70 



RECREATION. 



killed too, but you cannot always catch 

 him at it. 



II. CHRONICLES. 



And it came to pass, that one John, sur- 

 named Wise, went into Court and de- 

 murred to the complaint of one Marlin, 

 who had averred that Recreation had li- 

 beled him. 



And John said unto the Court, "Oh, 

 most noble and upright Judge; I move 

 your Excellency that this case be dismissed 

 at plaintiff's cost, for the reasons that the 

 magazine called Recreation has not li- 

 beled the said Marlin; that it has simply 

 printed such criticisms as came to it, of 

 the guns made by said Marlin; and that said 

 criticisms and discussions were written and 

 printed without any intent to injure said 

 Marlin, but that the people might know 

 what guns to buy and what ones to avoid." 



And the Judge said, "John, you are a 

 Wise advocate. The people of this free 

 land have a right to discuss and to criti- 

 cise goods which they buy, and for which 

 they pay their good shekels; and a maga- 

 zine printed in the interest of sportsmen 

 may print such criticisms. The plaintiff 

 does not state facts sufficient to show a 

 cause of action against the said Shields. 

 This case is therefore dismissed at plain- 

 tiff's cost." 



And the said Marlin, when he heard of 

 this ruling, again waxed exceeding wroth 

 and said, "Dammit." 



Here endeth the second Chronicles. 

 Selah. 



JUSTICE FOR. ELLARSON. 



An article was printed in March Recre- 

 ation signed "Justice," in which Mr. El- 

 larson, State game warden, was criticised 

 for not having punished certain men men- 

 tioned in the communication, and, who, 

 it is claimed, have been violating the fish 

 or game laws of Wisconcsin. 



Mr. Ellarson and some of his friends 

 claim the- attack was unwarranted. I be- 

 lieved the criticism was made in good faith 

 and I printed it in good faith. I have no 

 desire to do Mr. Ellarson an injustice. As 

 every sportsman in Wisconsin knows, El- 

 larson is a faithful and efficient officer, and 

 has done the best possible with the small 

 fund at his disposal. Wisconsin is a large 

 State, and a great area in the Northern 

 part of it is but sparsely settled; so it 

 would be well nigh impossible to police it 

 thoroughly with anything short of 1,000 

 deputy wardens. Mr. Ellarson has, I be- 

 lieve, less than a dozen under his com- 

 mand, and these few have been employed 

 to the best possible advantage. 



Recreation is a public channel for the 

 exchange of information, opinions, criti- 



cisms and discussions of all topics relating 

 to the interests of sportsmen. Mr. Ellar- 

 son and his friends can have any amount 

 of space they require to reply to the criti- 

 cism referred to, or to any other that may 

 be made against him in future. 



CAPTAIN BILLINGS' GREAT STORY. 



The publication of Captain Billings' 

 story of the great earthquake in Peru has 

 been postponed in order to give time to 

 prepare the illustrations. The story will 

 appear in the August issue of Recreation. 

 Thus the pleasure is only deferred and will 

 be the keener when it comes. 



No lover of adventure should miss this 

 great story. It is one of the most thrilling 

 of modern times. There are a dozen cli- 

 maxes in it that seem to pass the limits 

 of possibility; yet all of them are cold 

 facts, officially recorded in the Navy 

 Department at Washington. The battered 

 and time-worn wreck of the Wateree, lying 

 at the foot of a mountain, back of the 

 ruined city of Arica, attests the terrible 

 truth of the story. The ruins of a city 

 that once housed 12,000 people are still 

 heaped in a shapeless mass. When you 

 see these, pictured by the camera, and read 

 how the officers and crew of the Wateree's 

 stood at their post like granite statues, 

 while passing through the jaws of death, 

 no man even flinching, you will be glad 

 you are an American. 



Tell all your friends to read this wonder- 

 ful story. No loyal American can afford to 

 miss it. 



WILL GIVE $100 REWARD. 



A subscriber has sent me a letter which 

 he received from a prominent manufacturer 

 of sportsmen's goods, in which I am ac- 

 cused of having bribed my friend to write 

 a letter to the Peters Cartridge Co. This 

 is not the first time I have been accused of 

 hiring sportsmen to express sentiments 

 favorable to this magazine, and will prob- 

 ably not be' the last. I should like to 

 give some of the people who claim I am 

 bribing my readers to write such letters a 

 chance to make some money. I therefore 

 make this offer: 



I will pay $100 to any person who will 

 produce legal evidence of my ever having 

 offered any man a dollar, or any other 

 sum, to write any advertiser about Recre- 

 ation. 



If any person sees fit to accept this offer, 

 I will deposit $100 in cash in a national- 

 bank, payable to the order of the person 

 accepting this .challenge, immediately on 

 his furnishing evidence, such as would be 

 accepted in any court of record, to prove 

 that I have ever offered any person money 

 for writing any such letter. 



