;o 



LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



Starting for the "Axe and Compasses," a very favourite meet 

 of his. Not that any come amiss. Equally at home in the flying 

 country of the Roothings, with its wide ditches and inter- 

 minable ploughs, as over the big banking country of which 

 Doddinghurst is the centre. I have never yet seen a feasible 

 fence that would stop the General when hounds were running, 

 although I have seen him go over a good many obstacles that 

 no no else cared to tackle. Very partial to timber, he always 

 goes for it, and must have jumped more rails, stiles, and gates 

 in his time than could be readily counted. The Essex men are 

 very proud of the General. He is a universal favourite, he 

 always has a pleasant word and kind smile for each one with 



"Vagabond" 



whom a day's hunting brings him in touch, be he peasant, 

 farmer, or squire. Even the Master smiles at the General's 

 one little failing, an occasional deafness when riding his pulling 

 horse. 



That Sir Evelyn is a thorough believer in the great Duke's 

 dictum, that the hunting field is the best school in the world 

 for cavalry officers, goes without saying. That being a non- 

 smoker and of most temperate habits has enabled him to out-last 

 all his contemporaries in the hunting field is equally true, even 

 if it is not so generally known. 



