The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1899-02-25

and its race course. There was always a
slave whose sole duty was to "tend hound, y
and woe be unto him if any injury befell a
favorite hound. Summary and severe
| punishment was always the penalty of his
| carlessness or neglect Writers OF the day
| tell us that the dogs were allowed far more
| freedom than the slaves, and the planter
porch was always crowded with yelpng
hounds, awaiting the masters horn sound
| Mount and away or watching for an
opportunity to see the quarters door open
that they might steal something.
The hounds Of those days were very unlike
the careful bred and carefully groomed and
fed hunters of the mother country, or of the
Maryland of today At that time the fox
hound needed great toughness and endurance,
and these requisites were obtained by cross =
Ing the English fox hound with the Irish
stag hound. The result looked like a NOR
grel but it suited the country far better than
"A blooded animal.
The only fox hunted in those days was
the gray one, an animal very different in
many respects from his red brother OF Eng
land. AS the State was almost entirely set
tied by the English, it was more like great
English shire than colony in the new world,
and but for the general roughness OF the
country, it might easily have been mistaken
for one. As the settlers arrived here they
brought with them many local attachments,
and not the least of these was their fondness
for hunting the red fox. They could not be-
come accustomed to his gray brother. 1t is
to this fact that we owe fox hunting as it is
today, and has always been in England.
AS tradition has it, one afternoon in the
hot month of August, In the year Of grace,
1880, eight sleek and prosperous tobacco
planters in the county of Talbot sat in the
cool shade of a broad, rambling veranda,
which supported as it was by massive pillars
and shaded by giant oaks Of many genera
lions in age, afforded comfortable spot to
discuss the sad difference between hunting
the red fox in Merrie, England, where four Of
them were born and hunting the gray one n
the land of their adoption.
The Englishmen, with many a round oath
and between sips Of such fragrant mint
iuleps as an eastern Sho'" darkey alone
knows hows to concoct, were declaring that
there was as much difference between hunt
ing the two species as there was between a
canvass-back and a barnyard duck. The up
shot OF it was. according to an old tale
printed not many years afterward, that the
captain of the good ship "Monocacy," a
| tobacco schooner owned by one Of the party,
was instructed to bring back with him on his
next trip to Liverpool eight pairs Of red
| foxes.
In due course Of time the animals arrived,
and were liberated along the eastern shore OF
theChesapeake. The occasion was one Of much
merriment, entertainment and sport. The
daughter Of the country gentry rode on a
pillion behind her brother or cavalier to the
great ball which was given at Chestertown
in honor of the occasion. They fastened
their scarlet cloth riding habits over their
white silk ball dresses, and tied their hair,
doae in amazing fashion, with a lace ker-
chief. while their skirts were arranged in
such n manner that they would not come in
contact with the horses TANKS.
Everyone witnessed the festivities, from