New-York tribune., 1907-09-27

glee they rolled over the grass and tumbled over
one another. Another fox. when started ran
quickly to fresh cover; and one of the women
riders was the first to the little ball speed
ing across the field Her outcry, brought the
pack out of the thorny thicket, and the chase
was renewed at headlong speed. the country
doctor bowling along as merrfIy as the master
of the hunt and the eccentric little farmer with
a fantastic mount running in close behind the
hounds. The second fox was killed: and after
several false leads a third was added to the
score. 1t was now as late as o'clock and the
scent too faint to be followed. The days cub
bing was over and the dogs were taken back
TO the Brixworth Kennels.
The annual cost Of a pack like the Pytchley
Hounds is between 5000 and $4,000. Lord
Spencer heads the subscription with $500, and
the landowners and squires are required to pay
800 for the privilege Of fox hunting during
the late autumn and winter The dogs are care
fully bred and Systematically exercised by keep
ers so that their feet can be properly hardened
and the puppies are regularly broken in during
the early bouts of cub hunting The BriXworth
esta blishment is a large one. about hundred
superior horses being stabbed there for the mas
ter. the huntsmen the whippers-in and prom
inent members. It is in the heart of the best
hunting district in Northamptonshire. where the
large estates When the real fox hunting sea-
son opens, In October. hunting appointments are
made for the pack as many four days a week.
with circuit of country from twenty to thirty
miles wide. The hedges are then bare and the
horsemen follow the fox over every obstruction
when he is once hunted out of cover. Starting
at = o'clock in October, the Pytchley meets are
later week by week until by January the horse
men are not in the saddle until II o'clock Cub
bing requires a larger measure OF self-sacrihce
Those eager to catch glimpse of the cubs and
TO witness the training of the puppies are often
up by or o'clock and ride in the chilly morn
ing five or ten miles to the meet
In the fen country around Peterborough there
is another large pack, in which the Marquis of
Exeter takes a hearty interest. and this is sup
ported by a large number of subscribers in
Eastern Northamptonshire and In Rutland and
Lincolnshire. AS a hunting district II is not TO
be compared with the middle and western belts
of the shire. From Naseby field to Holdenby,
where Charles l was virtually prisoner IN MS
own shooting box. are high sweeps of undulat-
ing country, the bulk Of il in grass for sheep
farming, where riding after hounds is free and
bracing; and in the thorny copses, like those IN
which Cromwell entangled his antagonists, the
wariest foxes find adequate cover when the
woodlands are echoing with the baying OF the
hounds the mellow note of the horns and the
shriu voices of the whippers-in. 1t is district
where every horse worthy of the name is trained
for hunting and where the country parsons nag
prcks up his ears and knocks the seconds out
Of the mile when the hoarse note OF the hounds
is heard. Fox hunting among these wind-swept
hills and sombre forests is the main interest In
life. II the country be good for that it is the
best of all countries! And the master of Al
thorn Park. even though he has lost the
Premiership once and again, is considered the
happiest of men because his spacious wooded es-
tate is running over with foxes and he stlli
has the vigor required for long chase and the
final capture of the brush. /. y. r.