Hunting with Hounds. 373 



working business men who wish to make the most out of 

 every moment of the little time they can spare from their 

 regular occupations. A single ride across country, or an 

 afternoon at polo, will yield more exercise, fun, and excite- 

 ment than can be got out of a week's decorous and dull 

 riding in the park, and many young fellows have waked up 

 to this fact. 



At one time I did a good deal of hunting with the 

 Meadowbrook hounds, in the northern part of Long 

 Island. There were plenty of foxes around us, both red 

 and gray, but partly for the reasons given above, and 

 partly because the covers were so large and so nearly con- 

 tinuous, they were not often hunted, although an effort 

 was always made to have one run every week or so after 

 a wild fox, in order to give a chance for the hounds to be 

 properly worked and to prevent the runs from becoming 

 a mere succession of steeple-chases. The sport was 

 mainly drag-hunting, and was most exciting, as the fences 

 were high and the pace fast. The Long Island country 

 needs a peculiar style of horse, the first requisite being that 

 he shall be a very good and high timber jumper. Quite a 

 number of crack English and Irish hunters have at dif- 

 ferent times been imported, and some of them have turned 

 out pretty well ; but when they first come over they are 

 utterly unable to cross our country, blundering badly at 

 the high timber. Few of them have done as well as the 

 American horses. I have hunted half a dozen times in 

 England, with the Pytchely, Essex, and North Warwick- 

 shire, and it seems to me probable that English thorough- 

 breds, in a grass country, and over the peculiar kinds of 



