ss will not stand the test of a moment's thought--that
is, if you are in search of excellence. You buy a name and trust to
chance. After several days of such work as this, becoming less and
less satisfied at every fresh attempt, and physically more fatigued
than if I had walked a hundred miles, I gave it up for awhile, and
wrote to D. for more precise instructions.

When I came to quietly reflect on these experiences, I found that
the effect of carefully studying the subject had been to plunge me
into utter confusion. It seemed as difficult to choose a gun as to
choose a horse, which is saying a good deal. Most of us take our
shooting as we take other things--from our fathers--very likely use
their guns, get into their style of shooting; or if we buy guns, buy
them because a friend wants to sell, and so get hold of the gun that
suits us by a kind of happy chance. But to begin _de novo_, to
select a gun from the thousand and one exhibited in London, to go
conscientiously into the merits and demerits of the endless
varieties of locks and breeches, and to come to an impartial
decision, is a task the magnitude of which is not easily described.
How many others who have been placed in somewhat similar positions
must have felt the same ultimate confusion of mind, and perhaps at
last, in sheer despair, plunged, and bought the first that came to
hand, regretting for years afterwards that they had not bought this
or that weapon, which had taken their fancy, but which some
gunsmith interested in a patent had declared obsolete!

D. settled the question, so far as he was concerned, by ordering two
guns: one bored in the old style for ordinary shooting, and a choked
gun of larger bore for the ducks. But all this trouble and
investigation gave rise to several not altogether satisfactory
reflections. For one thing, there seems a too great desire on the
part of gunmakers to achieve a colossal reputation by means of some
new patent, which is thrust on the notice of the sportsman and of
the public generally at every step and turn. The patent very likely
is an admirable thing, and quite fulfils the promise so far as the
actual object in view is concerned. But it is immediately declared
to supersede everything--no gun is of any use without it: you are
compelled to purchase it whether or no, or you are given to
understand that you are quite behind the age. The leading idea of
the gunmaker nowadays is to turn out a hundred thousand guns of