CHAPTER III 



THE STAIXTON DALE, WHEN A TRENCHER-FED PACK, 

 AND ONE-HORSE HUNT 



Trencher feeding an old venatic institution — Yorkshire trencher-fed 

 packs at the cost of under ;^ioo a year — The management of hunting 

 affairs in keeping witli the times — Old Tom Harrison huntsman for 

 twenty-one years to the Stainton Dale — Big greyhound-like moor- 

 land foxes, and a record season of 1 1+ brace — The country on the coast, 

 and the Charter from King John in the thirteenth century — What 

 Mr Tom Parrington said of Tom Harrison — Discussing a kill at the 

 nearest public-house — Assistance from members of a hunt — The 

 masterships of Mr C. Leadley and Mr W. S. Tindall, 1874 to 1899 — 

 Red Robin, the huntsman's only mount — A sure-footed, locally-bred 

 horse best suited to the country — Collecting hounds in a pig-cart 

 the evening before hunting — Hound fare when at walk — Flesh — 

 Distemper and kennel lameness unknown amongst trencher-fed 

 hounds — Home-bred ones the safest in a cliff district — The fate of 

 purchased hounds — The size of a pack to hunt on the moors — Coming 

 home in the dark, hounds returning to their quarters for the night — 

 Character of the Stainton Dale country — Memories of some hunts 

 in Captain the Hon. F. Johnstone's country — A kill in the dark by 

 Pickering, and information by letter next day. 



" list ! 'tis the horn's joyous sound. 

 Re-echoing over yon hill ; 

 The Mountains far distant resound, 

 It gurgles along with the rill. 

 haste to the joys of the chase, 

 Ye youth of the mountain and vale, 

 Mount steeds, the most famed for the race, 

 As they snort to the echoing gale." 



— Old Yorkshire Himting Song. 



There is poetry in the old-world hunting, and 



anyone who would see last century fox-hunting 



at the present day, should pay a visit to one of the 



rough countries of Yorkshire, which have not felt 



those changes that time has wrought in other parts. 



So Sir A. E. Pease reminds us in his volume on the 



Cleveland hounds. 



42 



