LEAPING. 



119 



likely himself done in his younger days in some hunt- 

 ing field of the old country, for the ditch before him 

 could have been cleared by an active boy, on his own 

 legs, with a good run. Moreover, it is not improbable 

 that the reader is ready to agree with the old satirist in 

 thinking the young man a " muff." Nevertheless, both 









APPROACHING A FEN'CE. 



horse and rider might easilv have come to grief , for the 

 steep banks were crumbly, and while the rider's seat 

 was not of the firmest, his mount was straight in the 

 shoulder and a little stiff in the pastern. However, 

 they were both as well fitted to overcome such a diffi- 

 culty as nine-tenths of American horses and riders, and 



