4 THE ETON COLLEGE HUNT, 



than £52 10s. Thus the hunt was placed on a sound business 

 footing. 



Considering the inconveniences, the sport was apparently 

 good. There were terrible difficulties. There used to be Chapel 

 at 3 o'clock for all, and after 12 was too short altogether for a 

 pack of Beagles to wear down a hare. 



Col. Meysey-Thompson writes : 



*' It should not be forgotten what a very limited time we had 

 in which to reach the kennels, get the pack out, find a hare, 

 return with the hounds to the kennels (the ?vlaster and Whips), 

 and be ' changed ' and either in school or Chapel by 3 p.m. — 

 missing our dinners sometimes. When there was * Absence ' 

 it was worse, for we had to be there, and I remember on one 

 occasion Balston finding fault because so many boys were late 

 for Absence, and I pointed out to him that we the Whips were 

 there, although we had had to go to the kennels, a long distance 

 out of the homeward path, so that the others should have been 

 there too if they had hurried up. He accepted this plea. We 

 never got out of school till 11.45, and were supposed to be at 

 dinner by 2 p.m. In the afternoon when there was ' short ' 

 Chapel we did not get out of Chapel till 3.20, had to change 

 and have one run and be in by lock-up, which of course was 

 early. I sometimes wonder how we did it, when perhaps we 

 had run very nearly to Maidenhead. It was the getting back 

 which was the crux." 



The pack was kennelled near the Dorney Road beyond the 

 Sanatorium, the kennel huntsman being Alf Joel, Joby Minor 

 as he was called. There is always a Joby at Eton, and this one 

 undertook the duties of kennel huntsman. Charrington used to 

 give him various sums of money (he had no fixed salary), for 

 which he fed and housed the hounds. 



Charringon's Beagles hunted anything ; a bagged fox, 

 which resided at the kennels " within earshot of the musical 

 harmony of his relentless pursuers," an occasional bagged hare; 

 innumerable bagged rabbits, which invariably met with untimely 

 ends; a drag, usually a hare-skin, and anything else which 

 presented itself. 



Here are some extracts from his diary which illustrate the 

 character of the sport : 



'' Thursday, 28th Jan. 1858. Went out hunting with the 

 Beagles. Very good run. Found a rabbit and killed. Finished 

 at Salt Hill. Went in there and refreshed ourselves. 



'' Saturday, 6th Feb. Went out before breakfast with the 

 Beagles and found a hare but did not kill it. Met at Philippi. 



