i go 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



o'clock some September morning. Many a hunting man has 

 enjoyed a stolen run in October ; but the first real runs are 

 in November. No rural science is more characteristic of 

 England than these opening days. The hounds are an 

 English dog bred through many generations to present 

 perfection. Even in Canadian county clubs, where the drag 

 is a popular pursuit, the huntsmen boast of the Fitzwilliam or 

 the Belvoir blood in their packs. The horses are hunters 



such as you will not see out of England, for in no other 

 country is there the thoroughbred strain from which to breed 

 them. The little woods the gorses, the groves, the wolds, 

 the spinneys which they will draw, the trim hedgerows 

 round the fields across which they will run, the quiet eagerness 

 of the men and women, the spruce grooms on second horses, 

 the unquestioned leadership of the huntsman and deference 

 of the hunt, the fine Saxon names of the hounds, drilled into 

 obedience matching the rest of the hunt, by the cheery voice 

 of the whip all this and a hundred more details of the meet 

 will remain pictured on the mind of the countryman as if they 

 made up the season not less than the last leaves fluttering 



