216 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



well until he arrived at the hard word, when he broke 

 down as usual, and began crying, thinking I should 

 thrash him. *' What's the matter, Tom," I said. " Oh !" 

 he replied, " indeed I cannot pronounce that word right." 

 " Well," I said " don't cry about it ; I shall not strike you 

 for not knowing. You have done ver}^ well up to that 

 point. Leave that word out entirely ; 1 don't care about 

 it ; skip it ; there's an end of it." We got on very well 

 in this w^ay for some days, but I never allowed him to 

 attempt this word ; it was always passed over by my 

 orders. His task was a long one, to be repeated before 

 the holidays, and I had it over tolerably often, to make 

 sure, for I was anxious he should not fail under my in- 

 struction. I treated him with kindness and encourage- 

 ment, but never got out of temper, or spoke harshly. 

 The consequence was that the hard word soon fell in 

 with the rest, and he went through his whole task at the 

 appointed time without missing a word. The bugbear 

 had disappeared. 



I have seen horses in like manner shy on the road at 

 a heap of stones or other things ; and what is the reason 

 of it? Because some lout, on his first shying at them, 

 has ridden him up (as I have often seen done) to the 

 stones, and there beaten him. The next time the horse 

 shies again, not for fear of the stones, but for fear^of the 

 beating. A very excellent sportsman, who was for many- 

 years a most efficient master of foxhounds, used to tell 

 me that he never gave himself any trouble about his 

 young hounds running riot, but let them have it out, as 

 long as they did not taste blood. He said, from not 

 being encouraged, they soon found out their mistake, 

 and always became more steady afterwards. It is said, 



