1^2 How I Became a Sportsman. 



course have gone and had the cream of the 

 shooting to himself, and have got as much for 

 what he shot probably as he would get out of 

 me for his trouble ; besides, he was immensely- 

 fond of the sport himself. Now, again, I say, 

 why did he come to me? Because he was a 

 sportsman ; ay, for Ben was a true sportsman 

 at heart, and shot for the pure love of exercising 

 the art of shooting. Believe me, kind reader, 

 when I say, that it is not necessary for a man 

 to be rich or noble to be a sportsman. The 

 same feelings are by nature implanted in us all, 

 and there is many a heart that beats under a 

 fustian jacket with as pure and genuine a love 

 of sport as that which stands behind the sixty 

 guinea breech-loader, or is carried on the back 

 of the three hundred guinea Leicestershire 

 hunter, only he, poor fellow, lacks the means 

 and opportunities of gratifying its desires. 



" One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 



Let it not be thought that what I have just 

 said arises from any cosmopolitan thoughts or 

 ideas ; far from it, for I am a good stickler for 

 the respect due to the different ranks of life 

 which the laws of that same nature has placed 

 us in. 



