We have said that Mount Airy was acquiring some fame as a watering-place; but that must not lead you to infer that it was like other places of resort—lively enough in summer, but very dull in winter, for such was by no means the case. The village was lively at all seasons of the year. Of course there were many more people there in summer than there were in winter, for during warm weather the hotels and all the boarding houses were crowded with visitors, and so were the cottages on the other side of the lake; but when these visitors went away, the citizens did not hibernate like so many woodchucks and wait for them to come back, because they were not dependent upon tourists either for their livelihood or for means of entertainment. Strangers were astonished when they found what a driving, go-ahead sort of people they were. They were proud of their village, of its churches, its hotels, its fine private residences, and its high-school was so well and favorably known that it attracted students from all parts of the country. It could boast of an efficient fire department, composed of all the leading men in town (the ministers and teachers, to a man, belonged to it), a military company which formed a part of the National Guard of the State, and a band of archers known as the Mount Airy Toxophilites. We ought, rather, to say that there were _two_ bands of archers, one being composed of boys and girls, and the other of their fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters. They were both uniformed, but the boy members of the Toxophilites were the only ones who ever paraded.
It was worth a long journey to see these forty young archers turn out and march through the streets to the music of the band. They looked as neat in their green and white suits, with short top boots, and black hats turned up at one side and fastened with a black feather, as the military company did in their blue uniforms and white helmets: and as for their marching, it was nearly perfect. They had a manual of arms which originated with Uncle Joe, who, for more than a year, acted as their instructor and drill-master. They were governed by a constitution and by-laws, and fines were imposed upon those who did not turn out regularly to the drills and parades. They had shooting matches at which prizes were distributed, also a grand annual hunt, followed by a dinner that was equally grand; and every year some of the boys spent a week or two camping in the mountains, taking bows and arrows with them instead of guns. A good many of the young archers were very fine shots with these novel weapons, and there were about half a dozen of them, of whom Joe and Roy made two, who stood ready at any time to meet an equal number of riflemen at the trap, the archers shooting at twelve yards rise and the riflemen at twenty.