8 "HOUNDS, GENTLEMEN, PLEASE! " 



will cause him to act on your information without 

 a moment's hesitation, and probably you will be 

 thanked and will become the hero of the moment. 



But ere you may venture to tender aid to the 

 huntsman, it were well to know what is expected of 

 the follower of hounds in his private capacity. 



The story of the young gentleman who proceeded 

 to thrash the hound his horse had kicked was a 

 very good one ; and being also true it deserves to 

 be repeated in order to point a moral, and illustrate 

 the pitiful ignorance of the sport displayed by so 

 many who go out hunting nowadays. 



The youth's horse " lets out " at an unfortunate, 

 and probably very valuable, hound, and kicks him. 

 " Hit him ! " cries a spectator, irate at the proceed- 

 ing and meaning, of course, that chastisement shall 

 fall upon the horse. " By Jove ! I will ! " replies 

 the rider of the offending steed, who thereupon sets 

 to work to flagellate the hound as hard as he is 

 able. He thought, I suppose, that he was doing a 

 perfectly legitimate and sportsmanlike act. He carried 

 a whip — why shouldn't he use it ? Why should the 

 wretched hound come so close to his steed and make 

 him kick? And he vi^ould probably have been most 

 indignant if the M.F.H., as in Leech's picture, had 

 sung out, " Mind the hound, sir ; he's worth twice 

 as much as your horse ! " 



" What matter a hound or so ? It's a poor concern 

 that won't stand a h'und a day," quoth James Pigg, 

 with withering sarcasm. " Differs from Pigg there, 

 though," notes Mr. Jorrocks in his Journal. But 

 really hounds sometimes receive such unworthy 



