898 
[NOV. 12, 1898. 
Confabulations of the Cadi. — XII. 
The Equation of the Systems. 
"At our last meeting," said the Cadi to the club dignitaries 
who were grouped about him in solemn session, "we officially 
decided to adopt class shooting, therefore the manner of divid- 
ing the moneys at our forthcoming tournament is settled. Also 
we decided to allow to manufacturers' agents the privilege of shoot- 
ing for targets only, while we sandbagged their employers for 
advertisements and donations of merchandise. On the whole, we 
have made extraordinary progress of late in the arrangements of 
the necessary details, and in due course of time all other essential 
matters will be settled, which probably will be before the tourna- 
ment takes place; in any event, we can arrange many important 
details after the tournament is over, a procedure which is sanc- 
tioned by good usage amongst gun clubs in some sections of 
this country." 
"Mr. Chairman," snappily exclaimed Le Loup, as his matted 
beard bobbed about in jerky responsiveness to his jerky jaw, 
"on further thought, I am convinced that class shooting will not 
be the most attractive system whereby to draw the amateurs to 
our tournament. It is not the system which best fits their 
moderate skill and which best juggles them into the money. 
1 therefore move you, Mr. Chairman, that we reconsider our 
former action in respect to the subject, and adopt the equitable 
system instead." * 
"Mr. Le Loup, I object to opening anything in this here 
meeting that's already settled," shouted Coxey. 
"Mr. Coxey, t want you to understand that this meeting acts 
as the members see fit, and that we are not bossed by anybody 
who is rooting for any one system," exclaimed Montague. 
"Order, gentlemen! Order!" said the Cadi. "You are drifting 
into that delightful freedom so common at an old ladies' tea 
party, wherein everyone is talking to everyone else and no one 
is listening to anything other than her own voice. However, 
as chairman I may say that to a certain degree it is allow- 
able, for there are many men who, if held to talk only to the 
question, could not talk at all, their manner of thought being 
much after the manner that an old stiff car-horse walks when 
he is accorded the freedom of green pastures; that is to say, he has 
his eyes fixed on a certain point, hut his legs having different 
degrees of stiffness and lameness do not co-ordinate, and he walks 
off in a direction other than the one he intended to walk in. 
"T will now take advantage of my position as chairman to do a 
little talking on the .subject, and by way of ilhistration I will tell 
you a short story which is brought to mind by your clashing 
contentions concerning systems, ft is of a country doctor who 
for many years was conceded to be the greatest medical genius 
of the world, and this by the unanimous acclamation of the 
people in his bailiwick, a section of river bottom some ten miles 
long by eight in width, famous in market reports for its excellent 
corn and hog products. His admirers were accomplished judges 
of hogs and geniuses, as the qualifications for judging the one 
are reciprocally useful in judging the other, although in justice 
to both it may be said that they possess many traits which are 
not held in common, one of which is that the hog is not a vain 
creature. 
"On visiting a patient the benign doctor would begin by 
brusquely feeling the patient's pulse, then as one in authority he 
would command the patient to stick out his tongue, which there- 
upon he would scan much as one looks at a counterfeit half- 
dollar of which one is the unintentional possessor; then he would 
ask the patient what was the matter with him, laughing quietly, 
kindly and indulgently at the reply, as if to say, 'Poor boy, it will 
not do you any harm to think so; but I know a heap better.' 
"Then collecting himself into becoming gravity, he would look sharp- 
ly at the patient about three seconds, remarking to the nurse as fol- 
lows: 'The etiology of the disease is obscure, and the semiology 
indicates indisputably that the pathogeny will be greater at my next 
visit, when I will be able to make an absolutely correct diagnosis 
and possibly a prognosis, if the patient only develops his ailments 
into a settled nosology. You will in the meantime give him No. 
2 of my famous downendibus remedy, a teaspoonful every two 
hours, alternating with a half-teaspoonful of my upendibus remedy, 
giving this bolus of circumendibus the last thing at night. If 
any feverish symptoms develop I will then prescribe my in- 
fallible clyster if ice water and frozen gravel to reduce the tem- 
perature to the normal. Keep his head hot and his feet cold. 
Good day." 
"And then the good doctor would step into his chaise and drive 
furiously, as if he were on missions of life or death in all direc- 
tions of the river bottom, although he simply was going home 
in a roundabout way at the time. Nevertheless he understood 
the value of driving fast and looking grave, with the aspect of 
serious affairs which was thereby implied, as was becoming to 
a man who was forced to live up to the character of a genius, even 
if the degree was conferred by people whose judgments were 
matured by growing corn and making estimates on the market 
value of hogs. 
"In the course of time the years touched heavily on the shoulders 
of our ^Esculapius of the river bottom, much lightened, however, 
• by a good bank balance, so he concluded to engage an assistant, 
who must needs practice after the same school as his master; for 
when people become habituated to the curatives of a certain school 
they always feel that they are not well cured if the treatment is 
that of any other. 
"Taking the young man into his study one morning to give 
him his preliminary suggestions, he looked at him solemnly and. 
in a deep bass voice said: 'Young man, I will now induct.you 
into the mysteries of my wonderful system of medicine, which 
is a vade mecum for all the ills of which flesh is heir and all the 
ills which are imaginary. The system has proved eminently suc- 
cessful in a long practice, and has enabled me to hold my job 
as a genius without trouble. All my medicine is made of the 
bark of the ash tree. There you have it. You may now begin 
practice at once.' 
" 'But you have different remedies,' said the surprised assist- 
ant. 'What is the downendibus?' 
" 'You pull the bark off the tree downward,' replied the aged 
medicine man. 
" 'What is the upendibus?' 
" 'You pull off the bark upward,' was the sage reply. 
" 'What is the circumendibus?' 
" 'You pull it off round the tree, and that completes the whole 
system of iherapeutics, as practiced by the greatest medical 
genius this river bottom ever had,' said the good, wise man, with 
a glow of conscious worth." 
Here the Cadi stopped talking. 
"I don't see how that story has any application to the point 
in question," commented Ephraim. 
"There 18 n0 harm dope in that case," replied the Cadi, "and 
your inability is quite what I expected." 
"But what is the application of the ice water and frozen gravel to 
a system of trap-shooting moneys?" queried Le Loup. 
"That's concerning the added money, which reduces the trap- 
shooting fever after' a few trials, if properly applied," replied the 
Cadi. 
"Are all systems alike then?" queried Moke. 
"Not at all, when compared with each other," the Cadi re- 
plied, "but they are all alike to the shooter who cannot get 
into the money without a hanidcap. Your downendibus and up- 
endibus and circumendibus systems may lead him to think that 
there is a true remedy in one or the other, whereas it's all the same 
thing, and without a handicap he cannot shoot well enough to get 
into the money. A system which only applies to a division of the 
money does not benefit him in the least. Shooting well enough 
to get into the money and dividing the money afterward are quite 
distinct matters." 
"You have been kicking against everything that has been 
proposed," said Moke testily. "Will you be so good as to tell 
what you would agree to, assuming that you would not disagree 
with yourself if there was no one else whom you could con- 
veniently disagree with or oppose." 
The Equation of the Shooters. 
"With pleasure, gentle Moke," the Cadi replied. "I have told 
you my views several times already, but I am far from expecting 
you to overload your brain with more than two consecutive 
ideas on the same day. I maintain first of all that we are all 
professionals, and if there is any virtue in the accepted tests of 
what constitutes professionalism D-can come pretty near proving 
it on fit occasion. If this is conceded, I further maintain that 
we target shooters should all shoot together, under the equity 
of a handicap, after the manner of live-bird shooting. It is 
absurd to maintain that a handicap is good for contestants at 
live birds and not good for contestants at targets. The handicaps 
have no reference to the ohiects shot at, but to the inequality 
of skill which exists between the shooters. If we once for all 
reject the term amateur, it will simplify matters greatly. As com- 
monly used, it denotes one who is inferior in skill, yet who is try- 
ing to do what is possible only to the most skillful. He really is 
the semi-expert or- the novice, as distinguished from the expert, 
and as to profession they might be classed as circumendibus, 
upendibus and downendibus shooters. 
"As to the novice, much has been said about him and his 
chances in competition, but the place for the novice is within 
the limits of his own club confines, which in a way is the pre- 
paratory school. His place is therefore not in the serious com 
petition of a tournament. There is nothing in any of the affairs 
of either business or competitions of skill which can be arranged to 
make the incompetents appear as being the best performers. At 
the present time the competition at the traps is of such a high 
order that a man who can shoot no better than 80 per cent, is 
a losing tailender, and the 85 per cent, man is but little better 
off. Establish a handicap, and you bring in all the men, who are 
80 per cent, or better, into the competition, with some chance to 
win." 
"But it would be impossible to handicap such a host of target 
shooters," objected Ephraim. 
"How do you know that?" queried the Cadi. "You have never 
seen it tried. As a matter of fact, it would be no more difficult 
to handicap target shooters than it is to handicap pigeon shoot- 
ers. Nothing on earth is possible to the man who folds his 
arms and asserts that it can't be done. The history of civilization 
and progress is against the 'can'ts.' The great difficulty is not in 
the theory, but in the dearth of good handicappers. By good 
ones I mean those who have the knowledge of the class to which 
each shooter belongs, and also the moral courage to place the 
men accordingly. It requires a great deal of moral courage 
to do that. I have in mind one man in particular who is a model 
to aspire to in this respect. When he says a thing you may be 
sure that it is right, and equally sure that it is final; hence he 
and his rulings are respected. Such procedure squelches ef- 
fectually both the man who kicks eternally on principle, to the 
end that he may get all the advantages possible, whether they 
are his by right or not, and the man who always believes that he 
is getting the worst of it, regardless of all fact. The proper 
way is to know what is right and then use a firm hand in 
maintaining it, regardlass of man or beast." 
"I fear that your ideas will not be generally accepted, good 
Cadi," said Le Loup. 
"I know that the expediency of the moment will govern, and 
what promises success in the concrete will be used regardless of 
abstract merits or demerits," the Cadi replied. "But there will 
come a time when the old expedients will avail nothing, and 
then there will be a groping for the new." ' 
"Do you mean that trap-shooting has taken a start on the 
toboggan slide of failure?" said Coxey. 
"On the contrary, I asserted not long since that it was in an 
extraordinary good condition, considering the lack of equity which 
governs the target competition. There is no danger of chaos. 
But I think that it could be bettered and improved, and that 
a handicap as a logical necessity will be established in time. 
Club shooting is good and thriving, but tournaments, wherein 
the weaker shots are required to meet the stronger on equal terms, 
and wherein more money is involved, do not receive the support 
that they should. Some men are satisfied to quit when they 
are well thrashed just once; some men will take a hundred or two 
hundred thrashings; but if you thrash any man times enough he 
is bound to have a sufficiency sooner or later. 
"The time will come when the handicap will be the expedient 
of the moment, and then it will be popular. Till that time comes, 
the upendibus and the downendibus and the circumendibus sys- 
tems will be in the ascendent, because they are the illusive ex- 
pedients of the time being, and we will continue to talk of the 
upendibus amateur and the semi-circumendibus expert and the 
downendibus professional. 
"1 never had such a dry feeling in my throat. The meeting is 
adjourned till next week, when I will tell you about handicaps, 
and we will now proceed with the previous cider question, the 
reply to which is mostly always, 'Some of the same.'" 
Bernard. Wateks. 
Nov 24 there will be a Thanksgiving Day shoot under the 
auspice* of the Bison Gun Club, Buffalo, N. Y., on their 
grounds, Walden avenue and city line. The programme provides 
for ten 20-target events, each 75 cents entrance, and $0 added to 
each Money divided 40, 30. 20 and 10 per cent. Guns and 
ammunition shipped to Chas. H. Werlin, 4634 Broadway, will be 
delivered on the grounds irec of charge. Take Sycamore street 
cars direct to the grounds. Targets 2 cents each. John E. Wilson, 
Sec'y. 
Mr Paul North, of the Chamberlin Cartridge and Target Co., 
Cleveland, O., sailed for England last week on a business trip 
of two months' duration. The hustling representative of this com- 
pany will induct the sportsmen of England into the uses and ad- 
vantages of the magautrap and the rapid-fire system, which gives 
a maximum of fun in a minimum of time. 
Trap around Reading. 
Reading, Pa., Oct. 27. — The two days' tournament of the Oak- 
brook Gun Club at targets and live birds opened to-day. Live 
birds were used in all events. The birds were a fine lot of 
strong, old flyers, who left the traps like a streak when liberated. 
A strong wind assisted the birds, and many "dead out of bounds" 
were just caused by the bird being blown out and then dropped. 
The tournament was held in a large open field adjoining the Kurtz 
House, and although the crowd was not very large, those who 
were fortunate enough to be present enjoyed the day's sport. 
The Peace Jubilee parade at Philadelphia hurt the tournament, as 
many said if the event would be postponed until later on they 
would come, but secretary James W. Kurtz decided not to change, 
and the tournament was held. 
Mr. Arthur A. Eink, of Reading, who has been managing all 
the tournaments held in this vicinity lately, had full charge of the 
shooting and attended to his duties promptly, allowing no un- 
necessary delays whatever. 
Among the shooters present from out of the city were F. T. 
Felix and J. T. Delaney, of Philadelphia; J. T. Benner, of Bingen, 
Lehigh county; Charles Hiltebeidel, of Telford, Bucks county; 
Harvey Clouser, of Gibraltar. Clouser is- but eighteen years of 
age and is a wonder at pigeon shooting, having great control 
of his first barrel. The scores of the first day follow: 
Event No. 1, 10 birds, Rhode Island rules, 21yds. rise, 80yds. 
boundary : 
Benner 1001111110— 7 Geikler 111011001—7 
Clouser 4111101101—8 Hiltebeidel 000111111—6 
Event 2, 5 birds, American Association rules, 28yds. rise, 50yds. 
boundary: 
Benner 02012—3 Hiltebeidel 0**11—2 
Geikler 11210—4 Clouser 2012*— 3 
Event 3, miss-and-out : Clouser 0, Geikler 1, Hiltelbeidel 1, Ben- 
ner 1, Delany 0, Clouser , re-entry, 1; Delany, re-entry, 2. 
Event 4, match at 10 live birds each, for $5 a side, between 
Clouser and Delany, Rhode Island rules, 21yds. rise, 80yds. boun- 
dary: Clouser 10, Delany S. 
Event 5, miss-and-out: Geikler 8, Clouser 3, Delany 7, 
Event 6, miss-and-out: Geikler 2, Clouser 0, Winthrop 0, 
De ! any 3, Clouser, re-entry. 3. 
Event 7, miss-and-out: Geikler 3, Clouser 1, Delanv 3, Win- 
throp 2. 
Event 8, 10 birds: Geikler 7, Delanv 8, Winthrop 6. 
Event 9, 10 birds: Geikler 6, Clouser 6, Delany 6, 
Shoot-off of tie at miss-and-out: Geikler 0, Clouser 2, Delany 2. 
In a match between Geikler and Clouser, at 15 birds each, for 
$10 a side, Geikler scored 9 and Clouser 14. 
After the last event a match was made between Clouser and "an 
unknown" of Philadelphia to shoot at 50 birds each, Rhode 
Island rules to govern, 21yds. rise, 80yds. boundary, gun to be 
below elbow until bird is on the wing. The date to be selected 
later on and also the place, but as both shooters are satisfied with 
the Kurtz House grounds, they will probably be selected. The 
match is for $100 a side and a side bet. 
Second Day, Oct. 28. 
The second day of the Oakbrook Gun Club's two days' tourna- 
ment opened to-day promptly at 10 A, M., the hour set to start. 
One thing very noticeable was the absence ot the Reading shoot- 
ers, the majority of whom were at Philadelphia viewing the large 
parade. Manager Fink had everything in fine working order, 
three traps being used to throw the targets, Sergeant system. 
All the shooting was over by 4:30 P. M., so as to allow the 
visiting sportsmen time to. catch their trains for home. Among 
the out-oi-town shooters present were M. S. Brey, ot Zionsvilie; 
Hufford, Hainly and Spatz, of the Independent Gun Ciub, of 
.Sinking Spring; W. I. Grubb, of Pottstown, and Chas. Hilte- 
beidel, of Tottord, Buck county. The traps were in charge of 
Benneville S. ICeim and Edward Mengel Krebs. The refeiee of 
the live-bird events was Manager Fink, while Mr. Francis Yost, 
of Reading, officiated in the target events. The scores follow: 
Events : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 IE 
Targets: 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5p 
Brey 8 10 9 9 10 4 5 7 10 U 9 8 4 
Grubb 7678695869986 
Hiltebeidel 7876664755787 
Kurtz 5 4 4 6 8 
Hufford 4 5 5 5 2 3 5 7 
Hainly , 5 7 5 8 10 3 w 
Spatz 8 6 6 5 8 5 
Limekiln, Pa., Oct. 26. — A sweepstake pigeon match was held 
at the Oley Line Hotel, this place, to-day, each contestant shoot- 
ing at 10 birds each, entrance $2.50. Scores: Gechter 8, VVertz 7, 
Carroll 6, Stein 5. 
Reading, Pa., Oct. 29. — Arrangements are being made to, hold a 
two days' shoot at Seidel's Spring Valley grounds, near this city, 
to be held about Nov. 22-23. This ground is the finest in the 
State, having a set of underground traps for pigeon shooting 
of Mr. Siedel's own patent. Also a magautrap is on the grounds, 
and two squads can shoot, neither squad bothering one another. 
The principal event will be a 15-bird match, $10 entrance, birds 
included, As yet the positive date has not been decided upon. 
Duster. 
As the yachting journal of America, the Forest and Stream is 
the recognized medium of communication between the maker of 
yachtsmen's supplies and the yachting public. Its value for ad- 
vertising has been aemonstrated by patrons who have employed 
its columns continuously for years. 
At no previous time in the history of yachting has it 
been so difficult to predict the temper of yachtsmen and 
their probable action on any proposed change. Old 
methods and ideas have disappeared entirely; new in- 
fluences are at work in different ways, and in spite of the 
lack of one final standard of measurement, and the gen- 
eral confusion existing among those most active in the 
improvement of the rules, there is good ground to 
hope for better things before many seasons. While de- 
finite and satisfactory proposals for amendment are still 
lacking, there is evident a general feeling, such as has not 
yet been known in .yachting, in favor of restrictive legis- 
lation in the interest of the all-round yacht, as opposed 
to the racing machine. While many of the changes pro- 
posed or adopted by clubs and associations are but ex- 
perimental, and some of them will doubtless prove fail- 
ures, the situation is such that they can do little harm to 
yachting; and in the end they may lead to satisfactory 
results. The over-development of the racing machine, 
permitted by all clubs, with no efforts at timely restric- 
tions, has resulted in the past three or four years in the 
stoppage of all building save in the smaller classes, and 
the withdrawal of many yachts, both small and large, 
from the racing. This has happened not as the result 
of legislation, as some would claim, but as the result of 
a general refusal to act until it was too late, the whole 
field of yacht racing being then monopolized by the 
lightly built racing machine, the fin in the larger and the 
skimming dish and scow in the smaller classes. With 
practically no yachts building of late years, and but few 
racing, matters are in such a state that positive legisla- 
tion, even though of doubtful benefit, is better than mere 
continued inaction; and from this point of view all new 
experiments are to be welcomed. 
Through various causes, but mainly through the prac- 
tical example of the different restricted classes, there 
has been of late a visible change of opinion among 
yachtsmen in the matter of restrictive legislation. Many 
