Battlefield OIL JJoxuuj Day. 2i' 



had tlie hounds stopped ahoul tlirei'-thirty i)iii., and lionie 

 bei ame the word. I thout^ht it a good scenting- <hi y, and the 

 (first bit in the morning was pretty, hounds hunting- merrily. 



Friday being Christmas Day, we all ate and toasted 

 each other, talked hnnting, settled the affairs of the 

 nation for another twelve months, and prayed for a tine 

 month of January. 



Saturday, the 26tli, brought us the inevitable Boxing- 

 Day meet at Battlefield — a soft balmy day — as mild as 

 May. It is needless to say, therefore, that thither went a 

 goodly proportion of the townspeople of Shrewsbury. It 

 was gladdening to see such a gathering in these supposed 

 degenerate days when sport is said to be doomed. To 

 Borderer's mind it gave the contradiction flatly to such 

 absurdities. Give the British people a chance of a holiday, 

 and I will undertake to say that with all the allurements 

 of pleasure within their grarsp, the majority will choose 

 the hunting field, ev(n under all the drawbacks of Shanks' 

 pony, greengrocers' carts, or shandridan four-wheelers, if 

 horses cannot be found, and will enter into the sport 

 con aviore. To-day the rank and fashion of town and 

 country were well rej^resented, and if ever a day was 

 made on purpose, as well as the foxes, for affording fun 

 to the holiday makers, Christmas 1885 was the day ; 

 curiously contrasting with that of 1884, when the hounds 

 never came on account of the frost, Thatcher aptly 

 remarking that he had hardly slept for the past twelve 

 months from re-norse at that disappointment. A fox 

 was going directly, that tried to cross the line, and was 

 of course, headed. He proved, however, a cripple, and 

 in five minutes was made an end of. He very soon had 

 a successor, who got such a chorus as certainly never fox 

 had before at his brush, in his face, on all sides of him. 

 Neverthless he dashed over the railway and road, and 

 made good his retreat towards Sundorne, although we 

 miaccountably failed to hunt him when he took the open. 

 "Back to Battlefield, where another brace were soon 

 going, and playing the same game of crossing and re- 

 crossing the railway, being headed in the road beyond, 

 until one went away to Battlefield Church, and pushed 

 himself past a grated drain, which said grate swung on 

 hinges it turned out. Clever little fox that, to be able to 



