74 A Sportsman at Large 



from the unwritten Laws of the game, was sufficient to put 

 the offender quite beyond the pale of his fellow sportsmen's 

 esteem or even tolerance ! 



That is why the grievous lapse (the unforgivable crime of 

 shooting a salmon quite as reprehensible as bowling over a 

 fox) , so disturbed the depths of his soul. I am sure he dreamed 

 of that dreadful fish again and again for years following the 

 committal of the crime. Added to this, he took unto himself 

 the discredit of having lured me, in my innocence, to be the 

 perpetrator in chief of the unworthy deed. 



None was so keen as he at all manner of shooting and 

 fishing. He would brave the elements in their wildest moods 

 in pursuit thereof, and would tramp from morn to night over 

 hill and dale, through dangerous mires and over-rugged Tors, 

 for the chance of a few shots at snipe, which were the favourite 

 marks for his skill. 



But there came a time when his ideas suffered a sudden 

 bouleversement. It was not a religious " call " which pulled 

 him up, but some psychological obsession which caused him to 

 realize that all sport is cruel, and that it is wrong to slaughter 

 the children of the wild, under the pretence that it is necessary 

 so to do, in order that their poor bodies may be served up hot 

 (or cold) for human sustenance. 



So he gave up shooting and fishing and took up carpentering. 

 I have often wondered if he was right ? I have even questioned 

 myself and indulged in unproductive introspection on the 

 question as whether if I had my time over again I would 

 eschew the slaughter of the beautiful creatures of the earth 

 and the waters under the earth. But the answering whisper 

 has been : " These birds, beasts and fishes prey upon one 

 another. If mankind did not foster sport, they would soon 

 be decimated, if not altogether exterminated." 



Anyway, sport, even when indulged in for the sake of 

 slaughter, makes for virility of mind and body. Some 

 Eastern castes which forbid the destruction of life are horribly 

 and persistently cruel to their domestic animals ! 



But right or wrong, there is one class of individual whose 

 arguments in this direction cut no ice with me. Such an 

 one is he or she who, whilst grieving at the cruelty of field- 



