12 CONVERSATIONAL HINTS 



CHAPTEE III 



SHOOTING-LUNCHES 



AND, next, my gallant young Sportsmen, just 

 sharpen up your attention, and, if you have ears, 

 prepare to lend them now. Be, in fact, all ears. 

 At any rate, get yourselves as near as possible to 

 that desirable condition, for we are going to discuss 

 shooting-lunches, and all that pertains to them. 

 Think of it ! Are not some of your happiest 

 memories, and your most delightful anticipations, 

 bound up with the mid-day meal, at which the 

 anxieties and disappointments of the morning, the 

 birds you missed, the birds that, though they got 

 up in front of you, were shot by your jealous neigh- 

 bour, the wiped eyes, the hands torn in the thorn- 

 bushes, at which, as I say, all these are forgotten 

 when you lay aside your gun and sit down to your 

 short repose. Then it is that the talker shines 

 supreme. All the conversation which may have 



