Chicago A furious gale was beating over the city. The streets were full of cold people hurrying for buses. The sun was setting in a clear, windy sky that flamed with red as if it were a great fire somewhere on the edge of the city. I became conscious of the city for the first time; of the congestion of life all about me; of the brutality and power of those streams that flowed in the streets, threatening to drive me under. People jostled me, poked me aside with their elbows, uttering angry exclamations. I stood there shivering. The buses passed but they were either filled to the doors or were bound for places where I did not not want to go. I pictured my village a thousand miles away, quiet and snow crested, and our fireplace with its crackling wood, and wanted to be home more than ever. Mildred Leckman Page eight Night The stars winked in the blue-black sky. The night was cool but not cold. The first few minutes outside gave me the same sense of release I used to feel on leaving a room where I had been struggling with a college examination. You thought and thought and you wrote the answers down in a blue copybook which was waiting for you on your desk with the printed examination form beside it; and when you had finished, you closed the book and gave it to the instructor in charge. If you finished early and walked down the aisle with the blue notebook, your footsteps sounded louder than ever in the quiet room. Outside, there was always relief and freedom because you had done all you could. Now I had exactly the same sensation of being out . . . with the questions all left behind me. The wind was dying down. It might be misty in the morning but now the sky was clear. I drew a deep breath of fresh air and reached up to fasten my coat. Over to the north I could see the lights of the city against the sky, miles and miles of lights. Mildred Leckman Glass Sights Scopes are specialized for various uses such as target work and hunting. By Jerry Nilsson No doubt there are fellows attending college who care little for the slimy feel of a night crawler and who would just as soon be left at home in a warm bed when duck hunting mornings roll around. This bit of discussion is not for them. It is for those lusty lads, and there are coming to be more and more of them, who tingle to the stench of gunpowder, the whistle of ducks' wings and more than all to the sight of a fleet buck deer slanting across the sagebrush in late October. For their greater joy in chase, I suggest purchase of a glass or telescope sight. Just why they should give up the old iron groove is something of a yarn which goes back into history. In the beginning a gun had no sights whatever and was aimed by guess and by gosh method. Obviously this was not very effective and a crude sight was developed which consisted of a notched piece of metal on the receiver and an iron rod on the front end of the barrel. It was a fairly effective system and we find improved models still are commonly used on rifles. The main advantage lies in the speed with which one can shoot. There were, however, those sportsmen and gun makers not satisfied with the accuracy, which diminished rapidly as distance increased. They took a circular fragment of metal and punched or drilled a small hole in the center. This they attached to the gun in place of the rear groove. Meanwhile, the front sight remained a small iron or steel upright post, to which a bead was welded for use with the so-called peep. Something was lost in adopting the new device but something was also gained. The peepsight improved accuracy but it was slower. Because of the increased accuracy, combined with simplicity and durability, these pointing devices for rifle type firearms remain a favorite with many nimrods. At this historical moment, smokeless powder was developed and it became possible to hunt at a longer range. Various gunsmiths in Germany decided that a still more accurate sight was needed, and so they set about producing one of the first telescope rifle sights. Such sights consist of tubes fitted with optical glasses similar to those in field and opera glasses. Germany led in the glass sight field and produced fine instruments still on a par with recent high grade American telescopes. Americans were quick to realize the advantages of this new type aiming device and soon developed similar sights of their own. One of the first which came anywhere near being practical was the low-power Lyman 5-R. It had, of course, such shortcomings as short eye-relief, flimsy reticule, and sun blindness. Besides, it lacked a substantial mount. In fact, it was nowhere near the class of the comparable German models. Since those early years, however, improvements have been made and the United States produces the finest scopes to be found anywhere. In fact, the choice is so extensive that it is with some difficulty that a sportsman selects a rifle scope. These manufactures, combining the best in optical science in solving actual hunting problems, provide advantages over the old horse-and-buggy iron sights. But it must be acknowledged that the old-style aiming devices even now remain the most common sights in use. This is probably so because of the cost of glass sights. But even so it can be pointed out that the best performance and the highest pleasure come from using the finest tool for the purpose. In this connection the following advantages may be listed for the telescope: 1. It shoots far more accurately. 2. It extends the practical shooting range some distance. 3. It is faster than the peepsight and almost as fast as the open sight. Both accuracy and speed are supplemented by the fact that the eye needs to focus on only the target. With the open sight it must focus on three things, rear sight, front sight, and target. A peep sight, on the other hand, requires that careful attention be given first the front sight, then the target. Both windage and elevation adjustments on the telescope are more sure than on other devices, thus adding to the qualities conducive to meticulous aiming. Disadvantages may be mentioned as two. One is that the scope tends to fog for a few moments in extreme temperature and in rapidly changing temperature. The other criticism is that it is more fragile than other sights. Yet it has been said by gun specialists that even a mediocre scope is superior in performance to the best iron sights. By way of added explanation it should be pointed out that scopes are specialized for various uses such as target work and hunting. For hunting the power ranges from 2 1/2x to 4x because a large field is needed so that the game being sighted up cannot run or jump out of the field of vision. The more power, the smaller the field. With these sizes, long eye relief is also possible, a factor which makes it possible to see through the sight readily when the gun is first brought into line. For target or varmint shooting, a high-power scope may be used (eight or ten power generally) because size of field does not matter and eye relief may be short. Reticules, the front sighting fixtures within the tube, include the cross hairs as most popular, the post and finally the cross hairs with dot at the intersection. A good solid mount is needed or all advantages of the scope are wasted and become detrimental rather than beneficial. Those on the market are the quick detachable, solid and adjustable. Among good scopes may be mentioned the Lyman Alaskan 2 1/2x Allweather, Texan 2 1/2x, 4x and 6x. These have various prices, anywhere from $22 to $100. Page nine