THE ETHICS OF FIELD SPORTS. 



581 



I have neither the space nor desire to enter into an elab- 

 orate discourse, giving advice to young men as to their 

 duties afield; but a gentleman is the same in the field as in 

 the drawing-room, and when a man is fouijd who is selfish 

 in the field, depend upon it he is so elsewhere, and in busi- 

 ness-life will prove decidedly unpleasant to deal with. 



Many of our greatest minds have found steadfast and 

 undying friendsliip among children of the forest; untanglit 

 they were, and deprived of ordinar}^ edncational advantages 

 — but the solitude of the wilderness, and the purity of the 

 untainted and unpolluted fields and streams, imbued them 

 with lionestj^ generosity, and freedom from deceit. Tlie 

 sportsman, then, will find his greatest happiness in the 

 open air, and his life will be prolonged and bettered for it; 

 and as he wanders through some shady dell, and feels and 

 knows he is alone, he notes the golden bars of sunlight 

 streaming through the clustering leaves, seats himself 

 beside some gurgling brook, and as the birds sing sweetly 

 to him, soliloquizes: "Nature never did betray the heart 

 that loved her. ' Tis her j)rivilege througli all the years of 

 this, our life, to lead from joy to joy; for she can so inform 

 the mind that is within us, so impress with quietness and 

 beauty, and so feed with lofty thoughts, tliiit neither evil 

 tongues, rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, nor 

 greetings where no kindness is, nor all the dreary inter- 

 course of daily life, shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb 

 our cheerful faith that all which we behold is full of 

 blessings." ^ ^ j^ 



