THE RENDEZVOUS 129 



fox- hunter,^ yet all he says on the subject is so 

 sensible and just, that I shall turn to his account 

 of fox-hunting and quote it where I can." 



If we have read neither Whyte-Melville nor 

 Beckford (as we ought), perhaps we get our ideas 

 from — 



"We'll all go a-hunting to-day ! 



All nature looks smiling and gay ! 



Let us join the gay throng 



That goes laughing along, 



And we'll all go a-hunting to-day." 



This has not the same ring about it as the others, 

 and experience shows that those who sing it the 

 loudest about 2 a.m. are those who do not hunt, 

 and who have never ridden (and never mean to) 

 over a fence. Surely this fact might be used as 

 an argument, in more ways than one, why all men, 

 let alone soldiers, should hunt ? 



Whether we think of any of the foregoing or 

 not, we cannot, unless we are in a blue funk — 

 nervous in fact — help our spirits rising as we survey 

 the animated scene, and speculate on the possible 

 sport to follow. 



The above are our thoughts regarding the Image, 

 the colour of which — pink — predominates in the 

 picture in front of us. 



Now what about the scarlet of the Real ? 



If we have any eye for a country at all, we can 



scarcely help saying to ourselves of Home Grange 



— our rendezvous — "What an ideal place for 



Infantry defence!" 



1 The italics have been added. 



K 



