THE ROSE TREE 



man was appointed. A whipper-in, Jim Miller (colored), was employed to 

 bring back stray hounds, and was said to be a good and bold rider. 



"Those were the days," says Mr. Darlington, "when the sport was truly 

 hunting, and not steeplechasing with hounds across a country. The hunt- 

 ing horses were not as good then as now, for they were not blooded stock, 

 but the hunters knew how to save their horses' wind and strength by never 

 forcing a jump unnecessarily, and by taking some of the work upon them- 

 selves by climbing steep hills on foot, leading their horses to the top." 



On October 4th, 1 873, the Club was reorganized. George W. Hill was 

 made President and M. F. H., Frederick Fairlamb, Vice-President, and 

 Samuel Miller, Secretary, while the annual dues of the members at this time 

 were fixed at five dollars. In 1 877 the Club had a membership of thirty 

 active members and fourteen contributing members, and the by-laws pro- 

 vided that membership should be confined to residents of Delaware and 

 Chester counties and Philadelphia, and the annual dues were increased to 

 ten dollars, with ten dollars initiation fee. About this time, many of the mem- 

 bers kept horses exclusively for hunting, and a race meeting was instituted on 

 the old Rose Tree track with a steeplechase course, which took in a portion 

 of the Bullock farm and in which the jumps were mostly post-and-rail 

 fences. The residents of Delaware and Chester counties and the Philadel- 

 phians took great interest in the meeting and turned out in goodly numbers. 



On November 22nd, 1 88 1 , the Club was incorporated by the Honora- 

 ble Thomas J. Clayton, President-Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of 

 Delaware County (who afterward was a member of the club till the time of 

 his death), under the name of " The Rose Tree Fox Hunting Club," the 

 incorporators being, — Fairman Rogers, A. J. Cassatt, George W. Hill, J. 

 Howard Lewis, Henry E. Saulnier, Samuel C. Lewis, Rush S. Huidekoper, 

 J. Edward Famum, J. Mitchell Baker, Moncure Robinson, Jr., George M. 

 Lev«s, William H. Corlies and George E. Darlington. The following of- 

 ficers were elected, — President and M. F. H., George W. Hill; Vice- 

 Presidents, William E. Saulnier and J. Howard Lewis; Secretary and Treas- 

 urer, William H. CorHes. 



In 1881, a clubhouse was erected under an agreement with Benjamin 



162 



