our object she .il.l be I 



liberal management. Great care 



the National Association against the local organizations, but, on 



the other hand, our lines should be drawn so as to treat all archers 



alike. 



I beg to return my thanks to al 1 the officers and members of the 

 National Association for their many courtesies and pleasant 

 Tavors during the time 1 have served in my present capacity, and 

 to wish them n happy season for 1880. Maurice Thompson. 



ir efforts town 



■d making the 



rery a national 



one, that other 



ike, in the East 



as well OS in 





uragement to 



b end I suggest 



the propriety 



aittlng to our a 



anual contests 



mg who shall p 



ay the fee re- 



mhomaybeln 



ig. I think we 



rule the Bnglis 



I National As- 



in advance of 



our exclusive 



extend our i 



nfluenee by a 



hould be take 



it not. to array 



SHALL WE CHANGE OUR SYSTEM OF SCORING ? 



WE HAVE never been accused of undue conservatism; hut 

 have always looked earnestly into any proposed improve 

 ment, and have always desired to adoptjtt or reject it solely upon 

 its merits. When the discussion began in this country, some 

 months ago. with reference to I he propriety of changing the plan 

 of scoring in archery target shooting, although the bare mention 

 Of such a thing produced a shock of astonishment, we determined 

 to investigate, the matter thoroughly before deciding to advocate 

 or combat the proposed change. 



The first objection to a ohange which presented itself to our 

 mind and which is certainly a serious one, arises from, the confu- 

 sion which would be unavoidable for a long time in comparing 

 scores made this year and last year with those made after such 

 change. While It is in theory a very easy matter to bring scores 

 recorded In the present style to the basis of 1.3, 3, 4 and 5, in prae- 

 | . very difficult thing to do. For instance, to choose nt 

 random from the score-noo* of the writer ascore of twenty-four 

 arrows it sixty yards, shot on the 10th day of September, 1879, at 

 the present regulation four-feet target, three; arrows at an end, 

 the details being as follows:— 



7 7 1— 5 5 7—7 3 B-3 5 6— S 7 1—5 7 7-3 1 3—5 1 5— 10S. 

 Now, in order to reduce this Booretotuo proposed basis it would 

 be necessary to reduce each red (no golds were made) three points, 

 each bine two poo ; i ■ point, and count the whites 



just as now. Should the score, for instance, be lit arrows at any 

 range, this reduction would bea tedious thing. A greater trouble 

 would exist in the fact tin" icon senandal ayawould 



be reported simply il: '. ere, 108. r-'o 



the reduction won id become at once Impossible, Nov? the chief 

 value of reported scores consists in the possibility of readily com- 

 paring our scores with the.ru and noting the comparative skill of 

 different arehers and the improvemeni or retrogression of each. 

 it this comparison is difficult, few will take the trouble to 

 make it. 



But for argument sake grant that In a year or two all American 

 archers could be brought, to think that their old scores, registered 

 after the present style, were of no particular value as matter of 

 reference, yet the pleasure and value of comparing our 

 Of our trained and wonderfully skill- 



rifh 



scores 



ful cousins in Gn 

 How great a depviv 

 ful and enthusiastic 



Bri 



ttld 



pr 



■ally 



ski 11- 

 l as Maurice Thompson, H. C. 

 3 Huasey, E. T. Church, T)r. 

 e" I i" "west on, .lohn Worcester, John A. Booc, Ttteo. MoMechsu, 

 r|,„ V Henry. E. L. Peddinghatis, J. I). Pullet son, E. W. Doval, 

 and a hundred others of the most skillful and stud ious toxophi- 

 litesof this coiintryi whose nameslconldgive. To the beginner 

 who confines his prnetion . .a thirty to fifty yards 



nosuchconsid a-atic ist igh, because no possibility of such ooni- 

 , ,.|: -:. p. act ice for gentlemen be- 

 ing never ul less ran ' yards, and for the ladies never 

 . „,, r N.-.,. -. ; ,. t „ soon as the genuine lover of 

 archery ; , i ; a Jtil] at ranges of sixty to one hundred 

 , ,.-■ ■■es i he rarer beauties of the pastime, he be- 



ii;|li; , , i . i go ins of the isles. There 



oil nourishment in it. " Wc grow with thai wc contem- 

 plate," and the study of the achievements of such magnates of the 

 bow as Kord, Bramhall, SpntWawpodft Maitlaud, Moore, Holmes, 



Hsher Palairet, Rimington andEverett, will do more than any 

 •..: .ning the archer to the front rank of the 



But even if tills .iillieult.y could he overcome, or if it were con- 

 ceded that we have no on rtionlar reason to compare our scores 

 with tbosooi the arehers of Britain, we next look lo the proposed 



benefits to be derived from such a change. If there are any 

 really good Toasons to change our gold value to 5, and the other 

 colors ranging down to ], what are they ? Several earnest 

 archers, who, no doubt, have only the good of the pastime 

 at heart, have lately wriii en for the Eobbst and Strbam very 

 interesting articles u on the subject— among them Mr. A. B. 

 Brownell, of Boston ; 1 .;■. A. W. rtavehs, of Sau Francisco, and a 

 gentleman signing himself " T. K. W " 



A careful investigation of the different objections to the pres- 

 sent system, and the arguments in favor of the new system. 

 urged in these letters, develops the singular fact that some of the 

 strongest objections to the presen I system painted out tire argu- 

 ments directly against the theory of the gentlemen presenting 

 them. Mr. A. W. Havens, of .San Eraneiseo, in Iris article in the 

 Forest and Stream of the 5th host. says:— "I claim ; a 

 of 300 made Up Of blues and reds is better than a like score made 

 up all the way from white to gold. I claim, further, that the 

 blue and rod man is a better archer than tho other, and should be 

 entitled to as much consideration in the matter of system of 

 counting." All this for the purpose of showing that the gold has 

 an undue proportionate value ! Yet the fact is that la, 

 poslte is true. The red and blue have I he advantage all on their 

 side. The archer who, as Mr, Havens says, " makes up Iris scores 

 of blues and reds," instead of being placed at a disadvantage, is 

 vastly benefitted by the present system or scoring. For instance, 

 should two gentlemen shoot thirty arrows, and one strike with 

 fifteen arrows in tho red and the .other Of teen arrows in the blue' 

 he would score 180 points. Should his adversary's wore bi ' made 

 up all the way from whites to golds," it would rue thus : 6 whites, 

 8 blacks, 5 blues, 6 reds, ti golds, or 130 points, giving the 

 "blue and red man" the very advantage Mr. Havens claims he 

 should have. But in practice lie would have a Vastly greater ad- 

 vantage than is shown by the above comparison, because the 

 gentlemon whose scores were made up. of blues and reds would 

 in practice get his hits (instead of 15 reds and 15 blues) : thus : reds, 

 11 ; blues, 19 ; score, 173. While the one who scored « all the way 

 from white to gold" would get his score thus: Golds,!; reds, 4» 

 blues, ti ; blacks, 8 ; whites, 11 I score, 103. Of course, every score 

 would not show tho same proportion of the different colors hit, 

 but in theory it should always be so, and in practice where a la rg. 

 number of scores, say one thousand scores, should be shot, the re 

 suit would be about as indicated. This comes from fherelativ 

 areasof the different colors, each being (without counting frac- 

 tions) us follows: Gold,?2scruare inches: red,317 square inches; blue 

 303 square inches; black, 506 square inches; and white, 

 inches. Further, in making the above calculation Mr. Havens 

 theory has been given the advantage of some fractions. A fur- 

 ther advantage in practice i 'assessed by the poor, hampered 

 " red and blue man" in the fact i ha I since some arrows of each 

 shoorerwill miss the target entirely, the " blue and red man" will 



his hits so near the center will very seldom miss the target, while 

 the shooter whose hits are scattered from center to circumfer- 

 ence will lose a great many arrows. 



Tho same writer in treating of the proposed change has also 

 said: " It frequently happens thatan archer will make tower hits 

 than his opponent, and still get away with him." This is very 

 true, and would still be true with the system proposed or any 

 other system of scoring from a graduated target. If this were 

 not SO, there would bo no use of giving values to the colors at all. 

 If the gold is valued at 6 and (lie white at 1, the rule still holds 

 good that one archer may make more hits, and | less score than 



Mr. Brownell, 1n Forest and Stream of Jan. loth, says ; " There 

 being n possibility of a chance gold counting more than two 

 blacks and i wo whites, I submit thai chance may carry off the 

 palm against merit." He might have put it a little stronger, and 

 said a chance gold would outseore eight good whites; and yet. 

 though this be true, the gold and white, as they now score, arc in 

 exact proportion to each other— the area of the gold being 73.38 

 inches, and that of the white, 051.44 inches: so that lr we depend 

 entirely upon chance we will average nine whites to one gold. The 

 red, blueand black are not, properly proportioned in these 

 singularly enough these are the colors which are supposed to need 

 some special legislation in their behalf. The value of each color 

 In the proportion that they should actually have is asfullows: 

 Gold, 9; re.d,3; blue, 1.8; black, 1.3, and white. 1 -calculated only 

 to the nearest one-tenth. Now scores kept upou such a basis 

 WOUld be in theory perfectly fair, but In practice the same 

 trouble would arise in an aggravated form. Thus one gold just 

 inside the margin would equal three reds, each located within a 

 half-inch of tho gold. Tot who would think the firsi si OjUfl 



to the last? No doubt the arehers who framed our system of 

 scoring took all this into consideration. A nether very important 

 matter seems to have escaped tho attention of t he critics of the 

 Old system; that is, that BO graduation of values is correct for 

 more (lain one particular distance. To illustrate, suppose two 

 competitors shoot a wenty yards at a regulation target, thirty 

 arrows each; he would be the most accurate and reliable archer 

 that ever lived who should score 30 consecutive golds. His ad- 

 versary would be a mere muff, and worthy of no sort of com- 

 mendation, who scored 15 reds, 15 blues, and failed to touch the 

 gold; yet the perfect archer who might pu t every arrow in tho exact 

 center of the gold would only score 270 to his opponents iMj—umy 

 90 points in 370 ahead ; aud yet the gulf would be one which no 

 In. , i 1 1- ris long enough or human skill great enough to over- 

 pass. But suppose the targets are. placed one hundred yards 

 apart; nowthe white and black rings, which at thirty yards were 

 useless, come into play. At short range they were not needed, at 

 long range they are. One who hits the blue at one hundred 

 yards feels the same elation that he does will I scores a red : yet nt 

 forty yards the red is accounted a fair sboL and the blue a poor 

 one. In other words, as the distance is increase.] He target 

 should be enlarged, SO as to keep the proportion true. Should 

 two competitors shoot at five yards, and one score all his shots 

 pin-hole golds, t he other all golds also, but averaging all over i he 

 surface Of the gold, each would score the same, yet one bea liun- 

 arefl Smi a as skillful as the other. The gold is too large for five 

 yards, and not. large enough for one hundred yards. A t seventy- 

 five yards It is about right. A little thought will oont . 

 one of the utter impossibility of graduating values for the target 

 colors so as to prevent, or measurably lessen, the effect of chance 

 without changing the very elements of archery. Eol u 

 the plan proposed by Mr. Brownell and others, two archers shoot 



ndri 



rds. 



ah, i 



On 



vilh- 



.lge of that, color ; the other 

 he white. The two arrows 

 are just touching, only an imaginary line separating them; yet 

 one scores twice as much a? the other. Now this is all very wall 

 to talk about in theory, but in practice II amounts to nothing. It 

 is true that Very frequent by tlie archer who makes the .■■ ■ 

 number of hils gets beaten in score, and it is nearly always the 

 result, of the poor shooting condition of the archer who scores 

 low in value to the hit. If a first-class archer is shooting at sixty 

 yards with a third-rate archer, the expert being feeble, nervou 



and out of form, while the poorer archer is in good condition, the 



result will be that the expert, by reason of his knowledge of his 

 weapons, perfect judgment of elevation, his power to loose "et 

 more alike," and the knowledge of the minutkr of Ids craft, will 

 get all his arrowswithin thegeneral circumference of the target, 

 but will from his unsteadiness and feeble nerve drift all over 

 surface, and his hits will run low in value. On the other hand, 

 the poorer shot bciog in fine condition, will hold with utter steadi- 

 ness, will get sometimes three or four splendid hits in succession ; 

 but from less knowledge of the small points in archery he will 

 sometimes get a false loose, or he will draw his right hand alittla 

 too low bi too high, and will miss the target, several feet. He will 

 get fewer hits but, raoro score than his accomplished adversary- 

 Every archer who has practiced great deal will remember how 

 much better his hits have counted on some days than upon others. 

 A study of himself will show the cause to be not in the I a ■ ■• ■ - 

 in his own physical condition. The writer on the second day of 

 tho grand national meeting at Chicago, with seventy-two arr 



at a hundred yards, scored IS h , Never before or 



since has ho scored that number of hits without getting at least 

 P30 score. The target was not nt fault; it was not carelessness; 

 the result was wholly due to two causes -physical feebleness and 

 the nervousness attendant upon a great public meeting. This 

 defective shooting was not only exhibited nt the hundred yards 

 work, but equally so at the other ranges. With 39 hits at sixty 

 yards he scored only 155, when his usual score to the hit before 

 that, day hud been between 5} and ti. The element, of chance cuts 

 very little figure in our scoring when any large number of a 

 rows are shot. As between two archers who each ave r 

 out of 3i shots at si v ty yards, the element of chance is of no 

 ment ; and if itwere it cannot bo guarded against. By Mr. Br 

 nell's system the hit in the red Would be worth four- tilths as 

 much as a pin-hole gold, when any part of the gold is just thrci 

 limes as hard to hit. as the red. Of course the same defect is in tho 

 present system of scoring, but. why Uy from present ills to those 

 we know not of? As before shown, even if the rings t 

 given their just proportionate value, no real benefits would ac- 

 crue. 



Archery has been studied in Great Britain by learned and en- 

 thusiastic yotarij^for many hundreds of years. During the last 

 thirty years it i i Weaehed such a state of perfection, that gentle- 

 men have shot be, ,or at one hundred yards than any of oar iivo 

 best shots have averaged at half the distance. Ladies, at great 

 public meetings, have, with twenty-two- pound bows, ar sixty 

 yards, made 96 consecutive hits; and, on one occasion. Miss 

 Betham scored 133 at the single National Bound, of forty-eight 

 arrows at sixty yards, and twenty-four arrows at, fifty yards ; her 

 oints. Can it he for a moment sup- 

 entinies go by without most thor- 

 ' Can it be possible that they would 

 the construction and use of this 

 to conquer, and yet not see thesft 

 glaring defects which appal us now? On the contrary, they , 

 early found that if tho rings Of the target were made of I he width 

 we give them, that the white must count one, and the 

 to be in exact proportion to each other. Then since il would be 

 aWkward to give any fractional values to the other rings, and 

 since a regular graduation from tho to the 1 would be less 

 awkward than the nearer units of 8— 8^-8— 1—1, they gave them 

 the regular graduation which we now have. Of course the diffi- 

 culty might have been avoided by first choosing the rep 

 Uvea of value, say 1—8 -3-4— and 5, and so graduating the giz< 

 widths of the rings as to have made the just proportions; but a 

 tagret with H gold of 9.0 inches in diameter, and tho rod ring of 



trrows sei 



ring 190 p 



they hav 



let the ( 



Hissing th 



is matter 



hlessly ci 



ruling in 



alt of all 



weapons 



on I.. 



elie, 



ridtb, V 



uhl look c 



irtloi 



old be proper. Each t 



uld h 



ekes. There would be o 

 ion would be right in practice; but 

 •ards? The English found this out (t 

 lung in archery twenty years ago), ai 

 •anged in size and graduation of colors I 

 ong time; but Ford tend others showed 

 my ranges greater than fifty yards, ant 



We Americans are a queer people, 

 hing like an Engbshman. even if he 

 lot claim to be an exception to the ml 

 I would shoot two hundred : 

 in afternoon! Major Fisher rot* hit 

 the shooting of a 



rdly— and yet the prn- 

 ivn the same surface 

 »e where this propor- 

 v would it do at ten 

 had found out everys 

 heir targets were ar- 

 rdingtodisbinee (urn 

 foolishness of this, at 



don't want to du any- 

 ight. Tim writer does ' 



■ I. began target 

 -ighty-eight arrows in 

 warning letter, but he 

 injur- 



ing him ! lie used a sLxt.y-fivo-pouud snakeweed bow.and laughed 

 at the wcll-u.eani advice of that glorious old veteran 01 ' ' 

 years' practice— Peter Muir— who wrote him to use a forty-si.'.- 

 pound yew. He praised a snakewood as being the par excellence 

 of bows, despite the unanimous testimony of I he arehers of Great 

 Britain, that no bow approached a yew in every desirable quality. 

 Ho stoutly maintained that, the best loose, was that which gave 

 the lowest tnyetory with the same weight of weapon, despite the 

 fact that the greatest archer Who ever touched a string declared 

 against him. To all these, and many more erroneous opinions 

 he clung with true American pig-headeduess, until bitter ex- 

 i.i -.-. ,-ir-i upon each and every point forced him to accept the 

 truth. So with his torrnei style of drawing I. . : 

 under the chin, as the English do) ; of shooting without aiming 

 over the and Of the arrow: of allowing his string to strike his 

 arm-guard, and many another grievous errors. Bo 0U1 embryo 

 style of scoring, for wc are 

 ievauce when there is none 

 tee charge: .Mr Brownell 

 ots big arrows has an ad- 

 tall one. If that be so. let, 

 big ones I But he will a .. 



indsuffl- 



mall. Now all thistriendlT 



aiog somebody, but. solely 



. i be mistake of changing 



which would work as badly 



ould lend to confusion and 



Havens says that i t is very desirable to come to the 



ithod of scoring, because riflemen have adopted that 



sedmoor, and throughout tho country. Tie 



all but tyros yet. Wc think 

 and be it enemy , 

 even thinks that the areiu 

 vantage over the one who shool 



the other fel 

 take if h* do 



ail the better 



for the purpose of 



need change; 

 w, and which t 



howevi 



urge 



which I 



bks 



their long-range e,.... in- 

 fect diameter, while the other rings t 

 like ours: and fina'ly their counting 

 farm of 8 rectangle, ft any change 

 ad us to score alike (and no I 

 them come to our scoring Qui 

 the Indians owned the Oreedmoor m 

 want to know why we don't adopt t 

 may with propriety answer, niter the 

 was asked by the minister why he i 



UTS, 



a bull's-eye o - 1 i ■ ■■ 

 at an proportional 







issary to enable the 



coring was old when 



To thenn.a, ,.,- ,, ■!,., 



.. .. ....ring, we 



ir of the urchin who 

 idle he, the 



going by, and replied by asking, " why tho minister 

 was going by, while he was hallooing? " We 



i first.aud adopted as good a system as they. Let us n« ( 

 I abandon it now. and chase a phantom 



