DISCURSIVE AND ACADEMIC. 40! 



Some keepers, I know, will object to this 

 method, as they say that they will get into 

 trouble with their masters when the latter see 

 so many rabbits to eat up their woods and the 

 farmers' corn. Quite so, but it is the keeper's 

 duty to afford his master the greatest possible 

 amount of sport, and by following my in- 

 structions he will not only do this, but will 

 also do good service to both his master and 

 the farmers. I say, therefore, that if keepers 

 object, they are not keepers for their masters 

 but keepers for themselves. Every keeper 

 knows that the day after a cover has been 

 shot through and thoroughly disturbed is the 

 very best time for finding rabbits at home in 

 their earths, so that if he has not shown many 

 rabbits in that cover, rabbits are not expected 

 of him. In that case, he is either honest or 

 dishonest ; if honest, he is but a poor keeper, 

 if dishonest, the sooner he quits keepering the 

 better for keepers in general. 



I have no wish to set myself up as a judge 

 of other men's actions, and should these ran- 

 dom writings of mine fall into the hands of 



26 



