The first thing to be attended to after familiarizing herself with the
handling of the bow and arrows is to bear in mind the important
fact that the word " aim," as applied in all other methods of shooting,
is, in archery, inapplicable. In shooting with a bow you look solely
at the centre of the target, and not to the point of your arrow or at
any part of your bow. From the moment that you have your bow
and arrow in position and in readiness for the final " loose " — letting
go the string — your sight or aim must be upon the centre of the
target. The difference is, that in archery you feci your aim, as it
were, while in shooting with a rifle you sec it. This aiming b)-
instinct can only be attained by constant practice. The details to be
made familiar with before you can even send your first arrow into any
part of the target are enough to engage one's attention, outside of
the mental training necessary in learning to shoot with special
accuracy of aim. To hold your bow firmly and steadily, as if it were
in a vice, is the first letter of the archer's alphabet. The second is to
bend your bow to the arrow's head properly, and the third is to
" loose " the cord from the fingers of your right hand at the proper
moment. This is the A. B. C. of archery. Then come the placing
of the arrow in position and seeing that it is " nocked " — attached to
the cord — in the right place on the string ; and also that the right
feather of the arrow is uppermost, and that the tips of your fingers are
properly placed on the string ready for the full and the final " loose."
How to stand at ease while using your bow is also an important
matter. You do not face the target, as in shooting a rifle, but you
94 THE- hearthstone; or, life at home.
stand as described in the dueling code, with the left side of your
body facing- the target, so that in looking at the target it is with
your face turned toward your left shoulder. The left arm, which
grasps the bow, must be kept steady, and held out with firm,
unmoving muscles. This arm is the lever on which you depend for
a straight delivery of the arrow. As it is raised or lowered, so will
your arrow fly high or low. If the arm, too, be allowed to bend,
the power to draw the bow to the arrow's head steadily is lessened.
Then, too, there is the action of the right arm in pulling the cord
forward. In doing this, unused muscles are brought into play, and
at first the motion will feci like that of a constrained position.
Ladies whose chest muscles are little exercised, and whose arms
are weak from want of employment, find that this new exercise comes
rather hard upon them, but its physical advantages are sufficiently
great to repay all the pains taken in the training. When you have
learned to pull the cord correctly, you will have to attend to letting it
slip from your fingers. In the first place, you must wear " tips " —
leather coverings to three of your fingers — and these should be soft
and pliable enough to allow the string to slip from them easily. In
holding the cord, too, the correct way is to let the end of your arrow
lie between your first and second finger, just sufficiently to prevent
its slipping from the cord.
Page 55
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The first thing to be attended to after familiarizing herself with the handling of the bow and arrows is to bear in mind the important fact that the word " aim," as applied in all other methods of shooting, is, in archery, inapplicable. In shooting with a bow you look solely at the centre of the target, and not to the point of your arrow or at any part of your bow. From the moment that you have your bow and arrow in position and in readiness for the final " loose " — letting go the string — your sight or aim must be upon the centre of the target. The difference is, that in archery you feci your aim, as it were, while in shooting with a rifle you sec it. This aiming by instinct can only be attained by constant practice. The details to be made familiar with before you can even send your first arrow into any part of the target are enough to engage one's attention, outside of the mental training necessary in learning to shoot with special accuracy of aim. To hold your bow firmly and steadily, as if it were in a vice, is the first letter of the archer's alphabet. The second is to bend your bow to the arrow's head properly, and the third is to " loose " the cord from the fingers of your right hand at the proper moment. This is the A. B. C. of archery. Then come the placing of the arrow in position and seeing that it is " nocked " — attached to the cord — in the right place on the string ; and also that the right feather of the arrow is uppermost, and that the tips of your fingers are properly placed on the string ready for the full and the final " loose." How to stand at ease while using your bow is also an important matter. You do not face the target, as in shooting a rifle, but you
94 THE- hearthstone; or, life at home.
stand as described in the dueling code, with the left side of your body facing- the target, so that in looking at the target it is with your face turned toward your left shoulder. The left arm, which grasps the bow, must be kept steady, and held out with firm, unmoving muscles. This arm is the lever on which you depend for a straight delivery of the arrow. As it is raised or lowered, so will your arrow fly high or low. If the arm, too, be allowed to bend, the power to draw the bow to the arrow's head steadily is lessened. Then, too, there is the action of the right arm in pulling the cord forward. In doing this, unused muscles are brought into play, and at first the motion will feel like that of a constrained position. Ladies whose chest muscles are little exercised, and whose arms are weak from want of employment, find that this new exercise comes rather hard upon them, but its physical advantages are sufficiently great to repay all the pains taken in the training. When you have learned to pull the cord correctly, you will have to attend to letting it slip from your fingers. In the first place, you must wear " tips " — leather coverings to three of your fingers — and these should be soft and pliable enough to allow the string to slip from them easily. In holding the cord, too, the correct way is to let the end of your arrow lie between your first and second finger, just sufficiently to prevent its slipping from the cord.