2 12 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



are run on modest lines, it is essential that the hunts- 

 man, who practically has, with the help of a lad as 

 whip and understrapper, to manage the business of 

 the whole pack, including hunting, feeding, and all 

 other kennel management, shall be not only efficient 

 in the field but a careful kennel man and a competent 

 and observant feeder. Such a Hunt servant has much 

 upon his hands — far more than many people can pos- 

 sibly imagine — and he needs not only fair wages but 

 due consideration from his master and the subscribers. 

 In most cases where the same man carries on these offices 

 — I have known even a youth double and treble these 

 difficult posts and perform them all more than reason- 

 ably well — he is a real enthusiast who loves nothing in 

 this world so well as his hounds and hunting. But for 

 this love of sport, wild life, and the open air, it would 

 be difficult to find a man willing to devote such long 

 and laborious days, especially if he be with a foot 

 pack, to the business of hunting. For my part, I 

 have a great admiration for Hunt servants. They are, 

 as a rule, an estimable class, hard-working, civil, keen, 

 and hardy, a credit to the Anglo-Saxon race. If we 

 bred thousands like them, and taught them to shoot, 

 what magnificent mounted infantry they would make. 

 Hunt servants are relics of the good old days, when 

 men lived much more in the open air ; when England 

 had still leisure to be merry ; when the pestilent custom 

 of crowding into towns and deserting the country was 

 not ; when motor-cars and other abominations were 

 undreamed of ; when country gentlemen were content 

 to live quietly upon their own acres, and the farmer 

 was not pursued by carking care, as he is now, but 

 could make a livelihood comfortably out of his hold- 

 ing. Few men go through more exposure, or live 

 harder lives with less complaint. How many of us, 



