262 FOX-HUNTING TYPES 



amusement, for I notice that certain traps are never 

 absent from a meet, and come long distances to the 

 fixtures, letting no foul weather deter them. As with 

 other varieties of the fox-hunter, there are specimens 

 of this type to be met with in different ranks of 

 society, and I think the cleverest followers I know 

 are two retired tradesmen ; these never, I believe, 

 rode to hounds, yet there must be something very 

 remarkable about the run of which they do not see 

 a good deal from their little trap. 



In some Hunts the carriage contingent is a very 

 large one indeed, and I have heard in one country 

 that the assiduous Hunt secretary has suggested to 

 some of the followers on wheels, whose immediate 

 relatives are not members, that they should subscribe 

 towards the funds of the Hunt which gives them so 

 much weekly amusement. This is a step which would 

 not meet with approval in the country from which I 

 write, where we are old-fashioned, and cap our 

 neighbours to the extent only of the modest half- 

 crown which is usual all over Ireland, believing that 

 all sportsmen should be neighbourly one to another, 

 and feeling it a pleasure to welcome all who live on 

 our borders to share our sport. At the same time, 

 those who drive after hounds consistently all through 

 the season, and derive pleasure from so doing, might 

 well make a graceful acknowledgment of the same 

 by communicating with the Hunt Secretary in a 

 manner which could not fail to please. 



There is one way in which the drivers after hounds 

 can very often do a very useful turn, and that is by 

 closing any gates that they may observe left open 



