DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 7 



and took her home to his pretty little cottage that 

 was filled with furniture he had made himself. 

 There was a stable for his pony and a lean-to shed 

 where he kept his bench, under which were numerous 

 drawers filled with all kinds of little tools, while, 

 hanging on the wall above it, there was a row of 

 larger ones including a huge cross-cut saw. He 

 had no end of things boys like to know about : lop- 

 eared rabbits, pigeons, fishing-rods, a gun, and a 

 bundle of hair from our colt's tail. " Worth a Jew's 

 eye, Phillie, that be. I'll make 'ee a line or two 

 and we'll go vishing." 



He had ferrets old and young and ferrets with 

 torn faces that would stand up to the fiercest rat. 

 Pavey's ferrets were more widely known and more 

 respected than rat-catcher Cann's. They would clear 

 the ricks of vermin faster than our curate, who 

 never missed being present when our ricks were 

 ferreted, could smite, though he on such occasions 

 was a Saul indeed. 



Nearly all the parsons of my youth were fond of 

 sport. Most of them had happy smiling faces, and 

 their daily talk was a pleasant mixture of sport and 

 agriculture with perhaps a slight suspicion of a bit 

 of gossip. Parson Jack the Reverend John Russell 

 was seldom missing from the Exmoor Meet, and 

 Parson Radford who had the heaviest fist in all the 

 county so those who knew declared loved a run 

 with his beagles before, or between, the services on 

 Sunday. His handicapping at Sunday School 

 Sports would cause envy in our Jockey Club and 

 I had to admire, although it robbed me of my 

 chances, his ingenuity when he made me run a 

 race with one foot unshod and refused to listen 



