272 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



driving, a man who had a wife and a motor (but 

 evidently had to cut things pretty fine to run them 

 both) handed me three shillings, saying, ' It is very 

 good fun.' I never discovered whether this remark 

 referred to the wife and motor, the size of the tip, or 

 the partridge-driving. Another sportsman invited 

 me to have a drink, as I thought, from his flask, 

 which was cleared for action. I said, ' No, thank 

 you, sir/ but quickly discovered that he meant a 

 tip. Another man would name the value of his tip : 

 ' A nice day six shillings.' One of my brothers 

 was at a shooting-party where I was keeper. 

 Before we started I handed him a sovereign with 

 which to tip me ; but at the end of the day off went 

 my brother, and my precious sovereign went with 

 him. On two occasions at Christmas I received a 

 cheque for five pounds from employers, one of 

 whom wrote : ' I have been very pleased with the 

 energetic, reliable way you have managed the shoot- 

 ing, and I enclose a cheque for ^5, with my best 

 wishes for a happy Christmas.' 



The meanest method of tipping that ever I heard 

 o f indeed, I should think, that human ingenuity 

 could devise was on this wise : Two young men, 

 sons of rich parents, shot many days on a first-rate 

 shoot without giving the keeper even so much as a 

 ' Thank you.' On Christmas Eve when, if there 

 are any tokens of goodwill and tips to be bestowed 

 on keepers they are usually on the generous side 



