A different world

From 1953, eight years after the end of World War II, and five before I was born. The text reads:

Isn't it time you show that boy of yours how to handle a gun? Probably time, too, you both experienced the close companionship that exists between father and son in the field. Let's go ... let's go this weekend! When you go, take along a Winchester Model 42 shotgun. This perfectly-balanced, light and easily-handled 410-gauge shotgun combines all the World-Famous Winchester features. Make the most of your days together ... with a WINCHESTER Model 42

You don't see this sort of advertisement any more, even in the hunting or shooting magazines. It's a relic of a lost world, like mustard plasters. It took some things for granted that are jarring in at least some parts of the country today:

• Men go shooting, and enjoy it - and should enjoy it (The thrill a man deserves).

• It's a father's responsibility to teach his son to shoot (Show your son the thrill of a gun).

• Shooting together is a proper form of companionship for the family (time, too, you both experienced the close companionship that exists between father and son in the field).

I increasingly wonder if mine is the last generation that will feel this sort of thing, naturally, in my bones. It used to be simply assumed that there were some things that a man should know how to do: change a tire, change the oil, build something that won't fall down.

The "Progressive Experiment" is well down the road now, and at least in Massachusetts you wonder if you're doing your kids a disservice if people find out you shoot. Will they let their kids play together? It seems like we're losing something valuable, for no comprehensible gain.

Maybe John Edwards was right - there really are two Americas.