To Mountain Tarn 



are said to have hit the otter with their walking- 

 sticks as it brushed past. Making all allowance 

 for the excitement, and to some the novelty of 

 the moment, it is plain that they ought not to 

 have done this, when it had enough to do with the 

 dogs. That, at least, is not sport ; and until they 

 can control themselves it might be as well that 

 they should stay away. Nor is it sport so to 

 crowd a hunted animal in a narrow place, that it 

 has no free play for its instincts or local know- 

 ledge. 



In their eagerness and curiosity to see, the 

 ladies waded through the stream. Those who go 

 to a water hunt should be prepared to wade, 

 seeing that the quarry may be now on one side 

 and now on the other. In this case the dtnoue- 

 ment happened on an islet cut off from either 

 bank. It was very plucky of them. But when 

 it reached what comes after death their courage 

 failed, or their delicacy came to the surface, which 

 was also very proper. Some of the details proved 

 unpleasant after it had ceased to matter to the 

 otter. 



The presence of ladies comes as somewhat of 

 a shock to our pictures of the form at the distaff 

 and the sampler frame. For my part, I do not 

 see why they should not take a modified interest 

 in sport, so long as it is sport, and not butchery. 

 The open-air life of the barbarian has some- 

 thing to offer to the wives and daughters of the 



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