AMERICAN ARCHERY 



mm 



Kj est 



Recreation is the Official Publication 

 of the National Archery Association 



By ALBERT RANKIN CLARK 



So long as the new moon returns in 

 heaven a bent, beautiful bow, so long will 

 the fascination of archery keep hold of the 

 hearts of men. No weapon of warfare or 

 of the chase, except, possibly, the spear, can 

 boast of a higher antiquity than the bow. 

 History is full of honored traditions relat- 

 ing to archers and their achievements. Most 

 of the gods and goddesses of the ancients 

 were archers, and from the earliest ages to 

 the present time poetry has been filled with 

 references to the bow. It was the favorite 

 weapon with nearly all savage tribes, and the 

 prestige of the chiefs among these wild peo- 

 ples depended upon their ability as archers. 

 For many generations it was man's most ef- 

 ficient instrument in hunting and his most 

 deadly weapon in battle. The songs of the 

 Hindu and Greek poets, the sculptures of 

 Assyria and Persia, and the hieroglyphics of 

 Egypt all bear testimony to an early and uni- 

 versal use of the bow, while archeological re- 

 search reveals to us, in the form of number- 

 less iron and flint arrowheads, the evidence 

 of the existence of races long since extinct. 



For centuries after the English took their 

 first great lesson in archery from William 

 the Norman, on the field of Hastings, the 

 long bow and arrows were the weapons 

 alike of noble and peasant, and their use was 

 enforced by many rigorous statutes. The 

 yeomen of England became the terror of the 

 continent in battle, and the routing of the 

 chivalry of France at Crecy and Agincourt 

 testified to the superiority of archers over 

 armored and mounted knights. The noble 

 science of archery began ks decline when 

 firearms became less cumbersome and defec- 

 tive, but for nearly two hundred years it held 

 its own in the struggle against the newer 

 weapons, and not until about 1600 did the 

 bow finally disappear from the battlefield. 



The practice of archery as a pastime has 

 been popular in England ever since the days 

 of its greatest glory, when Robin Hood, the 

 bold outlaw and master bowman, and his 

 merry clan roamed through the glades and 

 glens of the king's woods, "where the game 

 did most abound," as freebooters and troub- 

 lers of the realm. Of course archery has 

 never flourished in modern times with that 



vigor which it displayed when the bow held 

 the supremacy among weapons of warfare, 

 but it has yet, and always will have, many 

 ardent promoters, and when the present pop- 

 ular instruments of recreation are but mu- 

 seum relics, the twang of the bowstring and 

 the swift flight of the feathered shaft will 

 still possess their fascination for the human 

 race. 



The modern devotees of the bow include 

 the best blood and culture of England, and 

 the many public meetings are always attend- 

 ed by enthusiastic audiences. English arch- 

 ery meetings have often been on a scale of 

 grandeur surpassed by no other public dis- 

 plays of modern times. The spacious lawn 

 respendent with brilliant targets and wav- 

 ing banners, the playing of bands, the firing 

 of cannon and the gayly dressed bowmen — ■ 

 all combine to produce a very pleasing and 

 festive occasion. A great revival of archery 

 took place immediately after the founding of 

 the Royal Toxophilite Society in 1781. We 

 are, however, somewhat ignorant of the 

 shooting ability of the early members of this 

 famous society, as those who recorded the 

 proceedings appear to have been more inter- 

 ested in the excellence of the dinners than 

 in the quality of the shooting. This wave 

 of enthusiasm w r as soon stayed by war, but 

 the period between 1820 and 1830 witnessed 

 a wider and more permanent revival of the 

 sport. The influence of this awakening of 

 British bowmen extended to the United 

 States, and the result was the formation, in 

 1826, of the first American archery society, 

 "The United Bowmen of Philadelphia," 

 Which flourished for more than thirty years. 



In 1879 the publication of "Witchery of 

 Archery," by the late Maurice Thompson, 

 that enthusiastic archer and brilliant writer, 

 aroused widespread interest in the pastime, 

 and resulted in the organization of the Na- 

 tional Archery Association of the United 

 States, which has held an annual, tournament 

 every year since its birth. 



The long range championship of the 

 United States is contested for by gentlemen 

 at the double "York Round," consisting of 

 12 dozen arrows at 100 yards, 8 dozen at 80 

 yards and 4 dozen at 60 yards. 



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