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CHAPTBR VIII 



But the player may strain every finger in vain, 

 And the fiddler may rosin his how, 

 i.or flourish nor string such a rapture shall bring 

 As the music of sweet Tally-no '. 



YTB - ^LVILLE. 



If I began to write on the advantages of fox- 

 hunting over all other sports, I should fill pages 

 and possibly become extremely tedious; so, remembering 

 Sam Y.'eller's remark with reference to the differing of 

 tastes accounting for the existence of fancy waistcoats, 

 I will refrain. 



But one thing I will say, and that is that fox- 

 hunting "stays" with those who really love it in an 

 extraordinary way. Some of the keenest men I nave 

 known have ranged from seventy-five to eignty-five, 

 and I could even name men at, or over, the former age 

 who would take on strong timber with the best of the 

 rising generation. 



It stays with us, too, in another way - it stays 

 in our memories. For myself, I know I remember the 

 really brilliant hunts I have seen far better than I 

 remember anything else, far better than chase or race, 

 even if lucky enough to get home first. I am sure I 

 am not peculiar in this, for I have often met men with 

 whom I have ridden a good hunt, years afterwards, and 

 found they recollected every detail just as vividly as 

 I did. 



Some of the best and keenest men I have known, men 

 who "stay", and are a stay to their own hunts, are not 

 men who ever care for crashing along in front and cutting 

 out the work. That is grand fun for these whose tastes 

 lie that way, but there is many a real good sportsman 

 who does not care for it. I have noticed, too, that the 

 men who do most for their hunts are not always those who 

 are most conspicuous when hounds run hard. So that, 

 while admiring and giving due credit to the gallant souls 

 who are always ready to go in front and cut out the work, 

 let no one sneer at good sportsmen who nave no such am- 

 bitions. 



