THE CLOSE OF THE SEASON 



The Close of the Seaso?i 



SPRING ! I will give you the reason in rhyme 

 Why for hunting I hold it the pleasantest time, 

 When the gorse 'gins to blossom, the hazel to sprout. 

 When Spring flowers and Spring captains together 

 come out. 



When with smiles and with sunshine all nature looks 



gay, 



When the fair one, equipped in fresh hunting array. 

 No splash of mud-dirt to encumber the skirt. 

 Though no fox should be found, may find leisure to 

 flirt. 



When assured of success, ere the steeplechase day, 

 Jones writes to his tailor imploring delay, 

 When the silk jacket wins he will pay for the pink. 

 Is the promise, when written, worth paper and ink ? 



November's young fox, as yet timid and shy, 

 O'er a country unknown will scarce venture to fly ; 

 One spared through the winter to wander astray. 

 Leads the pack stoutly back to his home far away. 



Chill'd by checks and wrong casts, which the scurry 



impede. 

 You may chance in December to lose a good steed ; 

 And what rider unvex'd can his temper restrain. 

 Urging home a tired hunter through darkness and 



rain ! 



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