Cubbing Again! 



A POSTCARD arrives bearing the words : * Tuesday, 6th 

 instant, The Beech Wood, 7 a.m." The signature 

 initials are familiar. Income-tax assessments, bills and 

 the pile of equally dull correspondence are instantly 

 forgotten, and one gazes lovingly at that little card. Its 

 rather cryptic message would probably perplex the 

 postman, who might be forgiven for entertaining some 

 curiosity about such an early-morning rendezvous. The 

 brevity of its message does not puzzle its recipient. 

 The Beech Wood is an old familiar trysting-place for the 

 local hounds; the initials are those of their Master; 

 and the approaching date and the early hour convey, 

 as clearly as floodlit letterings, the magic words Cub- 

 Hunting. 



Cub-himting appointments are not blazoned forth 

 from every hilltop. They are very much in the nature 

 of private affairs and, strictly speaking, concern only the 

 Master, his Hunt staff and his hounds. In some hunting 

 districts where there is the risk of a big field of followers 

 turning out, and by their presence hindering the training 

 of young hounds and unduly interfering with foxes, the 

 Master is perforce compelled to preserve the greatest 

 secrecy about his cubbing appointments. He may even 

 be compelled by force of such circumstances to pass a 



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