THE WALK CONTINUED. 31 



bold escarpments like the prows of battleships, 

 ride at anchor under a mauve-tinted mackerel 

 sky. 



To the sportsman, the sharp dip of Martin- 

 sell Hill will make the immediate appeal, for 

 it was down its break-neck slope that Assheton 

 Smith once rode behind his hounds at full 

 gallop. But that was in the days when the 

 English sportsman took some risk when he 

 went out to kill. I made a detour round the 

 base of INIartinsell into Oare, where a well- 

 known squire had parcelled out some of his 

 land into small holdings — an oasis amidst 

 downland, and let for a shilling or two an 

 acre. Now, we learn in 1911 that this squire, 

 Mr. F. E. N. Rogers, has been appointed one 

 of the new Small Holdings Commissioners. 

 At Oare I found some extensive farm build- 

 ings given over entirely to the training of 

 greyhounds for coursing. The conversion of 

 a farm into a training school for dogs, bred 

 solely for sport, was indicative that unless 

 small holders help to raise the standard of 

 cultivation, increased national prosperity could 

 not be looked for on the large farms. Here 

 again I found the village schoolmaster the 

 most active worker for small holdings. 



