4 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



case according to the English usage. In America the term 

 sporting man has much the same significance as it has in 

 England, with an additional suggestion of the cheap "sport " 

 in it, while sportsman is loosely used to mean any one fond 

 of out-of-door sport. 



Whatever we say of England as a nation, we must admit 

 that the inhabitants of that country know how to play, 

 and it is for this reason, also, that they know how to live. 

 They have discovered the elixir of youth as has no other 

 nation. We must also admit that they know how to play 

 fair, and that they are the best and most genuine sportsmen 

 anywhere to be found. It is not too much to say that the 

 universal love of field-sports in England is one of the prin- 

 cipal causes of her greatness as a nation. Fair play is a 

 cardinal virtue among her people. The lessons the youths 

 of England absorb from cricket, football, rowing, and other 

 outdoor sports of skill and chance have done as much to 

 establish and maintain the supremacy of that little country 

 among the nations of the world as have all her schools, 

 colleges, and churches combined. I recognise that this is 

 a sweeping assertion, and perhaps a difficult one to prove ; 

 but I make it with the greatest confidence, after considera- 

 ble study and observation of the English people. In the 

 first place, their universal love of field-sports has done more 

 than all else to grow healthy men and women. The 

 ambition of an English father is to grow his sons and 

 daughters as he would grow his farm stock — fine, healthy, 

 upstanding animals. " Go out and play," he says. " I 

 want you to grow up to be big stout men and women. 

 Money is no good to a man without a stomach." 



