Reynard Utilised. 25 



pleasant feeling ; next, because when the meet takes 

 place the plethora of foxes spoils the sport. The day- 

 is wasted in ' chopping ' them at every corner ; the 

 pack breaks up into several sections, despite whip, 

 horn, and voice ; and a good run across country 

 cannot be obtained. So that once now and then a 

 judicious thinning-out is necessary ; and this is how 

 the skins come into the hands of the keeper's wife. 

 The heads go to ornament halls and staircases ; so do 

 the pads and occasionally the brush. The teeth make 

 studs, set in gold ; and no part of Reynard is thrown 

 away, since the dogs eagerly snap up his body. 



Once or twice she has made a moleskin waistcoat 

 for a gentleman. This is a very tedious operation. 

 Each little skin has to be separately prepared, and 

 when finished hardly covers two square inches of 

 surface. Consequently it requires several scores of 

 skins, and the work is a year or more about. There 

 is then the sewing together, which is not to be accom- 

 plished without much patience and skill. The fur is 

 beautifully soft and glossy, with more resemblance to 

 velvet than is possessed by any other natural sub- 

 stance, and very warm. Mittens for the wrists are 

 also made of it, and skull-caps. Mole-skin waistcoats 

 used to be thought a good deal of, but are now only 

 met with occasionally as a curiosity. 



