14 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 5, 1913 
Friendly Comment 
By W. H. WILLS 
D R. ELMER'S observations, which I have 
just seen in proof, are most plausible 
and seem convincing. It is gratifying to 
have access to results of competent and intelli¬ 
gent tests, and all archers welcome such. 
I myself, when I begin to shoot poorly, in¬ 
variably find that I am relaxing my left arm 
and hand, and when I bring myself back in this 
particular, my score improves. Dr. Elmer may 
be right, but how can he permit a lateral de¬ 
viation, as he says, and at the same time guard 
against wobbling up and down, or back and 
forth? Information on this point would be 
welcome. 
But regardless of the pressure upon the bow 
handle, I think all will agree that the left arm 
must be rigid. The elbow must not be “locked” ; 
if it is, the arm soon will be put out of business. 
The only way I can get the requisite firmness 
in my arm without locking the elbow is to 
squeeze the handle. Rather, I should say, it is 
the easiest and surest way. 
While on this subject Dr. Elmer’s sugges¬ 
tion about the flexibility of the right wrist in 
Forest and Stream of June 21 is amply justi¬ 
fied by my own experience, I learned early in 
the game that a stiff right wrist means poor 
shooting. But I object to his saying “opening 
the fingers for the loose.” I don't think the 
doctor opens his fingers in loosing; if he did, he 
could not shoot so well. I think the doctor 
looses just the same as Will H. Thompson, 
Homer Taylor, Phil Bryant and all the other 
fine archers. They pull their fingers off the 
string, and when this is done their fingers are 
bent double, the result of the reflex action. 
I note the comment of Mr. True, of Boston, 
in the same number of Forest and Stream 
relative to the draw. The methods and achieve¬ 
ments of archers of long ago are of intense 
interest to us, and the subject of never ending 
study and speculation—speculation because we 
have so little information; and what we have, 
from our own experiences, seems so far from 
trustworthy in so many particulars. The latter 
feature seems to characterize most of the bulky 
literature on the subject which was issued 100 
to 200 years ago. Making all due allowance 
for the development of a skill and prowess which 
exceeded even our imagination by peoples whose 
devotion to the bow was constant and life long, 
it is impossible for us, in the light of what we 
actually know, to give credence to some of 
Hansard's yarns, for example. 
But to get to the point. In drawing by the 
eye or ear one can get a longer draw, and the 
English writers constantly refer to the “cloth 
yard shaft.” In battle, accuracy in the sense of 
target shooting was not so requisite as force. 
Men shooting en masse presumably did not single 
out individuals. Drawing to the eye or ear in¬ 
evitably will throw the arrow to the left, and 
allowance must be made. Of course if this 
allowance be worked out right and consistently 
maintained, the results may be satisfactory; but 
why take the harder way? We do read that 
when the English revived archery late in the 
eighteenth century, they drew to the eye; and 
they made poor scores till Horace A. Ford’s 
day. Ford is accredited with having changed 
the style to that now generally followed, and 
the results are well known. Will H. Thompson, 
in many respects the greatest archer now living, 
draws to his chest. The difficulties of this style 
are manifest, with not many compensating ad¬ 
vantages, and even Mr. Thompson advises new 
archers not to attempt it. Mr. Rendtorff, who 
is achieving such wonderful results, I under¬ 
stand, draws to the corner of his mouth. For a 
man with a mouth too wide or too narrow, this 
wouldn’t do. If the mouth isn’t just right, the 
arrow, which must be kept under the eye focus, 
would go to one side. The chin draw is the 
easiest, and there is no reason why we should 
not go in for the easiest method in such a diffi¬ 
cult sport. 
As to Mr. True's observations of what the 
Egyptians did, it is the same as regards the 
Greeks and other Ancients. Records are so im¬ 
perfect that we can never be sure of them. As 
to the gent Mr. True saw drawing to his hat 
brim and doing that twirling stunt, I wish Mr. 
True would give us further (and as complete 
as possible) information. It is very interesting. 
Since writing the above, I have shot a few 
arrows holding the bow after Dr. Elmer’s style. 
I found that at a very short distance I could 
do about as well one way as the other, but at 
the longer distances the results were altogether 
unsatisfactory. 
A very diminutive Jap came along while we 
were shooting last Sunday, and as he evinced 
interest in the sport, and said that he knew 
something about it, I invited him to try a few 
shots. He selected a 40-pound bow, which, in¬ 
cidentally, he said was too short and too strong. 
He got up to about a hundred feet (not yards) 
from the target, wrapped a handkerchief around 
his right thumb, placed the arrow on the right 
side of the bow, elevated the latter at arm’s 
length about on the level with his hat brim, and 
hooking his thumb over the string anad holding 
the arrow in place with his forefinger, drew it 
straight back on a level with his bow hand, and 
was still drawing when the pile of the arrow 
came within the bow. Commenting on this, he 
said the arrow was “much too short.” I should 
judge from the gait at which he was drawing 
that a veritable “cloth yard shaft” would have 
been about right for him, although he was about 
the smallest Jap I ever saw. 
He loosed with a motion which reminded 
me of Mr. True’s description of circling the air. 
He made an indifferent score at the hundred 
feet, but of course he was out of practice. 
He wanted to see me shoot and I selected 
eighty yards, which he thought was a great dis¬ 
tance. I happened to make a very good end, and 
the expression of wonderment on his inscrutable 
features was very apparent. He said I was a 
“great archer.” I merely cite this to show that 
the Japs, from his evidence, and who he said 
go in for archery as much as we go in for base¬ 
ball, are not acquainted with the long distance 
shooting. With the style of draw he adopted, 
I cannot conceive how even a powerful man 
could handle effectively any but a light weight 
bow. 
Archery in Pittsburgh. 
Pittsburgh, Pa., June 24 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: On June 14 and 15 the second and 
third matches of the series between Mr. Jiles 
and Mr. Holmes on one side and Prof. Post¬ 
gate and Dr. Hertig on the other, were shot. 
Scores and match : 
Jiles . 
.... 7S 
304 
Jiles . 
...57 
238 
Holmes . 
.... 87 
413 
Holmes . 
...86 
438 
165 
717 
140 
676 
Prof. Postgate.. 
...64 
278 
Prof. Postgate . 
...64 
236 
Dr. Hertig . 
.... 92 
484 
Dr Hertig . 
...87 
441 
156 
762 
151 
677 
On Saturday, June 21, an American round 
match was shot between the same gentlemen. 
Scores: 
.Tiles . 78 388 Prof. Postgate 7G 388 
Holmes . 83 423 Dr. Hertig . 87 517 
161 811 163 965 
O. L. Hertig. 
At the Resorts. 
Resort hotels in the vicinity of New York 
are recognizing the attractiveness of archery for 
their patrons, which is evidence of the growing 
popularity of the sport. 
On the amusement grounds of the Brighton 
Beach hotel, archery was installed last week, and 
is proving a great success. The managers of 
the place consulted with W. H. Wills, of the 
New York Archery Association, who advised as 
to selection of tackle and range and initial 
shooting. The scheme there is to charge a small 
fee for the privilege of shooting, and as archery 
for profit is something new to the sport, the 
results will be watched with great interest. The 
