EVERLASTING QUESTION 109 



before — could never be tolerated in any 

 agricultural community. If I preserve 

 your foxes religiously, it can only be at 

 the hazard of my own interests, and 

 devilish little thanks I seem to get for it : 

 if I raise a hand to protect my own, I 

 am at once written down as a hardened 

 offender, a selfish brute, and an outrage 

 on civilization." 



Such, in brief, are the points really 

 bearing on the issue which are advanced 

 on behalf of the rival sports. Other points 

 are often brought forward, but they do not 

 seem to carry much weight, for after all 

 it does not really make any difference 

 whether a man pay more for his hunter 

 than his cartridges, or whether a thousand 

 dead pheasants have a greater commercial 

 value than a brace of dead foxes. 



If it be true that the looker-on sees 

 most of the game, then the writer may 

 — without seeming unduly impertinent — 

 be allowed to offer a few words of that 

 cheap commodity — friendly advice. To 

 the hunt authorities he would suggest in 



