LIFE AND SPORT IN 

 HAMPSHIRE 



CHAPTER I 



THE WOOD HOME 



I SHALL be content if I can bring into iny pages some 

 idea of the charm about life in a wood a wonderful, 

 subtle charm ! Nearly all my early years were lived 

 in the midst of the oaks and hazels, and the spell of 

 those whispering woods has never lost its power over 

 me. I think it never can. Downs, smooth and roll- 

 ing downs, bare and breezy, are noble places. They 

 bring a fine uplifting to the heart, when on summer 

 days we climb up and lie high among their thymes. 

 The soul of a man grows and is felt in such spots on 

 a good June day ; and we know the same about the 

 steeps by the sea. Perhaps a large wood with its 

 gleaming rides and glades has not quite this power 

 to lift up the spirit with joy. It wants the immense 

 skies and long horizons, the bracing air and that blue 

 of the far landscape that always from some cause 

 not clear to me touches us so closely. The high 

 places, inland or by the sea, with their sense of space, 



