10 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



doan't be bungling at sich a job. Go 'list and be a 

 soger, lam the business, and come back and kill 

 un properly.' 



These awful threats did not keep the sweep away; 

 indeed, if he heard of them , the}^ m^jltiplied his visits 

 until the da}' he married our dairymaid and took 

 her home to his pretty httle cottage that was filled 

 with furniture he had made himself. There was a 

 stable for his pony and a lean-to shed where he kept 

 his bench, under which were numerous drawers filled 

 with all kinds of little tools, while, hanging on the wall 

 above it, there was a row of larger ones, including a 

 huge cross-cut saw. He had no end of things boys 

 like to know about : lop-eared rabbits, pigeons, fishing- 

 rods, a gun, and a bundle of hair from our colt's tail. 

 *\Vorth a Jew's eye, Phillie, that be. I'll make 'ee a 

 line or two and we'll go vishing.' 



He had ferrets old and young, and ferrets with 

 torn faces that would stand up to the fiercest rat. 

 Pavey's ferrets were more widely known and more 

 respected than rat-catcher Cann's. They would clear 

 the ricks of vermin faster than our curate, who never 

 missed being present when our ricks were ferreted, 

 could smite, though he on such occasions was a Saul 

 indeed. 



Nearly all the parsons of my youth were fond of 

 sport, ^lost of them had happy, smiling faces, and 

 their daily talk was a pleasant mixture of sport and 

 agriculture wth perhaps a slight suspicion of a bit 

 of gossip. Parson Jack — the Reverend John Russell 

 — was seldom missing from the Exmoor Meet, and 

 Parson Radford who had the heaviest fist in all the 

 county — so those who knew declared — loved a run 

 with his beagles before, or between, the services on 

 Sunday. His handicapping at Sunday School Sports 

 would cause envy in our Jockey Club and I had to 

 admire, although it robbed me of m}?- chances, his 

 ingenuity when he made me run a race with one 



