Oct. is, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
319 
Confabulations of the Cadi. — VIIL 
On the day after the Cadi's birthday, the members of the 
Egyptian Gun Club committee convened in the shade of the lodge 
is per adjournment of the last meeting. Each one had a coppery 
tinge on his cheeks, swollen eyes, a tired feeling, and a passion- 
ate fondness for cold water — a common sequence when friends as- 
sist at a birthday of a friend, and thereby have an opportunity 
to fill their stomachs gratis while rejoicing. 
'The meeting will now come to order," said the Cadi, languid- 
ly. "I am troubled with something of a headache to-day, my 
friends, caused, I think, by the turkey which I ate yesterday, so 
you will please be as expeditious as possible." 
Manufacturers' Agents. 
"It seems to me, though I say it with as much delicacy as pos- 
sible," said Le Loup, "that if you, as chairman, would preside 
over the meeting instead of doing all the talking, we would trans- 
act more business. I move you, Mr, Chairman, that we bar all 
manufacturers' agents. No, that is not what I mean exactly. We 
do not wish to bar them. If we do that we cut ourselves off 
from substantial revenue. I move that we allow manufacturers' 
agents to shoot for targets only." 
"Second the motion," said Moke. 
"Before I put that motion," said the Cadi, "I wish to make a 
few remarks on it, as I am quite certain that there is no one here 
other than myself who will oppose it. Your purpose plainly is 
to take advantage of the manufacturers' agents' position, and 
make them a source of revenue to the utmost extent possible. 
You bar them from competing for any of the purses, yet you 
charge them the full price for targets, ignoring the fact that they 
add greatly to the prestige and importance of a shoot, make it 
more attractive for visitors, who always are pleased to see the 
highest exhibitions of skill and hard competition, rather than 
the awkward efforts of mediocre performers, and thereby con- 
tribute a substantial advantage to the club. Moreover, you know 
that it is necessary in a business way for them to attend the 
tournament, so you are simply taking a commercial advantage of 
their necessities and the opportunity offered regardless of any 
considerations of sportsmanship. There is no justification in 
asking them two or three cents for targets ,under the circum- 
stances. It costs nothing extra to throw the targets for them in the 
tournament, for the same workers serve for all, and are paid exact- 
ly the same whether they throw a few hundred targets more or less 
in a day. In consideration of the quid pro quo, you should at least 
throw the targets at cost for the manufacturers' agents." 
'T object to that view," said Le Loup testily. "We are running 
this tournament to make some money. I suspect, Mr. Chairman, 
and I say it with all due respect and affection, that you are talk- 
ing chiefly for your own advantage. As a manufacturers' agent 
you are barred, so that it would be quite the proper caper for you 
to have the views which you just now expressed, rather than views 
which would be for the welfare of the club." 
"I wish you to distinctly understand that I am not a manu- 
facturers' agent," retorted the Cadi, without in the least losing 
his temper. 
"Do you not receive your shells free?" queried Moke. 
"That's none of your business," promptly replied the Cadi. "By 
some unaccountable process of reasoning, you seem to consider 
yourself privileged to pry into my personal affairs in the most 
impudent manner. A manufacturers' agent follows a legitimate 
and useful business. His personal affairs are his own, yet you 
impudently as»c him, 'Did you pay for your shells?' I do gfct my 
shells free, and I have a gun free, but I consider that my own 
affair." : 
"But you thereby have an advantage over us in the tournament," 
eagerly objected Ephraim. 
"You traveled on a pass some time since to a tournament? Yes. 
Didn't that give you an advantage over the others who paid their 
fares? Did traveling on that pass make you an agent of the 
railroad? I have my ammunition free, but I have no more powers 
as an agent than you have, so far as representing the company is 
concerned. Some men have bank accounts; some, sense; some 
this, that and the other thing, all of which are advantages over 
some one else." 
"But by shooting tfie ammunition you give your indorsement 
to it," interposed Moke. 
"You give your indorsement to ammunition when you buy it, 
do you not, good Moke? Y r ou would not buy your ammunition 
if you did not approve of it, would you? Again, the manner in 
which I get my ammunition is a personal matter, and a piece of 
impudence on your part to pry into, but I permit you to discuss 
it because there seems to be a general opinion that it is the 
proper caper to pry into our affairs. Do you get your groceries 
free, Le Loup?" 
"It seems to me that that question would come under the head 
of an impertinence," replied Le Loup. 
Neither Fish, nor Flesh, nor Good Red Herring. 
"Certainly," assented the Cadi. "A few more words in respect 
to the simon pure amateur who objects to the slightest smirch- 
ings of professionalism, particularly when it is manifested by a 
man who can shoot better than he can. Do you know that one 
of the chief petty annoyances of the manufacturers of guns and 
ammunition is the persistent and insistent importunities by so- 
called amateurs who are secretly endeavoring to obtain free guns 
and free ammunition? Some who wear the pure, white raiment 
of the amateur, and are proud of it, seek to secure a gun or a 
thousand or two thousand shells for a dollar, or for nothing, with 
a receipted bill for the full price, so that, if there is ever any 
question raised as to their amateurism, they will have the re- 
ceipted bill to show and prove an amateur standing. 
"Do you know that you are all professionals quite as much as 
are the manufacturers' agents? They get a salary, it is true, 
but there are other things as well as that which make men pro- 
fessionals. If you are intent on barring professionals, you should 
be consistent and bar all professionals." 
"I don't think you are talking reason or good sense," said Le 
Loup. "It seems to me to be mere assertion. "- 
"Well, I receive no salary, but do receive some shells. That 
you claim makes me a manufacturers' agent. On the flimsiest pre- 
text you bar me because you wish to do so on any pretext. Any- 
thing of professionalism that you cannot secure for yourself 
serves to convict me. Now you shoot with professionals, shoot 
for money, shoot in public tournaments, consider only the money 
features of the competition, and talk only of them; in short, you 
go as far as you can in professionalism, and would go' further if 
you could do so, as all manufacturers of guns and ammunition 
know; yet you have the audacity to assert that you are an 
amateur, while following the full available scope of professionalism, 
while I am a professional because, forsooth, I accept the present 
of some shells and a gun. The better way would be to deal 
honestly with yourselves and with those you term professionals, by 
shooting all together and establishing a handicap as is proper and 
becoming," 
"You are crazy," said Le Loup. "It would be impossible in the 
first place to establish a handicap for so many different shooters, 
and a good many would quit shooting if they were classed as 
professionals." 
"Whether they would quit or not has nothing whatever to do 
with the abstract merits of the case," retorted the Cadi. "A 
fact is a fact, neither more nor less, whether they quit, or not. 
Tt, however, remains to be determined whether they would do so. 
A handicap is a matter which can only be established by men who 
have a knowledge of the capabilities of the shooters, and the moral 
courage to impose what they consider just conditions. Quite as 
much ability is necessary in handicapping as in any other branch 
of sport, and much more than is commonly considered. As 
long as it is all professionalism, instead of the fiction in respect 
to amateurism, I say let all shoot together with the same equity 
which obtains in bicycle racing, yachting, horse racing, etc., 
where a handicap befitting the conditions is imposed, and there 
is then a competition instead of a discrimination among things that 
arc alike." 
A Sporting Authority. 
"I think that you are wrong in your ideas of what constitutes 
professionalism," said Moke. "Have you a copy of Webster's 
Unabridged?" The book was produced, and Moke read as fob 
lows: "'Professional — A person who prosecutes anything pro- 
fessionally, or for a livelihood, and not in the character of an 
amateur; a professional worker.' What do you think of that, 
good Cadi? This work is considered the great authority in 
America. I consider that this definition settles the matter." 
"Not in a technical sense," replied the Cadi. "It refers more 
to business occupations than to sport. However, the clause 'not 
in the character of an amateur' is as good proof for my conten- 
tion as it is for yours. However, the dictionary is a very poor 
authority on matters of this kind, for Webster, good lexicographer 
that he was, and able as have been the editors who revised his 
great work from time to time, was weak on sporting subjects. 
Here is Webster's definition of that useful field dog, the pointer: 
'One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at the sight of game, and 
with the nose point it out to sportsmen.' He could not well 
have been more vague and inaccurate in that number of words. 
The setter he defines with equal inaccuracy as follows: 'A hunt- 
ing dog of a special breed originally derived from a cross between 
the spaniel and the pointer. Modern setters are usually trained 
to indicate the position of the game birds by standing in" a fixed 
position, but originally they indicated it by sitting or crouching.' 
"It would be difficult to be in greater error if one tried purposely 
for it. As to the pointer, and the setter too, for that matter, he 
points naturally without any reference whatever to a man and a 
gun. He uses his nose to determine the whereabouts of birds that 
he may catch them, and he rarely sees the game which he points, 
nor is it desirable that he should do so; since, if he can see the 
game, it also can see him, which diminishes his chance of success 
accordingly. The point is merely the act of locating the game for 
the final spring and capture of it. The dog, when hunting birds, is 
silent and stealthy in his seeking, for if they once take wing 
his chances are ended. But the same dog gives tongue merrily 
when in pursuit of a rabbit or other prey which has no wings, for 
he can cope more successfully with anything which will remain 
on the earth's surface instead of rising into the air. The dogmatic 
assertion that the setter is a cross between the pointer and the 
spaniel is something very novel in the literature of that useful 
dog, and is neither taught nor believed to be so by sportsmen. 
In looking for a definition of the word trap-shooter, I do not find 
it at all in Webster's Unabridged, so with your good permission 
I will dismiss the worthy gentleman from any suspicion of being a 
trap-shooting or sporting authority." 
"While I do not admit your contention, you have a certain 
troublesome craftiness in your arguments, friend Cadi," said Le 
Loup. "I think that your opinions are really from feelings of re- 
sentment because you are barred, and that therefore they after 
all have only a personal significance." 
"Of course, I recognize that you and many others will think 
that," replied the Cadi. "I know how pleasing it is to fit a 
motive to the words and actions of others, which is as much to 
their disadvantage as possible. It is a pleasing and cheap way to 
dispose of a subject which one cannot answer in any other man- 
ner. Your bar of me has not any special personal significance, for 
while Hopie Jane is able to work and the rabbit crop is good, I 
am in no danger of losing my means of livelihood. With you, 
^however, barring me has a personal significance. You do not 
care a sou for the principles of sport any further than you can 
work them to your own advantage. You bar me because I can 
shoot better than you can; that is the case in a nutshell. Follow 
out your prejudices by barring every man who can shoot better 
than you can, till the happy moment arrives when all the shots, 
better than you, are barred, and you stand boldly out as the best 
shot yourself— at that auspicious moment, something is likely to 
happen." 
"Humph!" said Le Loup, "you are going to say that they will 
bar me, but to-day we live and to-morrow has its own troubles. 
They will never bar me, for before that time comes there will 
be a general reformation. If that time should come, however, I 
can then shoot for sport." 
The Double Profession. 
"As a matter of policy, friend Cadi, do you think that it is a 
good thing for the manufacturers' agents to shoot in tournaments?" 
queried Moke. 
"As a matter of policy, they should not," frankly replied the 
Cadi. "It is a bad business policy for the agents to take a 
competitive part in the tournaments. The other shooters feel 
that there is a certain degree of hardship imposed on them in 
buying ammunition and guns of the agents or the houses, as the 
case may be, and then have a number of agents come along and 
make the actual use of the goods jn competition a source of 
further revenue. No dry goods merchant would send out a 
drummer with the understanding that he was expected to play 
games of chance or skill with his customers, and thereby make 
his salary. Manufacturers should pay their agents a sufficient 
salary to live on without any considerations of winnings to 
supplement it. You can no more expect trap-shooting to thrive 
under such a policy than you could expect sheep to thrive where 
wolves ate the sheep faster than they could multiply, or that 
chickens would fight hawks, or that a watermelon patch could with- 
stand a raid by Senegambian chieftains. Agents can display their 
wares and skill without shooting for money. In the matter of 
professionalism, however, they differ from us only in a matter of 
degree, though a somewhat ultra degree of the business; but 
in the matter of policy, it is bound to end badly for them in 
time and check the growth of shooting and consequently of 
trade." 
"There is a lot of good amateur competition in the United 
States to-day, friend Cadi," said Moke. "That good turkey has 
affected your liver, and your eyes see yellow in consequence." 
"If it exists, Moke, be so good as to tell me where this 
amateur interest ha> its home and habitation," retorted the 
Cadi. "There are trophies without number for open professional 
competition. There are tournaments without number which are 
for professionals in everything excepting perhaps the name. I 
defy you to point out a single trophy, of a public character, for 
amateur competition. Also point out a single tournament of any 
importance which is given for the genuine amateur. The SO' per 
cent, man or less is commonly called an amateur, as if the 
degree of skill was the test instead of his purpose and his 
practice. An 80 per cent, man may be a professional, and indeed 
some of them are." 
"Well, I call for a vote on my motion, which was duly seconded 
and quite as duly forgotten," said Le Loup. 
"Awfully sorry, old man," replied the Cadi, calmly, "but' not 
to-day. It is the prerogative of the chairman at a meeting of a 
gun club to put the question or not, as best accords with his 
fancy; but aside from that you will have to excuse me, because I 
have a violent headache— turkey never did much agree with nie 
even on my birthday. This meeting stands adjourned to this day 
next week." Bernard Waters. 
Wopsononock Tournament 
Altoona, Pa. — Altoona has not been heard of in shooting circles 
for .several years. Messrs. U. S. Houck, W. S. Bookwalter and 
<>. G. /.cth got their heads together some time ago and determined 
to bring it to life again by holding a shoot at Lookout Point, 
Wopsononock, where the Pennsylvania State shoot was held some 
years ago. The spot is famous for the ideal background it 
affords, there being nothing but the blue dome of heaven be- 
fore you as you face the trap; and misses are lost in space 
many hundred feet below the score. From a pavilion built at this 
point you can see, on a clear day, a half-dozen counties and a 
portion of the State of Maryland, although the border line of the 
latter is almost a hundred miles distant; as the crow flies. 
Altoona lies nestled in the picturesque Juniata Valley 1,500ft. 
below you. Hack of you is a plateau of hundreds of square miles 
of forest, jungle and other cover, where all kinds of game, from 
bears and deer to the artful ruffed grouse, abound. As Jack Fan- 
ning and the writer on Thursday evening stood watching the set- 
ting sun throw its last lingering touches on the frost-guilded 
panorama, Jack remarked: "Is there a spot on God's green earth 
more fair? 
Friday morning dawned with indications for rain. The trip 
up the mountain was uneventful except to those of us who had 
never before traveled this winding stair of railroad, taking a 
course a half-dozen times as long as the distance would be up an 
incline. On the train were Paul North, of Cleveland; J. S. Fan- 
ning, of San Francisco; L. B. Fleming and R. B. Bennett, of 
Pittsburg; J. B. Holsinger and T. A. Rhoades. of Johnstown; Ed 
Taylor, of New York; S. L. Longenecker, of Bedford; W. S. 
Smith, of Osterberg; Dutch Volk, of South Fork, and a score or 
more of other enthusiasts from nearbv towns. There were ten 
target and one live-bird event. In the target events the Jack Rab- 
bit system of dividing purses was employed, the live-bird event 
being class shooting, four moneys. 
Event No. 6 was for a medal, local shooters only being eligible 
except in the sweep. U. S. Houck, of this city, was the winner. 
The targets were faultlessly thrown from a' magautrap. The 
scores: 
Friday First Day, Oct. 7. 
Events; 1 2 
Targets: 10 10 
Fanning 10 8 
Houck 8 7 
Taylor 10 9 
North 10 10 
Fleming 10 9 
Clover , 9 8 
Trego 9 9 
Holsinger 9 8 
Stine 4 10 
Volk 6 5 
Richey 6 
Slater , 5 
Rhoades 6 
Rahm 6 
Copelin 4 
Smith g 
Longenecker 6 
Watson i r. 4 
Kotty .. 
C E Rhodes 
Murray * 
Forney : 
3 4 
10 10 
9 9 
8 7 
7 10 
7 9 
8 7 
8 7 
9 7 
9 7 
9 7 
7 7 
1 6 
9 8 
7 5 
8 4 
5 6 
15 25 
12 10 
12 22 
12 22 
13 19 
14 22 
13 20 
12 14 
12 .. 
14 20 
9 20 
14 23 
11 .. 
9 .. 
12 20 
7 .. 
13 20 
7 .. 
7 .. 
11 17 
12 .. 
7 16 
7 8 9 10 
10 10 15 15 
9 8 12 15 
13 11 
13 14 
13 14 
14 16 
10 11 
13 9 
. ..13 
9 13 10 
7 14 II 
7 . . 13 
6 6 13 9' 
8 7 10 13 
4 0 8 10 
9 9 12 14 
8 7 
After finishing the target programme all hands adjourned to 
the hotel grounds, where a 15 live-bird race was shot. The birds . 
were a good lot of flyers. Paul North officiated as referee. The 
score: 
Fanning ......222222222222222—15 Rahm 222202211222112—14 
Kotty 220112221102122—13 Tosch 202202222222221—13 
Volk 20022001w 
Booky 122222221121222—15 
Roach 121110121222211—14 
Lon gen ecker . 222122100202101—11 
Bastian 2120120202110 w 
Joe 002220020 w 
Holsinger . . . .222211112011111—14 
Clover ....... .211211011112121—14 
Richey .022221221122201—13 
Houck .1202202222200 w 
Stine 222222212222110—14 
Fanning did some fine exhibition work after the race was 
over, killing some 40 birds straight in illustrating what Gold Dust 
powder would do at long range on fast-flying birds." 
Saturday, Second Day, Oct. 8. 
On the morning of the second day we woke up to find it rain- 
ing in torrents. Undaunted, however, by the elements, quite 
a number started up the mountain, while a goodly number either 
remained in the city or started for their homes. On the moun- 
tain top we found ourselves in clouds so thick that shooting 
was out of the question. The boys put in the time for an hour 
or more exchanging yarns, Paul North and Old Reliable Taylor 
incidentally scoring Sharkey Fanning for not being able to keep 
pace with them on the day previous. Jack didn't say much, but 
he must have thought a lot, for after the clouds had broken 
enough to begin shooting, he went after them in fine style, break- 
ing, as will be seen by the score, 152 out of 155 targets, the last 
77 being straight. 
Among the new faces to-day w r as a Clearfield party, consisting of 
H. E. Hummelbaugh, L. J. Jimeson, F. Plympton and Miss Ray 
Test, the latter a bright little girl, who began shooting with the 
Clearfield Club several weeks ago. She shows a remarkable natural 
ability, handling the gun like a veteran, and if properly tutored 
will some clay become a first-class shot. 
All events were shot under the same system as the first day, the 
principal one being a 50-target race for the championship of Blair, 
Bedford, Huntingdon and Cambria counties. Non-resident shoot- 
ers were permitted to enter for the sweep. U. S. Houck easily 
won the championship by the clever score of 48. Fanning broke 
his 50 straight; in fact, he was not doing any missing during the 
latter part of the day. The scores: 
Events: 1 2 3 4 5 
Targets: * 10 10 10 10 20 
Fanning - 10 10 9 9 20 
Houck - 9 8 10 9 19 
Taylor 9 10 9 8 20 
North , 9 8 8 8 19 
Fleming 9 10 8 10 18 
Smith 8 8 7 9 15 
Killitts 7 7 S 10 15 
Kline 9 7 8 8 18 
C E Rhoades 8 9 10 6 . . 
Richey .....10 8 8 9 18 
Longenecker 14 
Plympton 
Miss Test 
Rhoades ,. 
Hummelbaugh ... .. .. 
Copelin ., ., 
Forney . . . . . . . . 
7 8 
15 50 
14 50 
14 48 
15 46 
14 47 
12 48 
11 39 
13 37 
13 35 
9 10 
10 10 
10 10 
7 9 
7 14 39 
8 11 
10 5 
8 4 
13 43 
13 .. 
10 35 
9 .. 
Although the elements were aginst the attendance (probably 
fifteen to twenty shooters not venturing out), the shoot was a suc- 
cess. Every one in attendance was delighted with the treatment 
he received at the hands of the management, and promised to aid 
in giving Altoona one of the big shoots of the season next year. 
Such hustlers as Paul North, talking magautrap; Jack Fanning' 
showing how to smash 'em with Gold Dust, and Ed Taylor' 
booming Laflin & Rand, do lots of good in reviving an interest 
in shooting. They will always receive the glad, hand In Altoona. 
