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These joys the men who were busy with other- sports 

 until well on into November never realised. There is 

 no shadow of doubt about this fact - the more a man 

 learns about fox-hunting, the more he will enjoy it. 



And how much, too, a really keen man can do to 

 help the sport in his own neighbourhood by setting a 

 good example in the hunting field. kindly word of 

 thanks for any little service rendered, an occasional 

 half-crown to back it, a prompt apology and payment for 

 any concrete bit of damage done by the individual, such 

 as a smashed gate or stile, puts the matter right. 



A little care to get round stock, so as to prevent 

 them getting out of a field; or, if they have slipped 

 out, a little time spent in getting them back or penning 

 them in elsewhere. Consider the trouble we give when, 

 by leaving a gate open, we let a couple of horses oat of 

 a field into a high-road. They may go almost any dis- 

 tance, and it may mean two days' work or more for a man 

 before they are found and got home. Then, too, when 

 riding about the country, both when hounds are not run- 

 ning and when they are, I would urge on everyone always 

 to consider how they can avoid doing damage. One could 

 fill pages with instances of want of thought which must 

 be very annoying to the farmer. There is a certain 

 class of rider who is always in a desperate hurry when 

 it involves cutting across the corner of a wheatfield 

 or something of that sort, yet whose hurry dies away 

 when he comes to a fence, where he will patiently await 

 his turn to walk through a gap; such men always seem 

 to me very contemptible. 



Then, too, beware of excitability and swearing at 

 large. Some men seem to think that because they are 

 out hunting they may swear at anyone. It is certainly 

 very annoying when a man won't open a gate or let you 

 through his yard, but much more can be done by going 

 and having a quiet talk with him than by swearing when 

 both you and he have your tempers up. 



I could quote several cases to prove the harm that 

 excited abuse has done to hunting; one especially remains 

 in my memory. A small landholder was rather slow in 

 going to open a gate, and the gate proved diffic\ilt to 

 open. An excited member of the field, irritated by the 

 delay, abused the man. Now, the small-holder was un- 

 fortunately both bad-tempered and well off. He 



