MANNERS AND MORALS 149 



who agreed with my view, and were the promoters of 

 Sunday games in their parishes, he answered that if 

 a thing were wrong, even ministers of the Gospel 

 could not make it right. He was in the middle of 

 his argument when we came out from a big copse 

 into a large open space, and created a panic in a 

 multitude of rabbits feeding there. Away they 

 scuttled in every direction hundreds of rabbits, old 

 and half-grown young. Going a little further we 

 noticed our small spaniel sniffing at a burrow. 

 " He's a clever little dog," said my companion ; " he 

 always lets me know when a rabbit is not too far 

 down." With that he got down on the turf, and 

 thrusting his arm in to the shoulder, quickly pulled 

 out a young rabbit, which, after snapping its neck, 

 he thrust into his large coat-tail pocket. Putting his 

 arm down again he pulled out a second one, then a 

 third, and having snapped their necks and pocketed 

 them, he got up and we resumed our walk and our 

 discussion. "No, no," he said. "I'm not a religious 

 man, and don't go to church as a rule, but I draw the 

 line at playing games on a Sunday." 



Then he came to a stop beside a close thicket of 

 brambles and thorn, and began pulling the rabbits 

 out of his pocket. "After all I don't want them, 

 and they are a nuisance to carry," he said, and with 

 that he threw them into the thicket. 



That was my story. 



"We are just as consistent here," said the Cornish 

 clergyman. "The people are religious and strict 

 Sabbatarians ; they go regularly to church or chapel, 



