''Then'' and '' Nowr 105 



A Master of Hounds does not waste any 

 time that is spent with his pack and his 

 huntsman, looking into everything, and person- 

 ally inspecting the hounds. But we once had 

 a Master of the Cambridgeshire who, when 

 asked by a friend what sort of a young entry 

 he had, replied : " I really don't know. I 

 don't go into the kennels any more than I 

 am obliged. I think they smell so ! " 



Speaking of the Cambridgeshire country, 

 and also of my own hounds, I am indeed sorry 

 to say that there is a great difference in this 

 side of the country now and twenty-five years 

 ago. When one looks round what a marked 

 difiference there is : I have seen as many as 

 twenty sportsmen, all well equipped for the 

 Chase, ride out of Biggleswade to meet a pack 

 of hounds. Alas ! where have they gone now ? 

 So few of them left, and soon there will be 

 an end of the '^Old School." It is indeed 

 sad to think how this side of the country 

 has degenerated, and for the time being I 

 see no immediate prospects of it altering 

 for the better, and hard though it seems, 



