, 1888-01-13
FOLLOWING THE HOUNDS.
Chat About Fox Hunting in England.
What Its Defenders Say.

What Its Defenders Say.
The first week in November is the
hunting starting point, and it continues
all through the winter until March with
out stop, check, impeachment or Interrupt
ton, save by one memorable enemy.
That enemy is n gentleman popularity
known as Jack Frost. No weather, be
it wind, fog, hail, sleet or rain, will hin
der hunting. Indeed n wet day is not
otherwise than propitious. "a south
erly wind and n cloudy sky bespeak q
hunting morning. sings the old song,
and no man Tor woman who hunts)
would dream 81 staying away from a
meet because it is raining or clocks like
it." 1t is a curious thing that following
the hounds should offer such induce
ments to get n wetting without mind
ing it. At other times the aver
age English lady or gentlemen of
hunting proclivities is as much against
going out in the rain as they are
then in favor of it, or rather Indifferent
to it. Except when hunting is on the
taps they certainly ''know enough to go
in when it rains" Generally a wet day
keeps every one indoors, huddled about
the fire, peering out of the windows,
watching for "enoush blue in the sky to
make a sailor q pair of trousers wan
dering aimlessly from room to ROOM;
sitting gossiping in the smoking ROOM, or
knocking the balls about at pool or
pyramids in the billiard room. Tho
ladies get no end of crochet and crewel
work done, and work off a vast stock of
long neglected correspondence and un-
answered letters. Foreigners are wont
to laugh at the inevitable umbrella which
to their eyes every Englishman carries
rolled tightly up in his hand, ready for
any shower or down pour that may come
up W There m no people in
the world SO afraid of getting wet; but
if rain doesn't put a stopper on hunting,
frost does.
There is no hunting, there can be no
hunting, when there is frost. And for
two eason First, the ground would be.
too hard for the horses hoofs, and jump
ing very dangerous; second, there is no
scent, and without scent the hounds
wouldn't know where the fox had gone.
"A long spell Of frost is therefore a disas-
trous condition of things for fox hunters.
Days and weeks go by, sometimes, wait
ing for a thaw, or in hopes that 'this
beastly weather would break up, don't
you know" Last winter was a particu-
larly hard one, in more than one respect,
on hunting. One frost lasted for quite six
weeks or more, and you should have
heard the fellows growl and stamp. The
horses did nothing but stand in their
stalls and loose boxes eating their heads
off. Thus far this year the weather has
kept right, and IN off days and in the
mornings the roads are full of blanketed
and hooded nags exercising with their
grooms.
1 have said that about 80, 900 people
hunt regularly in England. / dare say
some people will differ with me at first
glance. But ! wish TO lay stress on the
word regularly. OFF and on, as occasion
offers, business and occupation permits,
or good fortune enables, there are thou
sands of others who hunt. But they only
hunt when they can. They don't neces-
sarily keep hunters. They hunt what
ever nags they may possess, from car
riage horses to ponies. Some people hire
n horse now and then, others get their
friends or relatives TO give them n mount,
say halfh dozen times in the season., and
army officers, on occasion, may SO utilize
their chargers. But such irregular pro-
ceedings can not be dignified by the term
''hunting," or considered 80, when hunt
ing rs n regular systematic custom is
under discussion. Did hunting depend
upon such people, I am afraid it would
very soon fall into disuse. Yet, 1 ven
ture to say, and l think most men who
know anything about it will agree With
me, if you want to hear hunting talked
up, descanted upon, praised, upheld and
defended, you'll find it among thes,
%spasmodic sportsmen.
To judge of hunting, and determine
whether its observance rs an annual GUS
tom is beneficial or injurious, one must
weigh all the pros and cons worth CON
sidering. Judged by the principle of the
greatest good to the greatest number, il
must fall to the ground. 1t affords a GER
tain kind of sport; there is n vast amount
of eNhilarating excitement in a good run
across country, if you are well mounted,
and there is much that is pleasant in the
social character of n meet. You are
thrown in almost daily contact with your
n~eighbors; riding across country is said
to give n man nerve, though, for my
part, / believe one must possess the nerve
to begin with-and you get TO know
people better and find out their good
anu Ddu pOlllIS. II Is u lcslllhlul tAel
else. Everybody likes it, my dear boy
the old squires will tell you, rs they
smack their port after dinner; 1--WE like
it, the horses like it, the hounds like it
yes, and egad, l believe the fox likes it,
too In this country, there are SOM
men, in high places, who d%iscounten
ance hunting. They are few, it is true
but they are of too high n rank and posi-
ton to attempt to ostracise them. The
last Earl of Ashburnham was one, anC
the present Lord Ashburton is another
The latter, l believe, will not permit the
hounds to meet upon or hunt over hi!
property. He is cordially disliked, o.
course. But, he is too great a man Il
have any one show him openly what
were he n poor man, would compel hin
to leave England.-London Letter ii
The Argonaut.