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Ten Cents a Copy. s 

PICTURED AUTUMN LEAVES. 
vere eS 
Gay autumn'leaves! we have seen you blending 
Your irised pennons in shadowy vale, 
And gather new glory upward wending, 
In the savage north-wind’s trail, 
From the mountain's base 
To its crested space, 
Where the burning hues preyal! 
O, green and yellow and crimson and gold, 
Out of the loom of the Infinite rolled, 
In wild Juxuriance, fold upon fold! 
We are lost in half tearful wonder 
That. the wintry wind, which is blatant and bold, 
Your blushes should deepen, your life infold, 
Till, chilled to the heart by a love that is cold, 
You shrivel and die in rugset mould, - 
And are buried the deep snows under! 
Fair autumn leaves! Can we wake rejoicing 
To loveliness doomed of its birth to pale? 
Can we echo the melody of your voicing, 
Not moved by its latent wail, 
That sighs for aye 
Through the bright array 
Grim Death must counteryail? 
hw ih : NNR 4 pins " ? 
Yet, crimson and gold and yellow and green, 
Hush your low murmurs! for I have seen 
A power that is subtle and strong and keen 
To bear you acros Time’s river, 
Where ashen garments never demean 
The radiant form of autumn’s queen, 
But on through the ages of aureate sheen, 
Bating no jot of her royal mien, 
She gorgeously glows forever. 
Glad autumn leayes! this benison lingers 
(Lifting you over life’s wintry wave) 
In the heayen born touch of the artist's fingers, 
Whose passionate soul can saye, 
By the wondrous skill 
Of a master’s will, 
Fair forms from a waiting graye. 
So, green and yellow and crimson and gold! 
Your emerald, topaz and ruby unfold, 
Dreading no robber king withered and old 
Shall bid you your grace surrender. 
Nay—flames that the wind and the sunshine hold, 
Till they joyously spread over wood and wold 
(In diaphanous haze of a wealth untold), 
Blaze on in your beauty, by naught controlled, 
For art’s seal is set on your splendor! 
— October Galaxy.) 
CBEEDMOOR PRIZE CONTEST. 
AL 
MATCH OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE AS- 
SOCIATION. 
pee bee 
HISTORY OF THE RANGE—SCORE OF THE 
MATCHES—NAMES OF THE VICTORS—ANAL- 
YSIS. 
“aise has just been completed at Creedmoor the 
first annual Prize Meeting of the National Rifle As— 
sociation, twelve competitions having taken place, the full 
and correct statements of which will be found at the con- 
clusion of this article. Though Creedmoor may be now 
well known to our National Guard and riflemen in the city 
and vicinity, still a thorough description of the same, its 
plan of organization, and the object to be obtained by hay- 
ing such a range for rifle practice in our midst, with full 
details of methods of shooting, &c., may be of interest to 
many outside of the city, and may help to develop more 
thoroughly a taste for rifle shooting in the United States. 
The initial movement for the organization of a National 
Rifle Association dates from November 24th, 1871, when a 
Board of Directors were elected withthe following officers: 
President, A. E. Burnside; Vice-President, Col. Wm. ©. 
Church; Secretary, Capt. G. W. Wingate; Corresponding 
Secretary, F. M. Peck; Treasurer, J. B. Woodward. This 
same organization held office until July 22d, 1872, whén 
General Burnside having resigned, Colonel Church was 
elected president, with General Alex. Shaler as vice-presi- 
dent. Now the real labors of the Association commenced, 
Mary B. Dopas. - 

NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 1873. 

such as the choice of a proper sight for a range and the de- 
tails necessary to get members of the National Guard to 
take an interest in what to them was a novel enterprise. It 
was soon evident that the high price of land within any 
available distance of New York, would render any pur- 
chase impossible without State assistance. A bill was in- 
troduced into the Legislature, which was passed in May 
1872, which provided that whenever the Association should 
raise $5,000 the State would contribute $25,000 for the 
purpose of purchasing and fitting up sucha range, the 
State also agreeing to provide division and State prizes for 
skillful markmanship. To this amount was added $5,000 
from the Supervisors of New York and Brooklyn, with 
$5,000 more from the Supervisors of New York. 
The work of selecting the grounds of a sufficient extent 
for a range, which should be at once reasonable as to price 
of land, safe and convenient of access, was a difficult 
task. Finally a most wise purchase was made of a tract of 
seventy acres, situated on the Central Railroad of Long 
‘Island. This land was bought of Mr. J. Creed for $26,250, 
and named Creedmoor. These grounds are admirably 
adapted for the purpose for which they have been selected. 
| As level as a billiard table, they afford room for twenty 
separate ranges, each of which can be used from one hun- 
dred to athousand yards and without the use of elevated 
firing-stands, found necessary upon most European 
ranges. ‘There was only one slight objection to the range, 
and that was that it would become necessary to build an 
embankment of twenty feet high and five hundred and sev- 
enty feet long, to place back of the buts, which would re- 
quire some 27,000 cubic yards of earth. The Association 
very wisely sent Messrs. Rockafellar, Wingate, and Church 
to Wimbledon and Hythe, who made a thorough inspec- 
tion of the rifle practice as carried on there, and who se- 
lected all the latest improvements. 
THE MATCH. 
The first annual meeting of the National Rifle Associa- 
tion, which took place on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 
and Saturday of last week, marks an important era. It 
may be considered as the dividing line in the progress of 
the National Rifle Association, and the success that was at- 
tained renders the future prospects of the Association no 
longer doubtful. 
The practice of marksmanship is one that appeals strong- 
ly to our young men. It is free from all those demorali- 
zing influences which are associated with many other manly 
sports, and it requires, above all things, a clear eye anda 
steady hand and consequently a lite free from dissipation, 
To members of the National Guard it affords a gratifying 
change from the everlasting ‘fours right” and the ‘‘manual 
of arms,” which make their drills so tedious, and by afford- 
ing achance fora display of individual skill, puts each 
man upon his metal. 
At first the Association experienced no little difficulty in 
inducing the National Guard to interest themselves in the 
subject of rifle practice. A few of the leading officers, 
prominent among whom were the Adjutant General of the 
State, and Major Generals Shaler and Woodward, have 
done all in their power to induce them to take hold of the 
matter, but many of the other officers have displayed an 
astonishing apathy. 
The liberal action of the Association in throwing open 
their range for the gratuitous use of the Nutional Guard 
during the past summer resulted in most of the regiments 
going there for a day’s praetice, and after a single visit it 
soon became popular. ‘‘Teams” were formed -from al- 
most every regiment, and the practicing has been incessant, 
so that during September alone the range was used by 
nearly 4,000 men. Emulation has been excited, and all are 
striving to excel. 
The shooting inthe different matches of the last week’ 
will do much to strengthen the popularity of the range, 
and it shows the vast improvement that has resulted from 
the better practice of the men, and thus puts all upon 
their metal for the next contest. It is also very important as 
bringing the Regulars and the National Guards in close 
contact, in which certainly the latter have not suffered. 

{ Volume I, Number 10, 
| 163 Ful ton Street. 

Creedmoor, on the Central Railroad of Long Island, is 
eleven miles from Hunter’s Point, and a short distance from 
Jamaica and Flushing. It is reached in one hour from 
James Slip, and three quarters of an hour from Thirty- 
fourth street. On alighting from the cars a walk of 200 
yards up a broad avenue brings you to the southern extrem- 
ity of the range. From this point it extends eleven hun- 
dred yards, a perfectly level field, interspersed here and 
there with large trees, and altogether containing seventy 
acres. Across the northern boundary an embankment 
twenty-five feet high has been erected, at the base of which 
twenty targets are placed, each being thirty feet from cen- 
tre to centre. They are all available for simultaneous use up 
to 500 yards, and the majority of them up to 1000 yards. 
The targets themselves are composed of heavy slabs of 
cast-iron, two feet wide by six high, which are bolted to- 
gether to form the required size; two slabs making the tar- 
get used up to 300 yards, three that used up to 600 yards, 
and six that used over that distance. Each target has a 
square black bull’s eye painted upon it surrounded by a 
line. indicating the ‘‘centre,’’ the remainder of the target 
constituting the ‘‘ outer,” the size being as follows: 


FORE 
Third Class. 
Second Class. 
Third class used up to 800 yards, (in off-hand firing); tar- 
get 6 feet by 2; bull’s eye, eight inches square; centre 2 feet. 
Second class used from 300 to 600 yards, any position; 
target 6 feet square; bull’s eye 2 feet square; centre, 4 feet. 
C2 Sule 

3 F* 
First Class. 
First class used over 600 yards; any position; target 6 feet * 
high, by 12 wide; bull’s eye, 4 feet square; centre, 6 feet. 
In all cases shots striking the bull’s eye count four; cen- 
tres three, outers two. Scores are counted the same all 
ranges, so that when we read that a marksman made, in 
five shots, 19 out of a possible 20, he must have made four 
bull’s eyes, or sixteen, and one centre, three more, which 
would score 19. For instance, General Hawley, in the 
Press match, made 36 in a possible 40 in ten shots, which 
was made up as follows: of six bull’s eyes and four centres, 
24 and 12. 
The marking isupon two systems. In the ‘‘ Hill” orside 
butt, the marker is placed in a shot-proof hut and marks from 
aslit cut in the side; in the ‘‘Scoble” or sunken butt, he is 
placed ina trench dug in front of the target, and marks 
through a trap in the roof. 
The latter plan is found by far the best, and the Associa- 
ation are converting all- their targets into that mode as fast 
as possible. It admits of a supervision being kept over the 
markers, lessens the danger of accident, and removes the 
annoyance of the target being overshadowed, the latter 
being a serious draw-back which, in the morning and even- 
ing prevented a number of targets from being used during 
the match. 
