159 



to keep their horses in wind, for when the monsoon bursts there will 

 be another chase, which I hope may be as successful as this one. 



F. GOLIGHTLY. 



MIDSUMMER MADNESS. 



The paperchase of 14th June 1876 will be ever memorable in the 

 annals of paper-hunting in the East. I speak of it as a likely criiinh of 

 •comfort for disconsolate Chowringhee. I used quite a wrong 

 •expression — I should have said loaf. It was consumed to the last 

 mouthful. All I spoke of was — the foxes were staunch ; the riding was 

 hard ; the field was large ; the ladies patronized it. The falling was 

 so pleasant that some gentlemen could not be satiated. 



The Meet was at the Old Kennels on the Gurriah Hat Road. More 

 people than before attended. They came in barouches, buggies, 

 phaetons and tum-tums. The ordinary tratfic was temporarily 

 suspended. The patient ryot had to take his hackery into the dilch to 

 get by. The people of the bustis didn't know what they had come out to 

 see, but brats and all came out to look It was an inspiriting scene and 

 worthy the pen of a Pomponius Ego. 1 counted up to 40 people on 

 horseback, but then got thrown out by that irrepressible Gadha. 

 Like the little pig and the peasant, he kicked up such a bobbery that 

 I couldn't count him at all. The <?7?Ve of the fair and the festive of the 

 human race were there, and most of the aristocracy of the equine tribe. 

 I missed some who could be ill spared. Bachelor, Jovial-Mariner, and 

 Duchess, who on the last occasion took the front seat, to which her 

 rank entitled her, but her rider being on the bed of sickness the saddle 

 •of sport was empty. Countess and Chuckerbere were there. Also 

 Mephistopheles, the ink black imp. The learned Judge's knowing grey, 

 the Squeeler, and the Squire, whose rider was heartily welcomed back, 

 being greeted with his favorite refrain — " I never waits for nobody, and 

 no one need wait for me" 



The Big Bay, Badger, and Jute Butts were there ; Red Deer, 

 Sheer Legs, Gay Lad, and the Burra Tatto ; and among the new- 

 ones, Chowpy the Champion summersault thrower and Mignonette, 

 or the little (one's) Darling. The Course was well selected. The 

 ground in capital order. The jumping enough to satisfy the most 

 voracious, comprising broad ditches, hurdles, mud walls, and a 

 double (two mud walls each 3 feet 6 inches high) where was enacted 

 most of the fun of the fair. It was placed alongside the road, and 

 the gallery took up its position there, as just on the opposite side of 

 the road was the finish, reached after the double by a circuitous 

 route. 



