288 
except library paste and chewing gum, and he 
could not conscientiously recommend those. 
At last I thought of pitch—such pitch as is 
used for birch-bark canoes. I immediately 
sent for five pounds of pitch and half a pound of 
rosin, and for five mortal hours I boiled that 
witch’s broth over an outdoors fire, stirring it 
all the time (I thought my arm would drop off) 
until the One Who Knows said it was of the 
proper consistency. Then, with great care 
(and an iron spoon), I dribbled it along the 
leaking seams—first on the outside and then on 
the inside. When it was finished the Man of 
the House said she should now be called 
Noah’s Ark, because, like the Ark, she was 
“pitched within and without.” But my ir- 
reverent daughter giggled and said, ‘No! 
Her name is the Tar Baby! Just look at 
mother’s hands! Just like ‘Br’er Rabbit’s’ 
paws when he ‘blipped’ the Tar Baby.” 
Well, suppose I did get a little pitch on my 
hands. But all came off—in time. 
She don’t leak! 
Mary D. RosEBORM. 
Nichols, Minn. 

For a .25-20 Savage 
I shoot a .303 Savage rifle and I think it is 
large enough for any game in this country. 
I use the Ideal new metal gas check bullets 
and get as good a target as I could get with 
factory ammunition. 
I don’t want any metal patched bullets to go 
through my rifle and make a shotgun of it. 
I should like to see the Savage Company put 
out a rifle to handle the .25-20 and .32-20 
calibers. About 63 pounds would be right, and 
we hunters could then have a good shooter, 
well balanced and handsome. 
Let us hear more about such a gun from 
other shooters. Ep. C. BEECHING. 
South Edmeston, N. Y. ? 

Wind-gauge or No Wind-gauge 
I enclose a clipping from a daily paper, as 
I believe the subject is one of interest to many 
riflemen. I have long thought that this refine- 
ment of sights was merely foolishness. Men 
in the heat of action will never be able to make 
a good use of it, and the very rough work a 
rifle has to face in active service will put most 
of the weapons out of gear if they are pro- 
vided with wind-gauges. 
And what will be of no use in the field should 
not be put on a soldier’s rifle in time of peace. 
No doubt scores will be lower without the 
wind-gauge, but if the soldier learns to estimate 
wind and hold off the correct allowance, he 
RECREATION 
will be more efficient in the field than if he had 
been otherwise trained. 
Sport is but the mimicry of war, and the 
same argument applies, excepting that the 
sportsman is likely to be cooler than the 
soldier (unless he has an attack of buck fever), 
seeing that he is not being shot at in return. 
I would not use either a wind-gauge or telescope 
sight in game shooting, and I have never met 
a really good hunter who would. 
Tom ELson. 
Butte, Mont. 
The United States Army authorities are con- 
sidering the abandonment of the wind-gauge 
feature of their new rifle. Critics of the sight claim 
that a wind-gauge is entirely out of place on a 
military rifle; that it is a needless complication of 
no possible use under any service condition, and 
that its presence is a positive detriment to the 
efficiency of the troops. 
Practice with a wind-gauge on the ranges is 
effort thrown away. The conditions of the target 
practice should be made as near as possible the 
same as those met with in the field of action. 

Ready for Everything 
I noticed Mr. Rogers’ article on ball and shot 
guns, and think a double-barreled gun, with 
one of the barrels rifled, would fill the bill. 
I have seen such, but not recently. Do you 
know where they make such a gun? I think 
I would like one for my own use. A gun of this 
sort at a moderate price ought to be a big seller. 
M. TALMAGE. 
242 East ro4th Street, New York. 
[If you write to Messrs. Schoverling, Daly & 
Gales, 302 Broadway, or to Von Lengerke & 
Detmold, 349 Fifth Avenue, New York, you 
will learn about the guns they carry of the sort 
you mention.—ED.] 

Loyal to the ““Pump-gun”’ 
I would not have one of the much-talked-of 
auto-loading guns, not because they are 
‘“‘slaughter machines,” but because they will 
not kill. The force of the recoil is thrown back 
into the breech mechanism and is taken away 
from its rightful place behind the shot charge, 
and makes for a weak shot, poor penetration 
and a very inferior pattern. 
The same is true of the auto-loading rifle. I 
have seen one fired at 50 yards at a dry oak 
plank, and the .35 caliber ball did not stick in 
the plank, but rebounded, and I picked it up. 
As for the repeating shotgun, or ‘“‘pump,” so- 
called, if any one will produce one game butcher 
who uses one of this style of gun I will produce 
a hundred that use Greeners, Lefevers, Ithacas 
and other high-grade double-barreled guns. 
