i 4 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



There are so many tantalising curbs on human en- 

 deavour that it is difficult to reach perfection. However, 

 it is good for us to have practical ideals signposts 

 which point to success even although we find in the 

 long-run that our reach far exceeds our grasp. One 

 thing is certain, that the good keeper seldom stands 

 still, he never stagnates ; his knowledge and his 

 capacity ripen with the years. How many keepers 

 there are who never seem to improve, who gradually 

 forget all they have learned, and become impervious to 

 new ideas, and add to this mental deterioration the slow 

 disease of indolence. The average gamekeeper is the 

 most conservative man on earth. Not only does he 

 nourish the long-practised methods of the shooting on 

 which he is trained, but he is impatient of any sugges- 

 tion that might interfere with his own settled convic- 

 tions. Even the best of keepers is apt to be solid, 

 stable, and stationary. As has been said of the old- 

 fashioned Tory in politics : " Firmly rooted in the past, 

 he draws his nourishment from the traditions of his 

 fathers, submits himself willingly to the constituted 

 authorities of the present, the heritage of the past, 

 and finds his proper field of action in the administra- 

 tion of things as they are. His disadvantage lies in 

 his blindness to the future, and in his systematic 

 ignoring of the principles of change and progress 

 in the universe. When all things are moving 

 around him, from his want of adaptability to new 

 circumstances, he is at last forced to accept un- 



