SONS OF DANIEL BOONE, 



In the last number I promised to tell how 

 to have a gander plucking without any un- 

 comfortable experiences on the part of the 

 gander. To do this we must have an arti- 

 ficial gander. Have your mother sew a 

 piece of canvas up in egg shape or the form 

 of a modern football, to be stuffed with ex- 

 celsior or shavings or any old thing which 

 will fill the body out nice and plump. Make 



THE NECK OF THE GOOSE 



of the form of a girl's stocking and stuff 

 it tightly enough so that it will hold itself 

 more or less erect. The foot of the stock- 

 ing will be the head of the goose. This 

 must be sewn to the body, that is, to the 

 egg-shaped bag, very securely with waxed 

 linen thread. The whole thing should be 

 made strong enough to withstand the rough 

 usage to which it will be subjected. After 

 it is all complete and the festival day of 

 the fort has arrived, erect a post, about the 

 size of an ordinary fence post, and see that 

 it is securely planted in the ground. On the 

 top of the post nail a plank, tie your goose 

 to the plank with string that maybe broken 

 by a hearty pull, but which will hold it 

 securely when an ordinary jerk is applied. 

 Cover the goose's neck from where it joins 

 the body, up over its head, with 



A THICK COATING OF SOFT SOAP 



or vaseline or lard, soft soap being the best 

 material for this purpose. Then let each 

 member of the fort mount his bicycle and 

 ride by, one after the other, at full speed, 

 each rider as he passes the gander making 

 a grab at his neck and trying to tear it from 

 its lashings on the post without falling from 

 his bicycle or checking his speed. You will 

 find this a very amusing and at the same 

 time strenuous sort of sport. _ Only those 

 should engage in it who can ride their bi- 

 cycle with sufficient skill to prevent a bad 

 spill. But, if you are in a section of the 

 country not suited to bicycles, or do not 

 happen to possess wheels or are not ex- 

 pert riders, you can lay out a hundred yard 

 course for running and then allow the com- 

 petitors to try and snatch the gander from 

 his perch as they dash by at full speed. 

 Usually the only result when one has 

 grasped the goose's neck is for the hand to 

 slip off with a* noise that we can only spell, 

 — a-w-r-k — which is disappointing to the 

 contestant but highly amusing to the spec- 

 tators. 



THE TURKEY SHOOT 

 The turkey shoot was another feature of 

 the old backwoodsmen's sport, and while 

 they were accustomed to tie a live turkey 

 by its leg to a peg driven in the ground, and 

 then shoot at it with their long, double- 

 triggered "Kaintuck" rifles, it is not neces- 

 sary for us to subject the poor turkey to 

 the necessary wounds inflicted by bad 

 marksmen. But we can make, 



AN ARTIFICIAL TURKEY 



as we did the artificial gander. Only, in this 

 case, it need not necessarily be made so 

 strong, and may even be made of paper 

 pasted together and stuffed with excelsior. 

 In fact, the paper turkey would be better 

 than a cloth one or a real one to disclose 

 the accuracy of the marksmen, as the bul- 

 let marks would be more easily discernible. 

 But if you find it at all difficult to make a 

 pajper turkey and stuff it with excelsior, 

 you can substitute in its place one cut out 

 of a piece of paste board, card board or 

 bristol board and stuff by tacking it to a 

 piece of ordinary board, sharpened at the 

 bottom so it can be driven into the ground 

 and make the turkey stand erect. This 

 may be used as a target for rifle practice, 

 archery, cross bow or any of the weapons 

 used by boys. 



THE EYE OF THE TURKEY. 



should be well marked, as that answers for 

 the bull's eye of the target and counts the 

 most to the marksman. Divide the neck 

 by lines drawn across it into three spaces 

 below the head. The eye counts ten, the 

 head counts nine, the first section of the 

 neck counts eight, the second section seven, 

 the third section six, and the crop or breast 

 of the turkey five, the middle of the tur- 

 key four, the rump of the turkey three, the 

 fcail or legs one and a miss, of course, 

 counts nothing. 



In case you use fire arms, it is 



DANIEL BOONE'S DUTY 



to see that the target is placed below a 

 bank of earth, a bare hillside or some sim- 

 ilar object, which will prevent any danger 

 from the bullets to passers by. Also, that 

 no one shall stand anywhere near the tar- 

 get when it is in use. Davy Crockett should 

 run to the target after each shot, call out 

 the number and return to his place at the 



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