LEAPING. 



119 



likely himself done in his younger days in some hunt- 

 ing field of the old country, for the ditch before him 

 could have been cleared by an active boy, on his own 

 legs, with a good run. Moreover, it is not improbable 

 that the reader is ready to agree with the old satirist in 

 thinking the young man a " muff." Nevertheless, both 



APPROACHING A FENCE. 



horse and rider might easily have come to grief, for tlie 

 steep banks were crumbly, and while the rider's seat 

 was not of the firmest, his mount was straight in the 

 shoulder and a little stiff in the pastern. However, 

 they were both as well fitted to overcome such a diffi- 

 culty as nine-tenths of American horses and riders, and 



