Babcock's story about the small gauge Parker that cured him of his hopeless shooting slump, but was discarded when he discovered to his horror that it had Damascus barrels, will make a good intro. to my "Damascus Mythology and Reality" article series. Could someone please look in his "Best Of..." and see when it was originally published?

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=191857&page=5

It would be a GREAT help if you could post the paragraph when he noticed the Damascus pattern on the barrels!

In the Gunnerman reprint of "The Best of Babcock", Fallen Lady was attributed to Field and Stream with no date. Fallen Lady also appeared in "Jaybirds Go To Hell On Friday". When I get a chance today, I will reread Fallen Lady. It was one of my favorite Babcock stories because it included Parkers, or maybe Fallen Lady was a Lefever. I don't remember. I believe Parkers have been mentioned in other Babcock works.

Drew, when I get home tonight I'll post it if someone hasn't beaten me to it by then.

OK, I pulled out my copy of "The Best of Babcock", Holt Rinehart Winston, 1974 and the fallen lady was STILL a Parker. The attribution is just "Field and Stream" with no date. However I remember reading it in Field and Stream and even now can picture the artwork showing the author in his attic pulling out the old Parker.

The moment of truth is described in the story as follows:

"Tomorrow I would give those New Englanders a lesson in the art of eye-wiping, but right now I would gloat over my beauty alone. I'd doll her up just a bit. Later I'd remove the old black paint from the barrels and have them reblued, of course, but right now I'd merely hit the high spots, like that paint smudge on the left barrel."

"Daubing it with a little paint remover, I waited a moment, then brushed the paste off. The exposed metal didn't look quite right; it seemed to have a spiral pattern. I stopped dead still, a chilling suspicion at my throat. Then, removing the forearm, I went to work vigorously with an emery cloth. Again the telltale spirals leaped at me."

"The sickening truth was irrefutable: the barrels of my precious gun were visibly, unmistakably, and irreparably Damascus, made in the old black-powder days by twisting strip steel around a mandrel, then heat-welding it. For unnumbered years Damascus barrels were highly regarded, but the coming of smokeless powder doomed them. In simple fact, nitro loads blew many of them apart, with resultant damage to the shooters." pages 145,146, Fallen Lady, "The Best of Babcock"...Geo

So sad that such an experienced and learned man as Mr. Babcock was taken in by the naysayers of the day. Too bad Sherman Bell and Tom Armbrust couldn't have conducted their research earlier.

Bingo and thank you George!

I strongly suspect "Fallen Lady" was pure fiction, or perhaps with a small grain of truth as were many of his stories. Babcock was a master of short story fiction, drawing the reader into his story in as few and concise words as possible.

"So sad that such an experienced and learned man as Mr. Babcock was taken in by the naysayers of the day."

"Fallen Lady" may be my all time personal favorite Babcock tale; but I've always thought of his Damascus Parker tale as fiction too. As besides being an avid outdoorsman, Mr. Babcock was also an astute college English professor; so I'm sure, and in spite of the black paint on those Parker barrels, the rib inscription "Damascus Steel" remained ledgible.

But as I get older and no longer have the strength and stamina I did as a youth, I find myself recalling Babcock's story "My Health is Always Better in November". That statement is something I can relate too, and as Badcock was suffering with cancer at the time he wrote that story; I see that portion of his work as having come from the heart, clearly recognizing his own mortality and coming to terms with that sad reality. I'm thankful not to be suffering with something like cancer, or worse; but with each passing year, I become more and more aware of the fact that my time here is limited.

He also wrote a story about breaking a real rascal of a Setter puppy that he had purchased for his grandson. After much trial and tribulation in training the puppy he gave the grandson the broke Setter along with a Parker sixteen. That was probably my favorite of his stories.

[quote=TwiceBarrel
So sad that such an experienced and learned man as Mr. Babcock was taken in by the naysayers of the day. Too bad Sherman Bell and Tom Armbrust couldn't have conducted their research earlier. /quote]

I made this comment on the misinformation that was prevalent at the time for I too was taken in by the naysayers and believing them to be "experts" passed up the opportunity to pick up a sweet little Parker D grade 20 gauge with those dreaded damascus barrels for the paltry sum of $250.00 in 1990. I'm still kicking myself over that one.

You may find what you are looking for on
google ebook,they list "H. BABCOCK" books. PILGRIM

I like topgun's spelling better. At least when attributed to that story.

Oh well Steve; at least it wasn't a Fox !

And this "Fox" has the answer- Oct 1947-- and for what it is worth to my fellow Bab- "cockians" here, my favorite of all are "Tennessee" and "Slim Boggin's Mistake"--

Well, let's keep it to ourselves, guys, helping us to pick up nice old guns at a good price if the vendor is afraid of the deadly Damascus pipebomb!

i distinctly recall reading a story in Field & Stream by Babcock many years ago. I don't recall the name of it but has the same theme. In this one he described being away from home on buisness & being invited to go on a quail hunt, but hadn't brought a gun. A gun was borrowed which a local gent had been using as his Rabbit gun. This time it was definitely a Lefever. He virtually couldn't miss with it & persuaded the owner to sell it to him for an exorbitant price considering its somewhat ratty condition. After getting it home as he was cleaning it up he discovered it was the dreaded Damascus. He tried to use it some more telling himself it had been in use for all these years without blowing up, but couldn't hit the side of a barn with it any more. He "Confessed" that after each shot he stopped & counted his fingers. He then stated he put it in the cabinet with a note stating that on the given date he Killed x number of quail straight with this gun but never used it again. At the time I read this the only Lefever I was familiar with was the Ithaca built nitro Special so sort of wondered what was quite so Special about the Lefever. When I was introduced to a "Real Lefever" I Knew.

"I like topgun's spelling better. At least when attributed to that story."

Well, I suppose all I can say for myself is that, unlike Mr. Babcock, my profession is not as an English professor (or spelling teacher, or anything literate).

topgun - Maybe not, but your closing paragraph was extremely eloquent and some of the most well written words I've read regarding the ongoing journey of our aging bodies and the magic of the hunt we love so much, the most powerful elixir we have to combat our mortality.

Many Thanks - Marc

I read somewhere that his favorite bird gun was a 16 gauge Fox. Bobby

Yes Phil you are right. I guess the angels that look out for fools and Fox gun nuts took pity on me after cause I've done OK since.

By Golly, I found it! Havilah Babcock's "Fallen Lady" debuted in Field and Stream magazine in the May, 1962 issue (volume LXIX No. 1) on page 68, illustrated by Tom Rost with just the scene I thought I remembered. Last I saw that page I would have been 14 years old and probably a freshman in High school.

And the gun in question was a Parker!...Geo

"My find was an ancient Parker double, and I remembered that I'd once called her Fallen Lady."

Thanks again George. You are officially a contributor to the articles!

You are quite welcome Dr. Drew. By the way, when I re-read the story, I saw no reference to either the gauge or the grade of the Lady.

It must be that a different version of the story appearing somewhere had the gun as a Lefever. That would make sense because the description of the TWIST barrels sounds a lot like an H Grade, doesn't it?...Geo

The 1962- a year before his passing, F&S had a re-write of his original 1948 Fallen Lady- the first version, the gun was a LeFever, the second, a Parker-- Machts nicht-- one of the best of Babcock indeed.

Fox, you sound like you know what you are talking about here. The article in 1962 makes no mention of a re-write from an earlier version. I have the 1962 magazine. I would have missed the 1948 version; I was busy getting born that year...Geo

I do not recall when I read it other than it would have been sometime from the late 50's to the mid 60's. I distinctly remember that when I read it the gun was a Lefever.

Havilah Babcock was one of my all-time favorite Southern G'ent-men writes, along with Archibald Rutledge, and of course, De Ol Marster hisslf- T. Nash Buckingham. You are thusly 7 years my junior, Suh.. Love de Southland like old Phil Harris did-'cept I cain 't sing as he done did- and my all time favorite song is- Georgia on my Mind- Yassuh!!

Fox, I've learned that when someone is as assured as you are about their facts, I take them seriously even when the evidence I've seen doesn't agree. Besides there is too much controversy over whether the "Lady" was a Parker or a Lefever for there not to be some truth to the idea that there must have been a previous or maybe later version of the story where the make of the gun was revised.

Just for my curiosity, Fox where do you find the information about the story originally appearing in F&S in 1948 and revised in the 1962 May edition I have?...Geo

Side bar: for the gun to have shot as well as Babcock described it had to be a Lefever.

Would've made a lot more sense that he originally referenced the gun as a Lefever than a Parker; for unlike Parker barrels, seldom is barrel steel type noted on a Lefever barrel set (other than those with Whitworth or Krupp). So the trivia question for the curious would now be; why did the magazine change the gun name detail from Lefever to Parker when the story was reprinted in 1962?

'cause nobody knew what a Lefever was in 1962.

Nor is it the mazes of fences that clutter up the country,often fencing things neither in nor out and definitely not making a good neighbor out of me! It is none of these things that will make me part company with my Parker double. Babcock
(Whats happening to Bob White) In my opinion,one of the most informative pieces ever written on quail,and fifty years later still rings true.

Not sure anyone remembered what a Parker was in 1962 either .

I did not read this article in 1948 though I feel reasonably certain I read it in F&S. I am positive when I did read it the gun was a Lefever. It is quite possible the original version was run in a special issue at some point. I do recall F&S putting out some of these on occasion. I recall once when they ran an entire magazine of old stories with some dating back to even their first year & then others on up through the years. I believe this was put out separate from their regular subscription issues & had to be bought separately.

That is correct- usually every 20th year anniv.