BOBBIE DAWSON. 95 



and the " gallower " changed hands. En route for Carlton, 

 where the kennels then were, Boyes said, " This is just the 

 pony for old Bobbie Dawson," and Mr. Selby Lowndes 

 agreeing with this, sent for the veteran whip, who took his 

 last mount away with not a little pride. He came out to 

 hounds once or twice on it, and on the first occasion Mr. 

 Selby Lowndes asked him how it suited him. " Whya," 

 replied the old man, in that whining tone one often finds 

 in aged dales folk, " it's a bad-tempered day veil, and screams 

 oot when Ah gan's intiv t' stable, an' kicks when Ah fetches 

 it oot, bud Ah hev yan o' t' best cures in t' wold fur kicking — 

 Ah gives 'em nowt ti eeat." Later it turned out that Dawson 

 had gone down to Hawnby on finding the pony wanted 

 shoeing, and the blacksmith having shod her all round 

 he said, " Now, Bobbie, sha's deean." " Aye, Ah can see 

 that fur mesen," replied the new owner as he clambered into 

 the mouldy saddle, wonderfully secured with girths, mainly 

 consisting of band, and gathered up the reins, equally 

 remarkably repaired. " But I shall want paying, ya knaw, 

 Bobbie," said the man of the anvil. " Oh, then, thoo mun 

 leeak to Boyes or Lowndes fur that next tahm they cum, 

 Ah tell'd 'em tha owt ti 'a'e gitten t'awd gallower shod afoor 

 they gave me her." With this he rode off. 



The old man was a small farmer, but treated his stock in 

 much the same way as his hounds and horses. The last cow 

 he had he starved till it died, at a time when his meadow 

 close in front of his house was thick with grass. Some of 

 his neighbours mowed some for the unfortunate animal, 

 but so ill did Bobbie take this liberty they did not repeat it. 



Writing to me regarding one of my articles on the old 

 dales sportsmen, Mr. Robert Garbutt, Bilsdale, says : — 



" April 3, 1901. — With regard to your interesting sketch of Bobbie 

 Dawson I have known him for many years, and although paralysis 

 has affected him on one side, and made him lean rather with his head, 

 he is in appearance what he was twenty years ago. Age seems to have 

 dealt very kindly with him, and he is now able to walk a distance of 

 nine or ten miles with ease. . . . Foxes and hoimds are his all absorbing 

 topic, and when he had a small farm and kept a horse, not having a 



