T. MILLS 



241 



that had to take him to market, out on business, or about his 

 farm, but that one horse gave him unquahfied pleasure, and 

 leno-thened his hfe. He loved to holloa a fox, and nearly 

 always had one at home for us in his fagot stack. He 

 could beguile man)' a weary ride home with yarns of the old 

 days when Conyers hunted the country : he and the late Mr. 

 Fane between them could have filled a volume or two with 

 anecdotes of the chase in Essex. Mr. Mills was much missed 

 when he died, for he belonged to a class that is rapidly dying 

 out, the yeoman farmer. Probably his best and favourite 

 hunter was the chestnut mare " Polly." that won the Farmers 

 Point-to- Point 14-stone class on more than one occasion, ridden 

 by Mr. W. Symes : she was beaten by a horse of Mr. Dickin- 

 son's the last time she ran, when I had to steer her. How the 

 saddle bulged out from her sides with the amount of lead, 

 (about 3 stone) that had to be carried, I shall not readily forget. 



T. J. Mills 



How Mr. Mills' fox beat the Essex Fox- Hounds when they met at the 

 " Merry Fiddlers," on a spring-hke morning, Monday, March 6th, is here 

 set down. Patiently we waited in the road while the " yap ! yap ! " of a 

 sharp terrier at work in the faggot heap at Garnish Hall warned us we 

 might have to leave at a moment's notice. But patience gave way to 

 impatience, as not a fox would budge ; and hounds were taken on to the 

 Hill Hall coverts, when, just as they were being thrown into Bush Wood, 

 " holloa ! " after " holloa ! " was heard from the direction of Garnish Hall 

 — as on a former occasion, so now, the fox had made the best of his way 

 into Barbers. Bailey had the lady pack on at once, and leaving Barbers 

 16 



