2i8 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



If a weak keeper gets among such a set as this he 

 succumbs ; and the same cause hastens the moral decay 

 of the constable. The latter has a most difficult part to 

 maintain. If he is disposed to carry out the strict letter 

 of his instructions, that does not do — there is a prejudice 

 against too much severity. English feeling is anti- 

 Draconian ; and even the respectable inhabitants would 

 rather endure some little rowdyism than witness an 

 over interference with liberty. If the constable is good- 

 natured, and loth to take strong measures, he either 

 becomes a semi-accomplice or sinks to a nonentity. It 

 is difficult to find a man capable of controlling such a 

 class ; it requires tact, and something of the gift of 

 governing men. 



By contact with bad characters a weak keeper may be 

 contaminated without volition of his own at first ; for we 

 know the truthful saying about touching pitch. The 

 misfortune is that the guilty when at last exposed 

 become notorious ; and their infamy spreads abroad, 

 smirching the whole class to which they belong. The 

 honest conscientious men remain in obscurity and get 

 no public credit, though they may far outnumber the 

 evil-disposed. 



To make a good keeper it requires not only honesty 

 and skill, but a considerable amount of ' backbone ' in the 

 character to resist temptation and to control subordinates. 

 The keeper who has gone to the bad becomes one of the 



