A Word as to Gossip 



With thanks to G. F. Underhill 



It often happens that the people whom we con- 

 sider to be our best friends are our worst enemies, 

 and that the people whom we had always regarded 

 as our worst enemies were in- reality our best 

 friends. Especially is this the case in the hunting 

 world. A Master of Hounds, unless he possesses 

 superhuman intelligence, cannot distinguish between 

 his staunch supporters and "the snakes in the grass," 

 who pretend to be friendly towards hunting. I have 

 been told that in many instances this secret hostility 

 to hunting has been caused by the indiscreet con- 

 duct of the Master of Hounds, who has failed to 

 recognize the important social position of the large 

 covert-owners. Admitting my information to be 

 true, surely the secret hostility would be against 

 the Master of Hounds and not against the sport ! I 

 cannot imagine that any one of the large covert- 

 owners who have preserved foxes for us, and whose 

 fathers and grandfathers have preserved foxes for 

 us, would renounce his love of hunting for the sake 

 of some personal dislike. He may use his influence 

 in order to force the Master to resign. In the heat 

 of the moment he may even threaten that he would 

 not allow hounds to draw his coverts, though his 

 listeners know that he would never carry his threat 

 into execution. It sometimes happens, however, 

 that one of his listeners is "a snake in the grass," 

 and the threat is noised abroad. "They say that the 

 Squire won't allow hounds to draw his coverts." 

 The report spreads from the county club to the 

 village alehouse, and is magnified by the literary 

 opponents of hunting in the local press into the 

 bald statement that the Squire is adverse to the 



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