144 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



marquee has yet to be invented which will keep out a 

 thunderstorm that common interruption of country 

 meetings like an old barn. But barns are not always 

 available, and a tent is then essential. Though the 

 spot may be lonely and several miles from a town or 

 station, a large number of persons are sure to be 

 there ; and if it is an auction of sheep or cattle with 

 a pedigree, many of them will be found to have come 

 from the other end of the kingdom, and sometimes 

 agents are present from America or the colonies. Much 

 time is consumed in an examination of the stock, and 

 then the dinner begins at least two hours later than was 

 announced. But this little peculiarity is so well under- 

 stood by all interested as to cause no inconvenience. 



Scarcely any ale is to be seen : it is there if asked 

 for; but the great majority now drink sherry. The 

 way in which this wine has supplanted the old- 

 fashioned October ale is remarkable, and a noticeable 

 sign of the times. At home the farmer may still 

 have his foaming jug, but whenever farmers congre- 

 gate together on occasions like this, sherry is the 

 favourite. When calling at the inns in the towns on 

 market days much business is transacted at the inns 

 spirits are usually taken, so that ale is no longer the 

 characteristic country liquor. With the sherry cigars 

 are handed round another change. It is true the 

 elderly men stick to their long clay pipes, and it is 

 observable that some of the younger after a while go 

 back to the yard of clay ; but on the whole the cigar 

 is now the proper thing. 



