Excerpt from The Boys Book of Sports, and Outdoor Life It has been the aim of the editor and publishers of this hook to give to the boys and the youth of America a volume full of healthful amusement as well as of useful instruction. The story of "Marvin and His Boy Hunters," which opens the volume, has been prepared with the purpose of teaching boys of proper age how to carefully and successfully use the shot-gun. Old and intelligent sportsmen will, of course, see little that is new in the manual; but the beginner with the gun will find all the rules safe and valuable, and he can not too closely read and heed them; - on the one hand, they will insure safety from accident, and, on the other, they will smooth the way to such success as intelligent and enlightened practice gives in any art. Boys long to have guns, and this is not unwise, provided they be taught the danger that attends the use of such weapons, and how to avoid it. The natural, healthful impulses and desires of boyhood and youth should be prudently respected. What a joy hovers in the sunshine, the open air, and over the fields and streams and woods, for our lusty, bright-eyed, tan-faced, nimble boys! Let them go at seasonable times and for reasonable periods, to get the very best that Nature offers. All boys can not become successful naturalists, or explorers, or writers, or artists, or specialists in other lines, but all can reasonably enjoy and improve life; all can round out and mature character in the best lines. Believing in the maxim "A good boy makes a good man," the editor has tried to put into this book the helpfulness of a cheerful spirit and the freshness and purity of an outdoor atmosphere, so that those who read may feel the influence of wind, and sun, and water, of woods and of birds. It is believed that there is not anything in the "Boys' Book of Sports" tending the slightest to favor a spirit of idleness or of vain romance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.