<--PREV Doc #1445  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1447 Document #1446; February 19, 1960 To Dwight David Eisenhower II Series: EM, AWF, Name Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part VIII: "Friends and Foes"; September 1959 to February 1960 Chapter 20: "No substitute for personal contact"   Dear David: Attached, in rhyme, is "The Code of the Shooter."1 In the fourth couplet, you will see the words "stops and beaters." Beaters are the men that beat through the woods to drive the game towards the huntsmen. I am not sure about the functions of the "stops."2 In the third to last couplet, you will see the expression "Follow not across the line." This means that if you are shooting with a partner, you must not let your gun swing toward him so that it will point beyond an imaginary line that divides your shooting zone from his. If you will learn this little code, it will remind you always to be careful with your gun. Affectionately 1 The President had received a linen tablecloth and napkins displaying the seasons for hunting and fishing in the British Isles, together with verses for youngsters to learn before using firearms. In the cover letter the donor had enclosed the entire text of the "Code of the Shooter" (see Cordle to Eisenhower, [Feb. 18, 1960]; and Eisenhower to Cordle, Feb. 20, 1960; and related material, all in WHCF/PPF 1-L Gifts). The verse reads: If a sportsman true you’d be Listen carefully to me:--- Never never let your gun Pointed be at anyone. That it may unloaded be matters not the least to me. Stops & beaters oft unseen Look behind some leafy screen Calm & steady always be Never shoot where you can’t see When a hedge or fence you cross Though of time it cause a loss From the gun the cartridge take For the greater safety’s sake If twixt you & neighboring gun Bird may fly, or beast may run Let this maxim e’er be thine Follow not across the line You may kill or you may miss But at all times think of this All the pheasants ever bred Won’t repay for one man dead. 2 In hunting, a "stop" is an individual posted to prevent game animals from leaving the area after being located. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Dwight David Eisenhower II, 19 February 1960. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1446. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/1446.cfm <--PREV Doc #1445  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1447

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