Steeplechase Riding 2 1 5 



any effort, nay, without any volition of his 

 own, he sailed gaily through the blue em- 

 pyrean, absolutely clearing the ditch and 

 merely brushing the fence beyond, as he 

 alighted on terra firma once again ! Noth- 

 ing, apparently, could have exceeded his own 

 astonishment at finding himself where he was ! 



And now for one of the most important 

 parts of the steeplechase rider's equipment, 

 nerve. 



Before we reached the mature ao;e of 

 twenty, of course we all scoffingly answered 

 the question of what was want of nerve, in 

 the one T\^ord " Funk." 



But it is not funk, nevertheless. When 

 we are very young at such pursuits as steeple- 

 chase riding, we are, for the most part, so 

 gloriously ignorant of the danger, that we 

 rather rejoice at a roll over than otherwise. 

 Later on, when we become alive to the fact 

 that we are engaged in a somewhat risky 

 pastime, the consciousness of it may momen- 

 tarily unsteady us, and this we call ner- 

 vousness. One of the boldest and best of 



