HUNTING DAYS 



185 



reeds in a wind. The flaming pink of huntsmen, whip and 

 habitut, is an attraction to draw every countryman, even the 

 persistent labourer, from his work. A politician on an Irish 

 tour not long since offered a country driver two pounds to catch 

 a certain train ; but as he offered it the horn of the Galway 

 hunt rang over the moor, and the driver refused to stir. 



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FOX CUBS AT PLAY 



Villagers of all ranks proudly * walk ' the puppies, so sharing 

 in a sport vicariously democratic, though aristocratic enough 

 in equipment. 



All hunting is autumn and winter sport ; but it fills more 

 than half the year. Cub-hunting begins in September, and 

 there are those who boast of killing a May fox. It fills too 

 much of the year. Beagles and harriers hunt many a hare 

 that is heavy with young ; and this is an inhumanity that no 

 sportsman can face with equanimity. The May fox is now 



