168 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



(in which William Rufus is said to have been 

 baptized) by a more sanitary, modern con- 

 trivance of porcelain and pitch pine — over- 

 shadowing the tin " Wesley an Workmen's 

 Club"; the post-office, where acidulated drops 

 and giant bull's-eyes are ever on sale; and the 

 blacksmith's shop, with its glowing forge, 

 where doubtless the anvil's music still thrills 

 the youthful bosom. We smell the scent of 

 wallflowers wafted from the Vicarage garden, 

 mixing with the warm fragrance of new-mown 

 lawn and the less agreeable perfume of the 

 children as they stream from the school hard 

 by. We note the athletic figure of the worthy 

 curate, dragging the roller back and forth across 

 that exiguous patch of comparatively smooth 

 turf opposite the porch of the village inn w^here 

 the rival teams have already gathered to refresh 

 themselves for the coming contest. 



See ! Here comes the young Squire on his 

 bicycle, clad in immaculate fla.nnels, and bearing 

 the long green canvas bag whence he shall 

 presently extract that supply of bats, pads, and 

 other cricketing paraphernalia with which the 

 village sportsman invariably omits to provide 

 himself. Already the bails are being reverently 

 laid upon the stumps by Mr. Bunting, Lord 

 Bumblefoot's butler from the Manor House, a 

 stately, pontifical figure whose fitness for the 



