84 GAMEKEEPERS AND GILLIES 



of his initiator in woodcraft and field-lore. I have had 

 experience of poisonous practices on the part of more 

 than one professional preceptor of youth, possessed of un- 

 exceptionable references : but I cannot recall, in all my 

 constant boyish intercourse with John Pace, a single word 

 or sentiment or act, uttered or done by him, that my 

 mother would have wished me not to hear or see. Many 

 of his sayings and many instances of his example remain 

 undimmed by lapse of years. They may not be worth 

 repeating; but when I see fond parents solicitous to 

 prevent their children associating with servants, and hear 

 them deploring the carelessness of some young mother 

 in allowing her children to do so, I make mental com- 

 parison of John Pace's influence upon my character with 

 that of certain pastors and masters to whose care I was 

 intrusted later. There are noble servants, just as there 

 are ignoble masters ; and who may reckon the percentage 

 of nobility in either class ? I can but testify that so far 

 as the evil in my life may be traced to intercourse with 

 others, it was contracted from social equals and superiors, 

 and in no single instance from inferiors. 



To all dealings with his neighbours, high or low, John 

 applied the invariable test Is it honourable ? He had 

 an obstinate stutter, and pronounced the word ' ho-o-o-on- 

 ourable.' No preux chevalier ever showed more delicate 

 discrimination in the application of that epithet to the 

 most ordinary affairs. For instance, very few game- 

 keepers, perhaps not many sportsmen, feel any com- 

 punction at shooting along the marches as hard as on 

 any other part of the ground. Can we all disclaim an 

 inclination to punish the vicinity of our neighbour's land 

 a trifle more severely than fields nearer home? Well, 



