This is an extreme case, but all smoking, from the first whiff, is cumulative poison, deteriorating the nerves.
If a man gives up smoking and takes to pistol shooting in the open air, he will find his nerves enormously strengthened and, as long as he guards his ears from the concussion (which I will deal with later), his health much improved.
For elderly men also there is not the strain on the heart as in golf or tennis.
CHAPTER II
SPORT VERSUS SPORTS
When I wrote my book on revolver shooting, in 1900, I caused indignation amongst many, by saying that the time wasted over games would be better employed in learning to shoot.
I was told that, although pistol shooting might be amusing, it was “such a waste of time and of no practical use,” and this by men who waste most of their time over golf!
Later, the Kipling poem on Flanneled Fools and Muddied Oafs came out, and there was an outcry as if one of the dogmas of the church had been assailed.