Sept. 9, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
219 
ConfaBalations of the Cadi»— XIX. 
' It came to the morning when that fourfold personage — paw, 
paw-in-law, grandpaw and «go — contemplated taking his departure 
at soine. houi- of the day, journeying thitherward to his own 
Sweet home. It will be remembered that he had been making 
a visit to liis son-in-law'a liome, which was all the happier for his 
coming and much excited over his going. On account of this 
event the Cadi and his family rose at a much earlier hour, 
though Ihey were early risers at all times. Hopie Jane and the 
iChildren seemed to be tiervously apprehensive that something 
dreadful was going to happen, and all were more or less fret- 
ful in consequence. The good mother found much difficulty 
in issuing commands and rebukes consistently with enjoying a 
good mouthful of snuff; and in the excitement of the forth- 
coming event the children either heeded not the words of 
iheir mother or forgot them a moment after they were uttered. 
I'he Cadi, however, wias calm and collected; he assured his 
beloved brevet parent that he had risen earlier than usual so 
that thereby he would have more happy hours in which to enjoy 
5aid parent's society; lie mentally reserved stating that paw by 
rising early could complete all arrangements for his departure 
and go, beyond peradventure. In the good Cadi's code of hos- 
pitality not only should the latch string hang on the outside 
of the door to welcome the coming guest, but it should also hang 
outside the door so that the^ parting guest might handily close 
it after him on his departure, thus making a true equation of 
"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest." 
At breakfast the Cadi looked grave, and his good wife looked 
tearful. Every 0ne had a fair allowance of corn pone and 
buttermilk, and paW in addition had, as guest of honor, a deli- 
cately cooked young rabbit. There was a respectful silence, 
though there was no falling off in rapid, two-handed action on 
the pone and milk, for breakfast in the domicile of the Cadi was 
not at all in the nature of a social function; it was treated as a 
necessary incident, to be dispatched with expedition, coinmencing 
when the corn pone and Ijuttermilk were fairly set on the table 
and ending when they were eaten. This standard was conducive 
lo rapidity and alertness, for if one dallied unwisely the main 
incident of the mornin.g might be closed and the race finished 
before the .laggard had time to realize what had happened. 
Father-in-law having but three or four teeth which articulated 
properly and being a guest also, was privileged to place an extra 
piece of pone beside his plate to finish at his own pace, while 
the children remained in their seats and watched him with 
gleaming envy, and swallowing sympathetically every time that 
he swallowed. 
The Cadi and Hopie' Jahc arose from the table, swallowing their 
last mouthful of breakfast as they walked away, for there was 
no dawdling over morning papers, nor nibbling at tidbits, nor 
squeamish toying with knife or fork in the home of the Cadi; 
any one who hesitated was lost. It was miss-and-out. 
Hopie Jane told paw that the harvest work needed attention 
and' that she and the children would have to go out to the fields 
in consequence, and she charged him to blow the dinner horn 
when he got ready to go from them, so that she might return 
and bid him an affectionate farewell. He mumbled "All right" 
without losing a single chew on the rabbit leg which he was 
holding to his mouth in both hands, and Hopie Jane hurriedly 
stacked breakfast dishes at the foot of the table for future 
reference, intending to wash them later in the day. She cau- 
tioned the Cadi against any exertion, and told him to be sure and 
drink plenty of coiifee, of which there was an abundance in the 
cofTfee pot for his special delectation. Then, after shooing the 
children together, and under pretense of being happy, as she 
went to the field, she sang in a voice made up mostly of 
false notes: 
"He pfotnised to bring me a basket of posies, 
A garland of lilies, a garland of roses.; 
A little straw hat to set off the blue ribbons 
That tie up my bonnie brown hair." 
The morning was cool and mildly bracing. It was of autumn's 
best days, when the Cadi could bask in the mellow sunshine of 
the morning or repose sweetly in the shadow of the house during 
the midday hours, as was proper and becoming to an invalid 
philosopher -vyib-- considered things both little and great as 
matter for abstract contemplation. 
There were sere places in the landscape, mere patches here and 
there, significant of the great transformation scene of nature when she 
seems to die, but wherein she only prepares to rest in winter's 
mantle, to begin again in the spring, rejuvenated and beautiful. 
To Hopie Jane, however, all the mellow sunshine and falling 
leaves and strange migratory birds which ceaselessly hopped 
about or flew southward, were indicative of a time when malaria 
becomes a thing to be thought of, and she pampered the good 
Cadi with extra good corn pone and strong decoctions of what 
she truly believed to be coffe, to guard him against a disease 
so insiduous and so intractable. While the amiable Cadi took 
all these wifely attentions with the deference which he owed 
to her as the bread-winner of the family, he never failed to sug- 
gest to her that all her remedies were greatly assisted by an 
abundance of good hard cider, taken before and after eating in 
a manner which, he gravely assured her, the best doctors termed 
ab lib, a term they only used with the very best remedies. A 
reasonable amount between times, he further assured her, aided 
greatly as a preventive, besides being a tonic of inestimable good- 
ness, all of which Hopie Jane assented to by word and deed. 
It may be remarked, en passant, that many good people who 
are wiser than Hopie Jane assent to fallacies- equally weak, be- 
lieving in a universal panacea which makes them cool when 
they are warm, warm when they are cool, happy when sad, well 
when ill, witty when dull, etc., a nectar which is good in summer 
and better in winter and good in winter and better in summer- 
all as fallacious as well could be imagined. 
Behold the afHicted Cadi and his aged friend sitting on the 
sunny side of the house after Hopie Jane and her cluster of 
olive branches had straggled away to the labors of the day. The 
Cadi sat in his easy chair. Opposite him sat paw on a log, with 
hie feet resting on its side and his elbows out, his posture 
suggesting strongly a descent from arboreal ancestry, while ever 
and anon the gentle breeze toyed with his whiskers and sifted 
out the corn bread crumbs which had found lodgement therein 
at the morning meal. He thought that the Cadi was able to 
work, but he was awed somewhat by the greatness of him, so 
he compromised the matter by keeping the Cadi company in 
his long daily rests, incidentally taking a hearty pull at the 
cider pitcher whenever his dutiful son-in-law pushed it toward 
him; after this incident had happened two or three times, father- 
in-law would look at son-in-law with a very fishy expression 
of countenance, listening with painful intentness, nodding his 
head with peculiar unction at wrong junctures and moving his 
hands about in the meaningless manner in which a silly gosling, 
-^t on its back ii) a hole the way?ide, clffws t^e ajr weakly. 
The GoodlOId Days. 
The Cadi had regaled 'Ha- par-ent with a leTit'g- dissertation, oil 
the advanced state of the sciences at the present day, to which 
the latter gave frequent assent in a rather foggy fashion, at 
lengtli breaking in with the remark that: 
"It do seem to me. Cadi, as Jiow these days hain't not no 
mo' like them good ole days when I wag a boy. Them days 
was days all right. Everybody and everything Was better and 
was different. I wish I was a boy ag'in, way back in them good 
ole days ag'in, with the corn huskin's and the (ishin' and the good 
ole dog and the woods and the squir'ls, with a gun." 
"Bother the good ole days, paw, and bother a squir'l with a 
gun," retorted his good son, with some impatience. "There 
weren't any good days then any more tlian there are good days 
now. They seem like good old days to you now because when 
you look backward through the years you come to yourself as a 
boy and see yourself in those years when you were free from 
care. They indeed were blithesome years as compared with the 
years of the present. Chasing butterflies and mastering tin 
horses, with board and lodging provided by your parents, made 
rather happy days; but your parents and elders had then all 
the cares and troubles that you have now, and they in turn looked 
back on the years of their youth as being the years containing 
the good old days. These years which you and I are now en- 
joying so well together will years hence be the good old days of 
my children and the children of others of the present day— and 
why? Because they are furnished with, corn: pone and a roof 
and clothes, be the same more or less, and because tliey have 
a lightning digestion and a keen palate for anything which is 
eatable, and withal a crass belief that the surface of things is as 
things really are. And moreover they don't know any better. We 
are prone to believe that, as we gain more knowledge of the 
world, it is changing, whereas it is f.eally the same old 'world, 
the change being in our knowledge of it. You don't take as 
much interest in your old single-barrelled gun and the squirrels 
as you did when you were a boy and a younger man, but you 
will note that the young men of to-day shoot squirrels and 
enjoy what you enjoyed, and that in a way the good old days are 
still doing business at the same old stand. You are having good 
old days right now, but you don't seem to know it. Happi- 
ness is always like good fishing, or good hunting— always a piece 
ahead. In the good old days of which you sing so sweetly, you 
were then looking ahead, and if you were back again in them you 
would be still looking ahead. The present time is the time to be 
happy in, paw, and let past and future take care of themselves. 
Drive a nail, paw," and the Cadi pushed the pitcher toward his 
revered companion. 
"Whew!" exclaimed father-in-law. "It mought be that you'r' 
right, but I'm an older man than you air 'n' p'raps I know 
a thing or two from sperience. Things has changed, 'n' I 
know it. And I'm having a good time too all the same," and 
here paw looked long into the pitcher. 
"It is well, paw, after all, to look at it that way. If you could 
stand here double — as you are now and as you were when a 
boy — you would indeed see that there is a change; but you are 
wrong in thinking that the good old days are far away in the 
past. The good days are as we make them, and they can be 
the days passing at present. Stop living in the past or future. 
A man who lives that way passes through life without 
having lived in reality. Join a gun club, endeavor to 
be high gun at every shoot, and you will find sbtne- 
thing that will engage your time, money and best effort at the 
present. You might need a handicap at the start, but if you had 
a good one it would make things all the easier." 
"What kind of a handicap is the best one?" queried paw- 
The Hanch Handicap. 
"The hunch handicap is the best," replied the good son. "Look 
at those pigs which have just come out of the woods and found 
their breakfast left by Hopie Jane in that trough. Do you 
notice how that end shoat has one forefoot in the trough and his 
shoulders braced against the others so that he can boost them 
all along in a row at will? That pig makes his own handicap 
and is sure to win out before the game is ended. That is the 
true hunch handicap. If you become a shooter, paw, never 
forget the hunch handicap. You will find that few shooters ever 
think they have enough 'handicap, and if you make good , use of 
your foreleg and shoulder you may always win out." 
"I swow, that's not a bad idee, as a gin'ral propersition," paw 
replied. ^ 
"My head is feeling light this lovely morning, Paw," con- 
tinued the Cadi, sweetly, "and I will do something which will 
remind you of the good old times. I will sing you a song such 
as mother used to sing—" 
"Scuse me, son Cadi," interrupted Paw, as he rose hastily. 
"My mommer had a bass voice much like yourn, and it uster 
be a awful grind when she sawed off a song. Blow the horn 
for Plopie, for I'm gwine home. I don't want no pies ^like 
mommer uster make, nor no songs that mommer uster sing.' 
Behn.j^rd Waters. 
An Old Home Week Shoot. 
DuNBARTON, N. H., Aug. 31.— On Aug. 29 Dunbarton decided 
to celebrate "Old Home Week." This is a farming town some 
nine miles in length by five or six in width. A few years since 
it was said that we did not have within our borders a railroad, a 
telegraph, a doctor, a lawyer, a pauper or a poorhouse. I am quite 
sure the same state of things prevails to-day. Our celebration was 
a most decided success. The village at the center overflowed with 
visitors- former residents and many prominent New Hampshire 
men, including Gov. Rollins, Senator Wm. E. Chandler and others. 
Dinner was served in the town hall for something over 1,100. As 
a member of the executive committee I proposed to get up a 
trapshooting contest as one of the events of the day, and some- 
thing which I thought would be a noveUy, as we have never had 
anything of the kind in the town before, and mqst of onr residents 
had no idea what a bluerock target looked like. I heard a woman 
say when she first saw one: "Is that what the boys call a blue- 
rock pigeon? It looks more Hke a pot cover." In getting up 
this match I said that I would do my best to make it a success, 
and that I would not ask any one in the town to contribute one 
cent toward any expense it would entail. Some of my friends, 
however, outside our town were generous in giving me some as- 
sistance.' I think there has seldom if ever been a shooting contest 
held on grounds affording as fine a view. A short distance from 
where our traps were set a, magnificent view of our mountains and 
valleys can be had. To the north Kearsarge and the Franconia 
ranges are plainly seen. Westward Monadnock, Ragged Mountain 
Sunapee and miles on miles of lesser hills, and the valley of the 
Contoocook. South, the double-headed Uncanunucs stand out 
clear against the sky. 
The match, as I planned, was to be a tetam race between five 
pien from QtiT toTWn 8il4 a like numl^er from the neighboring town 
of Henniker. It was not vcsry easy to pick up five men for oiir 
team. With the exccptioil of iny.self and one other, none of those 
I could think of had ever shot in a target match. I got hold of 
four young fellows and tried to give them a few lessons in target 
shooting. The accuracy and almbst unfailing regularity with which 
those fellows would shoot intO' empty space wa.<! not very en- 
couraging. The only redeeming poitili was in the few targets 
needed. Ten or a dozen bluerooks would nearly always furnish 
twenty-five or thirty shots. I tried my men on targets thrown 
high, on targets thrown low, on slow and on very fast ones, with 
the most regular results. They would miss them just the same. 
I heard that our opponents were doing some work and making 
pretty good scores, but I also found out that they were throwing 
slow high targets. I made up my mind then to throw the targets 
in our match as hard as I could under the rules. 1 knew our 
men would miss the greater part, no matter how trapped, and alt 
I could do would be to make the other fellows miss as many as- 
possible. Wc knew we could not win under any conditions. 
The match was to be called at 2 o'clock, and to be at 50 blue- 
rock targets per man, targets thrown from expert trap, unknown 
angles, revised American Association rules to govern; class shoot- 
ing. The following prizes were put up for beat individual scores: 
First, one G^Alb. can Du Font's Smokeless powder; second, 300 
U. M. C. Smokeless shells; third, 251bs. Tatham's No. 7 chilled 
shot; fourth. Powers' brass cleaning rod; fifth, 2,000 U. M. C. 
felt gun "wads. 
Some consolation prizes were put up for those not winning or 
being in team match. > 
The match was started promtply at 2 o'clock before a large 
crowd. As leader of the Dunbarton team I went first to the score 
and distinguished myself by missing 3 out of the first 5. There 
was a time when I asked nci odds of any one anywhere at target 
shooting, and my record in, different parts of the country bears 
out my statement. My day has apparently passed. Possibly lack 
of practice for a number of years may have something to do with 
it. Probably lack of skill in handling a gun with the precision 
of former days is the real cause. Every dog has his day, and I 
may have had mine. Yet the old spirit sometimes partially re- 
vives, and I do not at times like to think of myself as an alto- 
gether "has been." 
In our match, prizes, bluerocks and such things were furnished 
free. The score is as follows, at 50 each : 
Henniker Team. 
Goss oiiouomiinniuoininimi 01111110011011010010—37 
B outon 0011 llOOl 01 1 1 OllOUlOOOlOlOOOl 1 1 0 1011111 1 OOIUOOU— 30 
Chadwick 1011110011111 0111001011111011 lOlllOdlOOlllllOlllll— 36 
Chandly 0101 001 01 001 OOOOOIIOOOIOOIOIOOOOIOOOIIOIIOIIOOIOOO— IS 
Woodruff 10111000111110111101110111011111110011101111011011—36 
Dunbarton Team, 
S tark 01001111 011001111111111101010110100111011111111110—36 
T Perley 11 101100] 01 1 1 01110111011111,11101101111011011111101—38 
"Smith 00101010000010000001001000000010000001011011010100—14 
Story OIOOOOOOOOIOOOOIOOOOOOOIOOOIOUOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOO— 8 
F H Perley, .. .1000110101001110101000110110011110001101111011011001— 28 
J. Perley won first, Goss second, Woodruff, Chadwick and Stark 
tied on third, Bouton won fourth, F. H. Perley won fifth. 
Woodruff, Stark and Chadwick shot off. Chadwick out. Wood- 
ruff' and Stark tied on 9 each out of 10. Second tie, Woodruff 
won. 
Consolation prizes, .$2 to first, !i!l.75 _ to second, $1.25 to third: 
Smith first, Storey second, Chandler third. 
The small boy as a spectator was very much on hand, and al- 
though it was the first shooting match they had ever seen their 
criticisms of some of the shooters were freely given, and at times 
rather severe. The scores are all small — some ridiculously so — but 
it was hard shooting. Targets thrown, at unknown angles at a 
distance of 64yds. by tape measure and an elevation of 9ft. I have 
in my time been at a good many shooting tournaments where 
there were some of the then most expert shots in the country 
present, and invariably where targets were thrown as we threw 
them on the 29th, high scores were scarce. Some of the members 
of the opposing team have been making scores of 43 to 47 out of 
50 as targets usually are trapped. 
Even in this back country town the wonderful shot who- never 
misses, and who also is never seen, although often heafd of, was 
spoken of. One of my neighbors came to me on the inorning. 
of the 29th saying, "There is a young man camping near my 
house whom you want on your team. He can break 25 straight 
bluerocks every time. (The young fellow, as I understood, was 
from Harvard College.) I sent an urgent message to this wonder, 
asking him to bring up his gun and show us how to break blue- 
rocks, and saying that some of tis had a few wads of greenbacks 
in our pockets he could easily win by breaking two or three strings 
of 25 straight as we were trapping. As usual he did not show up, 
although I was told he was among the spectators. 
C. M. Stark. 
Soo Gun Club. 
Sioux City, la., Aug. 28. — On the afternoon of Aug. 24 the 
twelfth and final shoot of the summer series of the Soo Gun Club 
resulted as follows: 
Tro tter 100011101101111111110110111110—22 
Hunter 111111011111111111111111010011—26 
Meyer, 4 111101011101110110111111000101—21— 4—25 
Huberg 4 111011101001111101111111111111—25— 4—29 
Geiser 5 001111011110011010110011110111—20— 5—25 
Chapman, 3 111010111111100101011111111111—24— 3—27 
Milchrist 10 011111110101110110111111101111—24— 6—30 
Ellis . .' 000111011011111010111111111111—23 
Kortriffht 101001011110011101111010011101—19 
Keefe, 2 011111111111111011111111111111—28—2—80 
A number of the boys shot up back scores with the following re- 
sults : 
Event No. 1.— Trotter (31 30. Geiser (5) 24, Hoberg 18, Milchrist 
(1) 22, Keefe 23, Ellis (2) 23. 
Event No. 2.— Trotter 29, Geiser (6) 30, Hoberg (7) 30. 
Event No 3,— Trotter 27, Geiser 24, Hoberg (1) 21. 
Event No. 4.— Trotter 23, Geiser fl) 29. 
Under the rules of the club committee, each member was com- 
pelled to participate in at least ten of the twelve contests, and 
as the leaders were so far in advance only ten members finished 
the series, and in the following order: 
Shot Shot 
at. Broke. Av. at. Broke. Av. 
Leach 360 325 .902 Ellis 300 249 .830 
Duncan 360 322 .894 Gray 360 298 .827 
Hunter 360 319 .886 Hoberg 360 298 .827 
Keefe 300 252 .840 Geiser 330 273 .827 
Kortright 360 301 .836 .Meyer 330 270 . 818 
The trophy and, club championship was awarded to Leach, who 
won it fairly without the aid of a handicap. 
Wanecha. 
Trap at Sedalia, 
Sedalia, Mo., Aug. 26.— At the regular monthly medal shoot, 
held Aug. 26, Arthur Linabary, the youngest member of the club- — 
not being quite fifteen years old— tied for the gold medal with Mr. 
Lucy on a score of 18 out of a possible 25. In the shoot-off 
Arthur won. Herr won silver medal. The scores^ 
T Linabary 12 Smith 16 
Schnair 16 i^oe 15 
Fleming 14 Patterson 13 
T^ucy 18 Dr. Scales... I5 
A Linabary ...... .18 "Jnyman 13 
Kerr 17 
Shoot-off ; 
A Linabary ,..3 Lucy . ..^ 2 
T, L J WAR ART, 
