FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON

 
  CHAPTER I
  THE GUN CLUB

    During the War
           of the Rebellion,
         a new and influential club
            was established
                   in the city of Baltimore
                 in the State of Maryland.

    It is well known with
         what energy the taste
               for military
             matters became
               developed among
             that nation of ship-owners,
           shopkeepers,
         and mechanics.

    Simple tradesmen
         jumped their counters to become
           extemporized captains,
           colonels,
         and generals,
           without having ever
              passed the School of Instruction
                   at West Point;
        nevertheless;
           they quickly rivaled their compeers
               of the old continent,
           and,
         like them,
           carried off victories
               by dint of lavish expenditure
                   in ammunition,
         money,
           and men.

    But the point
         in which the Americans singularly
              distanced the Europeans
            was in
                   the science of gunnery.

    Not,
           indeed,
         that their weapons
              retained a higher degree
                   of perfection
                 than theirs,
           but that
             they exhibited unheard-of dimensions,
         and consequently
              attained hitherto unheard-of ranges.

    In point of grazing,
           plunging,
         oblique,
           or enfilading,
         or point-blank firing,
           the English,
         French,
           and Prussians
              have nothing to learn;
        but their cannon,
           howitzers,
         and mortars
            are mere pocket-pistols
                  compared with the formidable engines
                       of the American artillery.

    This fact need
           surprise no one.

    The Yankees,
           the first mechanicians
               in the world,
         are engineers
           -- just as the Italians
            are musicians
                   and the Germans metaphysicians--
            by right of birth.

    Nothing is more natural,
           therefore,
         than to perceive them
              applying their audacious ingenuity
                   to the science of gunnery.

    Witness the marvels of Parrott,
           Dahlgren,
         and Rodman.

    The Armstrong,
           Palliser,
         and Beaulieu guns
            were compelled to bow
             before their transatlantic rivals.

    Now when an American
        has an idea,
           he directly
            seeks a second American
                  to share it.

    If there be three,
           they elect a president
               and two secretaries.

    Given four,
           they name a keeper
               of records,
         and the office
            is ready for work;
        five,
           they convene a general meeting,
         and the club
            is fully constituted.

    So things
        were managed in Baltimore.

    The inventor
           of a new cannon
          associated himself
               with the caster
                   and the borer.

    Thus was
          formed the nucleus of the
         "Gun Club."

    In a single month
          after its formation it
        numbered 1,833 effective members
               and 30,565
              corresponding members.

    One condition
        was imposed
               as a sine qua non
                   upon every candidate
                       for admission into the association,
           and that
            was the condition of
               having designed,
         or
           (more or less)
          perfected a cannon;
            or,
               in default of a cannon,
             at least a firearm
                   of some description.

    It may,
           however,
         be mentioned
             that mere inventors of revolvers,
           fire-shooting carbines,
         and similar small arms,
           met with little consideration.

    Artillerists always
       commanded the chief
            place of favor.

    The estimation
         in which these gentlemen
            were held,
           according to one of the
               most scientific exponents
                   of the Gun Club,
         was
           "proportional to the masses
               of their guns,
             and in the direct ratio
                   of the square
                 of the distances
                   attained by their projectiles."

    The Gun Club once founded,
           it is easy
              to conceive the result
                   of the inventive genius
                 of the Americans.

    Their military weapons
          attained colossal proportions,
           and their projectiles,
         exceeding the prescribed limits,
           unfortunately occasionally