THE DOUBTFUL DAY 277 



same as before ? " and all the rest of it. To some 

 men a certain amount of stimulant taken on an empty 

 stomach may revive the tired frame and be beneficial, 

 but to most it is baneful, and, mounting quickly to 

 the brain, often reduces the gallant horseman to a 

 very despicable object before he reaches home. One 

 glass might do no sort of harm, but it is this unhappy 

 custom of treating and tempting to " another with 

 me" which plays the mischief with the men, and has 

 brought to the class an evil reputation for insobriety. 

 Surtees' sketches of " Swig and Chowey " in Facey 

 Romford's Hounds are only too true to life. 



Then there comes a time to some men when on 

 certain mornings there is a consciousness that the 

 nerve is not quite what it should be. Bad horses 

 and heavy falls have tried it pretty highly perhaps. 

 Yet it will never do for a servant to "funk." He 

 feels that if he begins to show a delicacy in his pluck, 

 as they say in Ireland, his reputation will be lost, 

 and resorts to the ancient but mistaken expedient 

 of " keeping his spirits up by pouring spirits down." 

 Hunt servants, by the way, are not the only fox- 

 hunters who have been known to patronise jumping 

 powder ; but then as Mr. Pigg said to his Master, 

 " Ye've nae call to ride for raputation," though the 

 servant has. 



Not many fox-hunters, I think, are aware at what 

 an early age a very large proportion of Hunt servants 

 are considered past their work, but a glance at 

 " Huntsmen and their Records " in that invaluable 

 publication, Bailys Hunting Directory, will consider- 

 ably astonish most sportsmen who peruse it, for they 



