314 WHICH IS THE BEST 



The late Mr. Robert Watson, M.F.H., whose name 

 appears so often in my pages, was very decided in 

 his opinion that November was the month to choose 

 if one month only were to be allowed him. " Isn't 

 it far the best ? " he said, when I put the question to 

 him. " We've waited so long for it that it seems better 

 than all the rest when it does come," and I have both 

 heard and read that this opinion is shared by many. 

 Nevertheless, I believe that if the vote could be taken 

 it would be found that the majority would ask for 

 a month about Christmas-time in preference to any 

 in the calender. Fox-hunting and the Christmas 

 holidays have been long associated in the minds of 

 all whose boyhood has been spent in the country, 

 and that is the time of year looked forward to by 

 many whose work lies in the great cities, for their 

 annual participation in the chief sport of their boy- 

 hood, and at no other portion of the winter would it 

 appear so delightful. 



That there is a peculiar charm about Christmas 

 fox-hunting there is no denying, and though " sunny 

 memories " may be a misnomer when applied to winter 

 recollections, yet most pleasant reminiscences of de- 

 lightful sport crowd thick and fast upon the brain 

 when we lie back in the old arm-chair and think of 

 Yule-tides not yet long gone by. 



Let me recall a Christmas hunt — a woodland morning 

 and its sequel. 



The gates of the great demesne open upon the 

 end of the long village street, and the high wall 

 which shuts out the populace from the park stretches 

 away for miles, embracing in its circuit several thou- 



