Farmers and City Men 225 



If not in coin of the realm, at least in courtesy the debt 

 may be recognised. It is surprising to see how chary of 

 thanks some city men are to their country creditors. Some 

 of these are members of the hunt, they or their sons or both ; 

 yet how does the city man treat them when he meets them 

 in the hunting-field ? Many times as if they were beneath 

 his notice. Such discourtesy is intolerable. City men who 

 go into the country should do their best to prevent such 

 snobbishness. Even if they do not care a toss of their 

 heads for the feelings of the farmers or their own reputa- 

 tion among them, they should think of the Master, and for 

 his sake make an effort to treat the country members of 

 the hunt with gentlemanly consideration. Nothing they 

 could do would please him better, unless it were refraining 

 from riding on top of his hounds. A true sportsman, however 

 unskilled at a game, is first of all a gentleman ; the two 

 terms should be synonymous. Your true sportsman and gen- 

 tleman observes the golden rule. Youthful members of 

 the hunt especially should look to it that they admire the 

 proficiency of a fellow-hunter rather than his dress. They 

 will often find that some of the best and keenest sportsmen 

 wear old clothes, that some of the best horsemen ride long- 

 tailed horses and wear slouched hats, that a man with the 

 best seat and the best hands sometimes goes with a toggled 

 bridle and rusty saddle-irons, but is 



A rider unequalled, a sportsman complete, 

 A rum one to follow, and a bad one to beat. 



They should remember, in short, that as a rule farmers 

 and farmers' sons know more about the art and science of 



