*°2 Reminiscences of a 



always fond of a bit of racing and chasing, and a bit of 

 hunting, too, when he had a blood 'un that could jump a 

 bit; his son Jack was a very nice horseman, and used 

 to ride across country at the winter meetings. Poor lad, 

 he died rather too young ! Amongst the tradesmen may 

 be mentioned Mr. J. Calvert, the sporting grocer of Sedge- 

 field, who attended meets in the neighbourhood, and was 

 generally mounted on a racing galloway that had passed 

 the post first at a flapping meeting at Spennymoor or 

 Blaydon. He knew a good deal about the legitimate sport, 

 too, and they said he was one of the few who made it pay. 

 Another keen man in the seventies was Mr. W. O. 

 Wood of Coxhoe, manager of Kelloe pit, a good sportsman 

 with a couple of hunters, or one hunter and a general pur- 

 pose horse ; he did good work in helping to stop the pit 

 cracks in the north part of the country. Speaking of pit 

 cracks reminds me of a singular occurrence that happened in 

 the Kelloe country about the end of Mr. Harvey's time, when 

 I believe Mr. Wood was out, and our fox being pressed 

 hard took refuge in a new pit crack which I did not know 

 of at the time. It was in the hard rock and went down 

 about forty feet, and you could see the fox's eyes shining 

 at what seemed to be the bottom. It seemed to be a crack 

 with a kind of steps which made it easy for anyone to get 

 down. Not finding a volunteer to scramble down I took my 

 cap and coat off, and went in. When I got down about ten 

 feet the fox came bounding up on to my leg and shoulder, gave 

 a snack at me as he jumped off my shoulder, and made 

 his escape out of the crack with the hounds close at 

 him. When I got to the top of the crack again the 

 boy, that was walking my mare about (for it was a cold 

 day) had mounted, and was off full cry after the hounds, 



