The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-26
Aooldonts In the nnntIng Eield.

Accidents in the Hunting Field.
 A correspondent, who Is struck hy the number of accidents with which the hunting season has opened, writes to ask whether the pleasure of hunting is worth the risk run. He probably has In mind not only the serious accident to Lord Delamere, near Tarporley, in Cheshire, but the years of suffering caused by an injury from fall while out hunting which preceded Lord Wat erfords untimely death, The brief ref erenees at the inquest to the effects of this accident, which gradually broke doWa the mental fortitude of the eldest Of a family whose name is identified al- most as household word with buoy ant intellect and bodily vigor, were enough in themselves to suggest our correspondents inquiry; but it Is evil dently one which comes from outside, not from within the circle of those to whom it Is addressed.
 It may be doubted if those to whom fox hunting is not only onle of the pleas ures of life, but has been from boyhood natural and almost necessary pursuit for several months lin every year, would even stop to weigh the question in the form in which it Is put. They know that to enjoy hunting as the modern Englishmen prefer to enjoy it, pleasure and risk are inseparable, and that for many years hunting has tended to be- come more, and not less, dangerous. To ride hard and to ride straight (on the lime taken by the pack) is the i6P11 nf OnnIbrY fnxy oYJ I,n greater the pace and the straighter the line the greater the risk of accident. It is dangerous, and it is creditaible to English sportsmen and sufficient an swer to the nonsense talked about the growing 'isoftness" of the wealthier classes that they are not deterred from the form of hunting which they prefer. We are speaking of the few who ride hard and not of the many who do not. Probably some of the former, who en- joy the sport in it's greatest perfection, would say that, given the highest phy- sical condition, skill and a good horse, the element of danger is a source of pleasure, because they have confidence what ought to be dangerous is not so to them, but must succumb to the high ly wrought physical and nerve power developed to the utmost in the horse and his rider. But the consciousness of danger must be largely in abeyance at the time in those who ride straight; for in proportion as 1t is recognized, the pleasure of hunting, or, rather, that part which comes from hard riding, diminishes. Loss of nerve' is the com mon formula for the beginning of that state of mind to which our correspond ent's letter will appeal, If it appeals at hll It is quite as often sudden change after a fall or injury as due to any gradual decay of physical power, but it is nearly always the result of physical causes, and of half conscious, but usually correct, notion that the riders powers are not what they were. and that what was once only a stimulus to successful physical effffort is, now that failure is possible, a constant source of anxiety.
 1t is the increased consciousness of this possibility of accidents which diff ferentiates the riders in an ordinary field" There are the men who ride straight, and hardly reckon an accident as among the days contingencies, or are too vigorous to admit thought of 1t. Gaps and gates and a knowledge of the country are despised by no man, but when the use of these is intdispens- able to following Ya run, the limit of the second class, who do weigh the possi- bility of accident, but prefer to enjoy part of the pleasure, with a reducd per centage of risk, to losing it altogether, is reached. The third class, who ride to look on and follow hounds by lane and road testify to the minor attractions of the sport the enjoyment of open air exrcise, scenery and the picturesque as- sociations of hounds and riders. They have, consciously or unconsciously, asked themselves the question which our correspondent puts, and given a qualified No as an answer. They hunt but forego the highest pleasure as well as the dangers of hunting; and even so retain much that other people who had an early initiation into the higher rites and cannot fall back on the minor enjoyments of the sport, not un- naturally envy. The process of natu- ral selection which is always at work wedding out the ranks of tHe first flight and relegating them to the sec ond and third divisions, is not univer- sally applicable. There are many men