30 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



It is now that you will see the use of having a good- 

 tempered and cheerful man as feeder ; such a one will 

 soon gain the affection and confidence of the young 

 hounds; animals soon find out those who are fond of 

 them. Let the feeder be with them as much as possible ; 

 if he takes some broken biscuits in his pockets, or bits 

 of meat, and plays and romps with them for only an hour 

 on each day, on the third day they will follow him any- 

 wh-ere. This may appear all very childish, and great 

 nonsense to many ; wiser men, however, than your 

 humble servant " Scrutator" have been caught romping 

 and playing with children, and if you wish your hounds 

 to be attached to you, you must treat them in the same 

 way. I once saw a huntsman at high romps with the 

 young hounds in the summer. He was out in a paddock 

 behind the kennels, tossing up bits of biscuit high in 

 the air for them to catch, throwing some to a distance, 

 and playing all sorts of tricks with them ; it ended by 

 his going to the end of the paddock and having a race 

 home with them to the kennel. A friend of mine who 

 was with me, witnessing this game, exclaimed, "What a 

 fool that fellow must be." "Well," I said, "you may 

 think him so, but with all his folly he can do more with 

 his hounds, both in the kennel and in the field, than any 

 man of the present day." " Why," he replied, " he will 

 set them fighting, with all this nonsense." "Tell him so 

 then, and hear what he will say." " Well," he said, " Mr. 

 Huntsman, you seem out of breath with your exertions. 

 I should think that romping most likely to end in a 

 general row." " No fear of that. Sir ; we have our school 

 time as well as play time, and I can check them in a 

 moment if I see any disposition to quarrel." 



