The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-02-25
FOX HUNTING in ENGLAND
Told About by George Cassie, Formerly
OF Barre.

Rugby, England, has written an interest.
ing letter on English fox hunting to two
Of his fellow hunters in Barre, +. G.
Little and George B Milne, and those
gentlemen have kindly consented 60 lei
the readers of The Times have the same
pleasure. Mr.. Cassie writes as follows,
Il promised you about year ago, the
last time we were out together, that
when | got settled in England / would
write You about fox -hunting here, There
is kind OF a kindred feeling exists
amongst followers OF the brush that
makes us feel like sitting mp together,
and | think Warburton hit Il when he
said
"'Of all the recreations with which
mortal man Is blest,
Go where he will, fox hunting still
is pleasantest and best
"But to begin with, the English fox is
not so fast as the Vermont fox and but
few people here would shoot fox and
fewer still would mention Il Il he did no,
il is the proper way here 70 hunt them
with the pack and follow the hounds on
horseback The dogs are heavy built
fellows and generally weigh about 20
pounds apiece, and are worked In packs
Of so or go and smartly trained by the
whips 70 work together, and bred with
speed to run the fox down, instead OF
shooting him a. we did.
"The horse, or hunter as we cali him
is the finest breed Of horsenesh ! ever
saw There is an absence of anything
but ability TO do his work. in the fast
going packs of the Alidlands a hunter
must have good size, 1913 or 1872 hands
high, must have legs on him TO bear
himself and rider and have courage and
ambition to spare.
Fox -hunting in England was 6rst taxi
en- up, ! understand, about 400 years
ago and to-day there are few packs in
most every county. ] am situated about
in the middle Of Pytchley county.
The Pytchley hunt extends for rs
miles north and south and % east and
west, and is generally considered to be
the best four days week hunt In Eng
land. The master Of the Pytchley at |
present is Lord Annaly Of Holdenby |
(about 3 miles from here), and right |
good sport he is, and a most fearless
rider. He accompanied the Prince OF
Wales 10 Canada last summer and helped |
TO shovel coal 10 make a record trip, the |
papers said He called on me the other |
day and gave me very cordial invita- /
tion TO follow the hounds. lie is not /
one Of those English dudes YOU read i
about, but carries the look Of good /
smart Yankee. Mr.. Freeman is the hunts
man and helps wonderfully in keeping
the Pytchlsy in the first rank
They commence cub hunting with the
young dog about the end Of August and
about koEemher start the old dogs and
continue about days a week until end
Of April. During that time they meet
about twice a year at most every village
in the district
TITS gay day in the village between
10 and II in the forenoon when the
hounds meet and pretty sight TO see
some 3, or hundred mounted horse
men dressed in red or black coats and
white knee breeches, silk hats or caps.
The ladies in black riding habit and a
great string of traps and automobiles.
It's prancing Jolly crowd and many a
merry joke but everything ia 80 very
orderly here in England, there is no hur-
rah about these meets. When the proper
time arrives, it is decided to try some
covert or spinnay near by and they move
of towards IL, ladies and gentlemen on
horseback, traps, automobiles, and men,
women and children on foot, making a
Gathering procession of = mile or
more. Arriving at the spinny or covert,
the hounds are allowed to search and ii
a fox Is started out;
The hounds all join in glorious cry,
The huntsman winds his horn
ITS the signal that they have got a
fox going and to follow the hounds If
you get on a knoll YOU can watch them,
The fox chooses his course, followed hard
by the pack and the hunters hard on the
hounds. The country is well fencsd, most
" hawthorne hedges, but you can see
these horses need no spurs, they are
hunters and few of them will refuse
10 take a hedge when the hounds are
In full cry You can watch them for
miles, sometimes. Men and women 4.
mounted on these hunters hopping over
he fences more like flying machines than
horses. The chase will continue maybe
20 minutes, an hour, or hours, until the
fox takes cover IN drain or rabbit hole
Or he gives up and is quickly killed by
me u0uIluh. 1ne TAIL or Dfush IS cut on
ind kept and sometimes the head, then
hey start off for another neighborine
spinny or covert and generally get a
few foxes every day
you can see quite bit with horse
md trap sometimes
Men Of 10 or 80 years have followed
he hounds all their lives. was at the
meet the other day and saw an old man
If 81 years but he did not follow the
hounds. My father in his sad year was
along with me. he had been down on
TX months visit from Scotland, and d
friend of mine, Mr. Robinson, about II.
xindly offered to take my father in his
iwo-wheeler trap. Mr.. Robinson's pony
Old Jerry a long haired sorTel Of less
han II hands, lie has not the outward
appearance exactly Of hunter, but there
S probably no horse better known in the
oytchiey hunt than Old Jerry and vol
lines could be written on him, he has
Won many steeple-chase He is not
tery fast at the trot but can fairly fly
when he wakes into gallop. A fox
vas started and Mr. Robinson who knew
he runs pretty well kept along the road
With Old Jerry at high speed The
POUNDS were considerably ahead Of them
md sometimes on their right and some
lines on their left, but Old jerry was