WITH THE MEADOWBROOK HOUNDS 369 



liovvever grotesque, was but the expression of a principle 

 sutftciently founded. 



As a nerve tonic, to he taken Hke other tonics — local 

 instance in point, the cocktail — just prior to the meal, 

 i.r. to the rci^ular liunting season, I may safely commend 

 a ride over the timber fences of Long Island, New York. 

 I will answer for it that the dose will be found refreshing, 

 stimulating, and appetising. For my part I had tried it 

 once before, and had then swallowed at a gulp what I 

 now accepted on a willing palate. One's first oyster 

 was startling ; one's second was swallowed with more or 

 less gusto. Whether a complete course would ensure full 

 relish must, I fancy, depend in a great measure on the 

 organisation, mental and physical, of the subject under 

 treatment. 



I have before described Long Island, its fences and its 

 mode of hunting. This was two years ago. It is now 

 only necessary for me to repeat that the surface of the 

 country is tolerably flat, the soil for the most part sandy 

 and diligently cultivated ; that for fences the farmers use 

 only post-and-rails of four feet and upwards, and of most 

 uncompromising strength ; and that for foxes the Hunt- 

 management very properly prefer the-man-with-a-bag to 

 a short-running bagman from the neighbouring woods. 

 Thus it is at all times open to the director of affairs to 

 meet all the requirements of occasion. It may happen 

 that it is the first day of the season ; it may happen that a 

 certain number of ladies wish to join in the sport ; it may 

 chance that an inquiring visitor from the Old Country is 

 desirous of seeing how it is all done ; and it may even 

 turn out that the last-named has come as " a chiel among 

 them taking notes." A fair sample of sport and country 

 must at all events be dealt out to him. And here it is, as 

 he now read it, so far as an elegant mite of horse-flesh and 

 his own little mead of capacity allowed him to translate. 



"The opening meet will be at the Meadowbrook Club, 

 and the run will be the best of the season," wrote my 

 friendly host, to welcome me eastward from the moun- 

 tains, and to tempt me to a renewal of an experience that 

 had thrilled me no little in the autumn of 1892 — an ex- 



2 A 



