BOBBIE DAWSON. 89 



Mr. F. Wilson Horsf all, an old oak dresser to Mrs. Teasdale, 

 some old china to myself, and so on. Taking into considera- 

 tion the years he had lived alone, and the secrecy he had 

 maintained with regard to the interior of his house, it is an 

 interesting fact that once weaned away from it, he never 

 asked anything regarding it, or that it should be kept locked 

 up. 



As I have said, for some reason the old man would never 

 allow anyone to pass through his portals except one neighbour 

 who lived only a few yards away, and "did" for him. On one 

 occasion, the present Master of Bilsdale, and, I believe, 

 Mr. Phillip Reid, at that period of Langbarugh Hall, Great 

 Ayton, called to see him, but he would not give them ad- 

 mittance, so one of them stood on his saddle and looked 

 into the upper window. He called out to Bobbie. " What 

 di ya want ? " demanded the old man. " Oh ! we've called 

 to see you," reiterated the sportsmen. Coming to the 

 window, Bob showed himself. " Noo ! You've seen ma. 

 Good daay," he said, and disappeared. The curiosity of 

 his visitors was thus by no means satisfied. 



One of the quaintest of characters, it is not surprising 

 that interwoven with his career and connected with his 

 name are a wealth of stories and incidents which were told 

 then as a form of hero worship, and which are still recounted 

 in North Yorkshire. I have found when mixing amongst 

 hunting men in the North Countree, that each has some 

 personal reminiscence of this ancient, withered sportsman, 

 all of them pointing to the main characteristics of the man : 

 his originality, his outspokenness, his utter disregard of 

 persons — for the only virtue he recognised was a true love 

 of sport, the only status that of a sportsman ; so being a 

 sportsman himself he considered his status equal to that 

 of any and every man. I select from the stock of stories 

 which have come my way a few most representative of the 

 man. 



One experience the old chap had he related to me himself. 

 At one time he had a great mania for seeing other packs of 

 hounds, and walked to many Yorkshire kennels, often 



