CHAPTER IV. 



THE OPEXIXG DAY. 



TVr Monday, Novem- 

 ber 5tli, the season 



was, according to 

 time -honoured 

 custom, formally 

 inaugurated at 

 Kirby Gate. As 

 with our birth- 

 days, each recur- 

 ring occasion 

 brings a less sense 

 of self-congratula- 

 tion than the one 

 before. Not that each opening meet is not in itself a 

 welcome event — but there Is the afterthought that 

 another item has been entered against our very limited 

 credit, and the account cannot go on for ever. Never 

 mind—" Chal'k it up ! Clial'k it up ! " Mynheer of the 

 scythe and hourglass. Rip Van Winkle never troubled 

 himself about his score — nor recked the leap of Time. 

 Why should we ? 



