SPORTING OF THE PAST 



with waterproof aprons — they should go out for 



nurses > 



Perhaps, as years creep on, one is wont to look 

 back on his youthful days and fondly imagine 

 nothing is done so well now as then. Understand, 

 I do not say hunting and shooting are not as good as 

 they were. I do both still, and enjoy them as much 

 as ever ; but there is not so much sport in them, to 

 my mind, as formerly — men are not the hardy, 

 genuine sportsmen they were. 



Horses are much dearer now than twenty, thirty, 

 forty years back — provender also. Where £1 

 would go thirty years ago, you require now nearly 

 £1, 10s.; this alone prevents many men from 

 following their favourite pursuits. 



The time is not far distant when hunting will 

 be given up in England ; railways, the price of 

 land, and the high market prices which must neces- 

 sarily come with an increase of population, are 

 doing their work slowly but surely. The present 

 generation are not likely to witness it : so much 

 the better, for it would break the hearts of some to 

 see the noble pastime of hunting on its " last legs." 

 Waste land, too, is being rapidly enclosed, and what 

 are now wilds, fifty or sixty years hence may be 

 flourishing districts. 



How many country villages are now huge towns ! 



