THE FARMEES' BOOK 203 



"difference atwixt the subscriptions and the cost" was considerably 

 higher, about £30. In those days the subscription was £1 : Is. a term, 

 and there was no brake. Those who were members of the committee 

 cart paid for it, and others hired their own conveyances. It was in 

 E. Ft. T. Corbett's time, 1893, that the subscription was raised, and it 

 is remarked that the "extra 10s. does not seem to make much differ- 

 ence to the average undergraduate." 



But it is time to turn to the advantages offered to the subscriber. 

 Sport shown must vary with the season, but the standard is high 

 and in this direction there is nothing to complain of Weekly cards 

 of the meets are posted to such as have paid their subscriptions. 

 A. F. Pease started this plan in Lent term 1888, and it has been 

 carried on ever since. 



The brake was instituted somewhere in the days of the Walkers 

 and of H. S. Gladstone. This was a great convenience as the cost 

 was much less than that of private hiring. Also by that time 

 bicycles had come into general use, and I imagine that the average 

 beagler was become less able to drive. At first members were 

 allowed either to subscribe £1 : 5s. for the brake, or to pay 2s. a time. 

 The latter system, however, gave much trouble to the secretary. 

 There was also some mauvaise honte about demanding the fare. So 

 this very convenient arrangement was given up. Privately owned 

 motor bicycles and cars and " Pitt taxis " seem likely to put an end 

 to brakes altogether. 



For a subscription pack to be a self-supporting success, it is 

 obvious that the feelings as well as the interests of subscribers must 

 be as tactfully considered as those of farmers. Hunting " brings folks 

 together that would not otherwise meet," and the pleasure of knowing 

 and mixing with other like-minded men is as fundamental a part of 

 the attraction as, in the narrow sense of the term, the sport itself I 

 do not mean by this mere idle gossip. Man is social, and whatever 

 he takes an interest in, he likes to talk about. In any case, new- 

 comers must be made to feel that they are welcome. In ordinary 

 life this is never a difficult matter, but the welcome which one 

 undergraduate extends to another is a very delicate affair, and one in 

 which seniors may hardly dare to intervene. The difficulty is not 



