The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23

MANY PITFALLS FOR TIE TYR0
WHO FOLLOWS THE HOUNDS.

WABNNCF VI ~ vi DN9NgN
times Makes Q Mistake -P. y. celllSr's
~ and PCnance In IreIand-Crimes
Of OrniygtOr and o. COEnEutssioa.
There Is an etiquette peculiar TO fox
hunting which, In its way, Is a. dlficult OF
mastery N the rules Of precedence &C Q
White House dinner.
When q man begins hunting the Eox the
things he should do are not OF 90 much
account a. the things he should not do.
A poor scat on a horse or lack of Judgment
In talking Jumps may escape criticism with
q decent show Of luck; but sin OF COM
mission are different.
The first lesson is well learned when the
would be huntsman can call bounds
-hounds' without having to pause 70 ~
member they arc not dogs. Perhaps tho
second 10 not 10 get among the hounds.
Then. no matter how much Of . personAgs
be may be In other fields In life, tho fox
hunter must realize that he Is only q private
In the hunting field and he must take bis
orders from the master.
NJ. +. H.-mnster OF fox hounds: there
was never greater despot created. In his
pigskin throne he holds sway that might
be the envy Of q Gear or the dream Of o
Sultan. It has been aid that Kaiser VIII
helm himself became master Of . German
hunt merely to realize the subhnnsst hsishts
Of power and r~ulership.
The masters word always goes. His
slightest hint or muttsred growl, or
often his grun volley OF nsry vivid Language,
makes the sternest leader Of men falter
and squirm as though he were caught
mounting with his right foot in the stirrup,
and his fernaented dictates are the only
mandates, which can curb the indisoreet
i~mpetuosities Of some women who huns.
OF Course there are times whom Q master
IL bereft Of his authority. When he Ia Oat
with another hunt he takes rank with any
ordinary msmbeF. SouAetiyAee, though, n
IL hard for the past or visiting master 10 -
member he 10 not 90 he was when he blew
his own horn Or chiyvied q pack Into covert
and upon scent afresh, or when the sound Of
his voice was known and obeyed by every
hound in the pack. Such a master has been
known TO make his breaks. ,
An American master Of hounds, Peter
Fenelon Collier, hunted with the hard rid
ing Meaths in Ireland three years ago,
a. he has done since. At times he was a
guest of the master, John Watson, who
hunts hounds more days in a week
than any other master in Great Britain and
Ireland.
When John Watson hunts within a thirty
mile radius Of his kennels near Navan he
is despotlsm personiied In the field. In
his home he is known 20 be m childishly
inoffensive as he il herculean Of body.
One particular, bright winter morning
his hounds met at Clifton Lodge, the Irish
1900 - az Eel ~ narnloxy fap,nl in hia
younger days "a Two Bligh, the cricketer,
who met his wife, a Kerry girl, while cap
tanning an English eleven in Australia.
The ~spinnies yielded few and poorly run
ming foxes; he sport was bad.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon a small
covert was being drawn. Then Mr.. COL
her was due to ride for a train that he
should catch TO keep an important engage
msnt.
Those who show daylight in their saddles
when trotting should remember that when
hounds are giving tongue in a covert the
waiting hunt dare not make a sound or
even let a horse whinny. For a riding
member TO be heard m~unching a sandwich
or u~nscrewinR a task At such a time would
almost enough TO scare the pages Of
Badminton black.
The riders were gathered in loose groups
in the D field behind where John Watson
put the hounds into the covert to drive out
Reynard on either side or at the far end.
The fields on the sides Of the covert we're
watchfully kept clear; no one dared ride
over them, for he might head on and turn
back the fox upon the pack, which would
be baying close upon his brush.
Unfortunately, straight across N mar
row field which bounded 4 eide Of the covert
and through which John Watson and tho
whips expected the fox to break, lay the
way 10 Mr.. Golfers train. The American
master OF hounds started across b for
hidden land.
He had got almost half way when the
hunt, which was waiting with nervous
expectation 70 see the red hro~n streak
sneak out in full fight, realized what had
happened and was dumfounded at the
act Of the rider with the maroon colored
collar on his scarlet coat, who went gallop-
ing over the sacred ground.
only old Collieries!" as the younger
Irishmen were wont to allude to the New
York master. only old Galleries dare
risk IT," they said to one another, u they
gnawed their mustaches in fear lest the
tOK SnOul0 De noaueu ana WOndSTeO Wnen
John Watson's thunder would boom.
1t burst with the turn Of his l",.-e, and
sounded like the roar Of a buI! .,i-Ich has
felt the first prod from the toreador. There
was a lot Of II let OF in rapid fire. II made
the hunt shudder. Men tugged needlessly
at girths beneath their saddle flaps; women
assumed the plastic sernblance Of polite
deafness which every fair follower Of the
Meaths knows how to put on more readily
than she can powder. Mr.. Collier might
have blusbed, but it could not be seen
because Of an hAbitual weather creased
tan.
John Watson was the only person on the
field who did not seem TO a TO forget
himself. But the immediate reinf up
and hasty return OF the American sports
man were accepted az an apology by the
master, his host, and the Meath Hunt, his
fellow nimrods.
Few men who follow hounds would have
been let OF 90 lightly or so quickly for
given by master and hunt alike. Ger
tainly the Q wers brought TO bear those
traditional vaga-ies AttriSutod TO AmcEi-
cans abroad. The incident merely shows
that the habit Of a~utoOracy In the neld IL
apt TO place the master Of a hunt In . pre-
dioament when he himself hunts with some