OPENING DAY OF SEASON 351 



Then there is a certain amount of coffee-housing 

 to be done. One man has been salmon-fishing in 

 Norway, and has wonderful tales to relate to an 

 admiring crowd ; another has been to Newmarket, 

 and had a capital time, had a pony on the winner 

 of the Cambridgeshire at a long shot, don't you 

 know ; whilst another, who has been tempting 

 fortune on the classic Heath, sad to relate, can 

 tell of nothing but a long series of seconds. Men 

 from the moors and forests cannot leave their 

 experiences unrelated to their friends, and here 

 and there may be heard men dilating on the 

 charms of the turnips, or of knocking over 

 rocketers in a warm corner. But, strange to 

 say, though almost every man with whom you 

 exchange greetings has no hesitation in stating 

 that he has been having a good time, one and all 

 seem to be convinced that in the coming few 

 months they are to have a better — in other words, 

 on every man's countenance may be read, as plain 

 as print, " the summer of our discontent has passed." 

 Yet the opening day has its anxieties as well as 

 its social pleasure, and it is to be hoped its good 

 gallop. There are doubtful parties to be pro- 

 pitiated, and in this, be it said passim, the field 

 might strengthen the Master's hand more than 

 they do. Then again, there are sundry reports 

 from outlying portions of the country, sometimes 

 brought in by residents who have their own ideas 

 as to what is required of the hunt, and who are 

 by no means backward in proffering advice — 

 sturdy, good fellows these, and sportsmen to the 

 backbone, whose views must be met as far as 

 practicable, yet whose rivalries it is not at all 

 times easy to keep from appearing. 



