THE MEADOW BROOK 



tions but of consideration for the opinions of others, the vice-president of 

 Mr. Bergh's society, was the last farmer to oppose hunting on principle, and 

 all opposition on that ground has long since ceased. 



As is usually the case in a country where hunting is new, the first year 

 was very successful. Prosperity smiled on the farmer, his hay and straw 

 found a ready market with the hunting men, who rented houses and stables 

 which had long lain idle, the Fields were large, and at the end of the sea- 

 son, the Hunt gave a ball to the farmers and their families. The neighbor- 

 hood lent encouraging aid and hunting seemed to have got a permanent 

 hold on Long Island. 



The second season showed the reaction from the energy and enthusiasm 

 of the preceding year, which is often the case. The Fields fell off, the amity 

 of the farmers was not so pronounced, and but for the persistency of the 

 originators of the Hunt it perhaps would have died then. But they con- 

 tinued their sport, and presently things began to look up again. 



The hounds were moved to Central Morrisania in Westchester County, 

 N. Y., — now a solidly built suburb of the metropolis, — where Mr. Griswold 

 agreed to hunt them for a period not exceeding two years. The attempt re- 

 sulted in a failure; the going proved bad, the fences unsuitable, the fields 

 cramped and the ground too soft in the spring to be ridden over with any 

 satisfaction. It was in no sense a country suitable for draghounds, or, in fact, 

 for any hounds; and although the kennels were moved farther out — to New 

 Rochelle — there was no additional benefit. 



On Long Island, as soon as the Queen's County hounds had gone, their 

 loss was appreciated. The hunting spirit was still there, although dormant, 

 and by the spring of 1 880 the demand for another pack was too strong to 

 remain unanswered, and Mr. Belmont Purdy came forward with a proposi- 

 tion to support a pack of his own. He commissioned Mr. J. Burke-Roche 

 to send him hounds from Ireland, and established what is, today, the 

 Meadow Brook Hunt. In this he was assisted by Mr. Thomas Hitch- 

 cock, Jr., who had just returned from Oxford, and these two gentlemen, 

 acting together, secured the support of the hunting men on Long Island. 

 The pack was hunted the first season at Mr. Purdy's own expense, with 



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