346 HUNTING 



To them it represents no pleasure, and certainly 

 coincides with none of their notions of sport. They 

 would find much greater fun in seeing rats killed in a 

 barn, and derive from the sight a much higher sense of 

 satisfaction. Condemned, probably, to stand about in 

 the cold, unwilling witnesses of what they heartily 

 detest, they spend the time in giving vent to their 

 annoyance and contempt. . . . Finally, fox-digging, 

 in the sense we refer to, is a crying enormity, a disgrace 

 to a noble sport, and should be put down as rigorously 

 as vivisection." 



Tearing a poor fox to pieces is a sight which very 

 few women would care to watch, except those manly 

 ones who take a delight in killing wild animals them- 

 selves. Such persons would be able to look unmoved 

 at a bullock being pole axed, without losing a particle 

 of their appetite for a cut off his sirloin. 



COMING HOME. 



We are accustomed to associate hunting with pleasant 

 runs ; but there are days when covert after covert is 

 drawn blank and a fox not found until late. Sometimes, 

 but very rarely, we have an entirely blank day. A lady 

 with only one hunter out should use her own judgment 

 about participating in a late run. A great deal would 

 depend on the distance the animal has travelled and the 

 length of the journey home. Some people ignorantly 

 imagine that a hunter should be kept out until he has 

 had a run, unless the day proves entirely blank, however 

 tired he may be. If it is necessary for people who stay 



