Days Stolen for Sport 



CHAPTER I 



One clear idea, wakened in the breast 

 By memor\''s magic lets in all the rest. 



TREATS MY FATHER PAID FOR — ^I GET A FRIGHT — 

 SPORTING PARSONS — I LOSE MY PHOTOGRAPHER 



Although I am old in years — threescore and seven 

 — I can walk the longest, day and shoot as straight 

 as I ever could, thanks not so much perhaps to the 

 stiffening of my loins b}- birchings as to the reason 

 for their infliction. Stealing days has ever been 

 a joy to me, and I often played truant from school. 

 1 had no compunctions at the time and have had 

 no regrets ds yet, for what I learned in the fields and 

 woods has been a source of hfe-long pleasure. 



My upbringing was so full of the joys of outdoor 

 life that my delight has alwa^^s been in the open 

 air and sunshine. School was to me a prison, and 

 its teachings nauseous drugs which I avoided vrith 

 all the cunning of m}^ little brains; yet I listened 

 by t^^e hour, \^dth wide-open eyes, to the ugliest man 

 boy ever saw while he taught me to be familiar ^\^th 

 living things. I have had kindly thoughts of Pavey 

 a thousand times as the picture of his giant form 

 and ugly face, redeemed by a kindly t\^inkling eye, 

 has recurred to mem.or}-; but of the men who worked 

 so hard, sometimes with a birch, to teach me to read, 

 write, and sum, I cannot recall a single face. 



'Snuffy' — Mr Stevens — a born teacher, so it was 



