"Will beam with delight 

 At the glorious sight 

 Of a meet on the velvety lawn." 



Poems in Pink. 



IX 



A DAY WITH THE GENESEE VALLEY HOUNDS 



THE MEET AT BEL WOOD — THE HUNT BREAKFAST — THE CO\^RT 

 SEVEN GULLIES — WHO- WHOOP. 



"l^^HAT a joyous happy crowd, to be sure! All our 

 ^ ^ friends are there, dressed in their smartest "hunting 

 togs." The men are telling the ladies that they are look- 

 ing "too excruciatingly stunning for anytliing," while Miss 

 Daisy from Batavia, is answering Mr. Arthur's chaffing by 

 holding her fingers in her ears, because his new waistcoat is of 

 such a loud pattern. So the chaffing and small talk and apolo- 

 gies and regrets for omissions and commissions go gaily on 

 about the heavily laden board, everyone helping liim or herself, 

 or perhaps a neighbour. Our host, meanwhile, is shaking 

 hands with his friends and their guests, while his visiting friends 

 are assisting in the entertainment or are canvassing the lawn 

 and drives that are filling with pedestrians and wagons, that 

 none may go away unbidden to the feast of good things that 

 has been provided within. 



"Here come the hounds," says someone on the porch, who 

 IS on the lookout for them, and bedlam is let loose. Four 

 women meet in a bunch all talking at once, such a babble! 

 One more taste, a hasty last swallow, eating and talking, and 

 rushing here and there for hats and gloves, and hunting crops ; 



