38 THE BEST OF THE FUN 



tenanted), and was enacted, not without some difficulties 

 on the way, past the right of Yelvertoft village to the 

 Fieldside, and to ground just beyond. Half-an-hour 

 thus spent has its charms. I cannot, as the everyday, 

 prosaic historian, consent to allot it such encomium as 

 it drew from a right welcome soldier friend, to-day, taking 

 the first of his sixty days' portion of leave. Neither can 

 I afford to be captious. On the contrary, my little mind 

 often finds amusement even in the littler things of fox- 

 hunting, though I protest I aim ever at refraining from 

 exaggeration in earnest. Constituted and educated as 

 my understanding is, and as is that of many a better 

 man — fox-hunting is at all times a beautiful thing. (I 

 ought to qualify the expression, perhaps, by adding the 

 words " in the abstract," for I don't mean when you are 

 under your horse in a ditch.) But not only is it always 

 pleasant merely to be " out hunting," and enjoyable to be 

 riding to the music of hounds : but if you want to find 

 your fellow-creatures at their very best (socially and 

 congenially), take them as they are to be seen in one of 

 the big hunting-fields of the Midlands on a warm, quiet 

 day like Wednesday last. What mattered it to them that 

 they flung shovelfuls of mud and water over each other ? 

 Is it not universally allowed that, the Meet once over, 

 personal appearance in its minor details is no longer a 

 factor in the enjoyment of the day ? Had there been 

 more vigorous sport, they would have seen less of each 

 other, and the happy conditions of " coffee-housing " 

 would have been unknown for the day. (How do they 

 do, I wonder, in sporting Ireland, on a bad scenting, or 

 a foxless day, where there are no gates and few roads ? 

 It must be terror-striking work, jumping about for hour 

 after hour when hounds are not running !) Had there 

 been less wet on Wednesday, there would very probably 

 have been fewer foxes, whereas there were plenty to be 

 found wherever and whenever wanted. There is hardly 

 a fox below ground this December, save in some 

 occasional gravelly upland. And thus it is that we find 

 foxes in ample numbers in many of the Midland coverts 

 where scarcity was feared during cub-hunting. 



