FOX HUNTING. 73 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE ROSE TREE INN, WITH ITS MANY 

 HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 



The following article was published in the 

 Philadelphia Times, of August 23d, 1885: 



"Fox hunting in Delaware and Chester 

 Counties is as old as the counties themselves — as 

 old as the times of William Penn and the Pro- 

 prietary Governors. The young men of the pres- 

 ent day in these counties who take to the hunt 

 inherit their love of it, for their fathers, grand- 

 fathers, and great-grandfathers took pride in a 

 mount and a rough scurry across the hills and 

 valleys that slope to the Delaware in chase of poor 

 Reynard. In no place in the United States has 

 the pastime been so long kept up or so largely 

 practiced. The early days saw no regular meets, 

 no scarlet coats, no master of the hounds, and 

 none of the modern day attributes of the perfect 

 hunt, but the sport was as keen, the chase as 

 ardent, the runs as fierce, and the jumps as bold 

 as the modern hunters dare boast of. Private 

 parties owned the packs, and a few congenial 

 spirits who loved the old English excitement kept 

 the sport alive. The present Rose Tree inn, on the 

 old Providence road, is a double stone dwelling. 



