First Whipper-in. 163 



if he could help it, and she did no end of work until Feb- 

 ruary 8th, 1884, when he broke her down at the close of 

 one of those fearfully hard days we had in the Bishopton 

 country about that time. Mr. Ord bred some useful hunters 

 from her, and tells me that he has a very promising four- 

 year-old, a grand-daughter of the good old mare, but not the 

 same colour. To finish with the good mare " Stewardess," she 

 was sold at Leicester, when Sir William resumed the master- 

 ship of the hounds, and was purchased by a gentleman in Stam- 

 ford, who broke her to harness ; and I remember Mr. Ord 

 telling me, about four or five years ago, that he had just 

 seen her in a dog cart at Stamford, and spoken to the driver 

 about her; this was in 1898 or 1899, and as he bought her 

 from Mr. Beadon as a six-year-old in 1881, she must have 

 earned her own keep and helped a few bad 'uns out as 

 well ; it is rather a curious fact that the hunt-horses we 

 rode during this season, though not expensive in the way of 

 cost, lived to be well experienced in both work and age ; as 

 the cases of old " Castiron," " Matthew," and " Stewardess " 

 prove, averaging, at their death, about thirty years apiece; 

 whilst Mr. Ord had at that time, in his own stable, two, 

 viz., " Sweetsound " and " Controversy," that were going 

 fifteen years later, and did over two hundred and fifty days 

 apiece. J 



J These two animals did so much work that their performances are worth recording. They 

 hunted, in almost every instance, the whole day, going to the meet and returning home 

 with hounds. The particulars are extracted from an absolutely reliable hunting diary :^ 



Sweetsound. Controversy. Sweetsound. Controversy. 



