The Sport of Our <Ancestors 



who had ministered to the sport of their ancestors were 

 Hterally waiting at the door to welcome them. Fox-hunting 

 was almost a recognised part of the system. One mild 

 morning in November, a freshman was summoned to the 

 carpet of the head of his college. His foot was in the stirrup 

 when the message arrived, so he obeyed the summons forth- 

 with in his new red coat, new top-boots, and still newer 

 cap and gown. ' Sir,* said he, * I am just starting for hunt- 

 ing, and if I do not start now, I shall be late.' ' When I was 

 an undergraduate at this college,' said the courteous old 

 doctor of divinity, ignoring with fine taste the unusual 

 costume, ' I was the only one who did not hunt. I do not 

 know much about hunting, but I do know that it is an 

 offence to be late for the meet. Run away now, and come 

 to see me to-morrow.' A triumph for the Sport of our 

 Ancestors ! The childhood, then, of the generation born 

 about 1870 could preserve some live links with the coaching 

 days ; its adolescence was passed in an environment essen- 

 tially the same as that of the previous generation ; its man- 

 hood, until 1 9 14, was destined to reach the high- water mark 

 of creature comforts. It has been said that the zenith of 

 the British Empire was reached at the Diamond Jubilee of 

 Queen Victoria, and that since that time England has been 

 coming back to her horses. But whatever was happening 

 to the Empire, comfort and convenience, and everything 

 that makes for luxury, steadily increased until the outbreak 

 of the War. Aseptics and anaesthetics, sanitation, transport, 

 communication, the best of everything at a comparatively 

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