CHAPTER XXI 



HUNTING, ANCIENT AND MODEBN— A SMOKING-EOOM 

 PALAVER 



I AM afraid that although I have always considered 

 myself to be, if anything, rather optimistic in my 

 ideas on the subject of the future of fox-hunting, and 

 inclined to take a more roseate view of the present 

 than some of my contemporaries and nearly all of 

 my seniors, yet it is coming home to me that certain 

 youthful friends begin to find reminiscences of the 

 past somewhat wearisome. They hold that the easy 

 and luxurious conditions under which they pursue 

 their favourite pastime contrast favourably with the 

 hard times of an older day, and that the evils of wire, 

 shooting syndicates, and trebly increased expense are 

 almost counterbalanced by the rapidity of the whole 

 business, the society of ladies out hunting, and the 

 " smartness " of everything connected with the chase. 

 The difficulties of the old system, which were looked 

 upon as pleasures by the heroes of old who overcame 

 them, simply appal many of the young ones who read 

 of them ; and lately I heard " ingenuous youth " declare 

 that, in his belief, the sport of the grandfathers of 

 my generation was only "mucking after a fox with 



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