GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



Anybody can keep shooting all day, but -it takes a gentleman to quit when he gets enough. 



THE GUNMAKERS AND THE PICTURE 

 BOOK. 



Once there were several rich men, who 

 lived in town when it was nice weather. 

 These men liked to have something going 

 on, so they made guns and things. In an- 

 other town there lived a plain chap, who 

 published a picture book called Recrea- 

 tion. The book also contained lots of 

 stories, and was printed for the benefit of 

 sportsmen and all others who could appre- 

 ciate a good thing. For a long time the 

 rich men advertised their wares in this pic- 

 ture book; then all of a sudden they got 

 mad and quit. And this is the way it hap- 

 pened : One day a misguided sportsman, 

 who didn't know it was loaded, wrote to 

 the editor of the picture book, and said 

 that the ramrod of the Snarlin rifle was 

 no good, and that the gun leaked cart- 

 ridges. Now this was quite true, and more 

 than 27 other sportsmen knew it. Well, 

 the editor published this letter. He had to, 

 you see ; for all good sportsmen have a 

 right to say things in their picture book. 



But did Snarlin thereafter equip his rifle 

 with a better ramrod, and did he fix up 

 the leaky places in the gun? No, he just 

 got up on his hind legs, and used bad lan- 

 guage. He told the editor of the picture 

 book to stop the Snarlin ad right off 

 quick. He said he would advertise his 

 guns on the fences and on big stones along 

 the country roads before he would longer 

 patronize such a rank outfit as the picture 

 book. He also said he wouldn't play 

 shinny in the print-shop yard any more. 

 But the editor only said, "All right, Hank; 

 just fly your kite as quick as you want to, 

 and keep going Southwest by North till 

 you get home." Then Snarlin went to his 

 shack, and got up a little yellow almanac, 

 which said that the editor of the picture 

 book was a humbug of the first water. 

 These almanacs Snarlin gave away by the 

 wagon load, and the country boys were 

 glad of it. They used the little yellow 

 books for gun wadding, and to smoke out 

 woodchucks. 



Did the editor of the picture book tear 

 his hair and fall in a fit over what the gun 

 man said? Well hardly! He just said 

 in a loud voice to the sportsmen every- 

 where, "Come on, boys !" and the boys 

 came on a-flying, and subscribed by thou- 

 sands for the picture book. This boosted 

 business so that the editor had to rent an- 

 other typewriter and hire an extra hand to 

 help work the printing press. The picture 

 book became more popular than ever, and 

 the gun man said he'd be essentially cussed 



if he could see why it was. Then he got 

 mad again, and printed another almanac. 

 This last almanac contained a whole lot of 

 language, and the small boys used it to 

 smoke out more woodchucks. 



Well, things ran along all right for a 

 while, and the world didn't come to an end 

 at all. The picture book circulated all over 

 the country. It also went to lots of places 

 away from home. Folks said it was a 

 hummer. Then one day a sportsman wrote 

 the editor as follows: "Dear Sir.: I was 

 out shooting a week ago last fall, and 

 wishing to load my gun, I put my hand 

 into my pocket for some Skeeters shells, 

 but found I had left my ammunition at 

 home, so the cartridges were no good for 

 my gun that day." The editor published 

 the forgetful man's story, and Skeeters 

 stopped advertising in the picture book, 

 saying that he just wouldn't stand it to 

 have his cartridges run down in that way. 

 Again the editor said. "Come on, boys !" 

 and again the boys came on with lots of 

 subscriptions. 



And yet once more a sportsman wrote a 

 letter saying that he had intended to buy 

 a Weevens rifle, but failing to find the 

 Weevens ad in the last issue of his picture 

 book, he had purchased a different breed 

 of rifle, and had found it all right. Then 

 a Mr. Rage, who works in the Weevens 

 foundry, laid down his shovel, took his pipe 

 out of his mouth, and said a lot of cross 

 words to everybody in sight. Those were 

 busy times all around. 



For a third time the editor called to the 

 boys to come on, and this time they came 

 on so fast that he had to buy a new book 

 in which to write down all their names. 

 The picture book boomed as it had never 

 done before. Everybody wanted it. This 

 was pretty tough on Snarlin, Skeeters, 

 Weevens & Co., and they just stood around 

 and made faces at the sky. Then they 

 cussed some more, and wished the pigs 

 had eaten them when they were small. 



Moral : When a man starts in to do up 

 a picture book, he wants to be sure that 

 the publication has no backing. 



A. L. Vermilya, Columbiaville, Mich. 



COMMEND THE 20 GAUGE. 



In reply to E. C. Statler and others : I 

 have a Lefever ejector 20 gauge which I 

 used last season. Its light weight and 

 slight recoil make it a most desirable gun 

 for upland shooting. A gun 6*4 pounds in 

 weight can be carried all day without fa- 



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