CHAPTER XXXIV 



THE MAN WHO HUNTS FROM TOWN 



A friend of mine, himself a good sportsman, once 

 observed to me when speaking of a mutual 

 acquaintance, " So-and-so has no business to hunt 

 — coming out and riding over people's land. He 

 does not own nor occupy an acre, and on that 

 account has no business in the hunting field." I 

 pointed out to my friend that the fact of a man 

 owning or occupying land scarcely gave him an 

 inalienable right to ride over the land owned and 

 occupied by others. I showed him that the 

 gentleman in question was a good fellow, fond of 

 sport, a subscriber, and a man who was never in 

 the way. Not a very fine nor a very bold horse- 

 man, certainly, but he never made himself ridicu- 

 lous, and by all, except my prejudiced friend, he 

 was welcomed in the hunting field. 



I take leave to say that if every hunting man 

 shared the prejudices of my friend, hunting would 

 soon cease to exist. Hunting, as a selfish sport, 

 would never be tolerated, and though large fields 

 are a constant source of anxiety to Masters of 

 Hounds, the theory of " the more the merrier " is 

 the one for hunting men to follow. 



For the man who hunts from town I have a 

 very warm corner ; indeed, had it not been for 



