Show FOX HUNTING TING IN ENGLAND on enteria entering tile tiie regent hotel at leavington leamington Lea t the he first object that attracts attention after arter the stuffy old porter who hobbles about to see some one else handle your luggage is a small frame over the smoking coal fire which contains the tile following notice decorated with an oil ol 01 I 1 cut ot of a foxs coxs mask merry MERBY COS HUNTING appoint appointments AND GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT COVERTS december I 1 SO A 1872 at 1045 days meet at miles to yo through thron yli 31 Goldi coto cote house IL 11 and loxley tu mi radway badway grange 12 Tach bk and kineton kineston Kl Ki neton W 7 warwick and stratford road boad th red bed H hill ill lil ll il 11 13 warwick and snit sait 1 F peb pebworth rth ag warwick and stratford NORTH at 11 it solihull Soli soll hull huli it warwick and hatton tu 2 lillington th olgh abbey 4 on Kei kel allworth rold bold F tile hlll hill 9 by Kenil kenilworth worth werth castle cany caLY at 1015 31 naseby nashby 20 an and rugby bugby tu haxe Haxo beach 31 Dunc burchand crick W dingley 33 by and P bransley Cr ansley X maidwell mai Mal dwell S swinford 19 and rugby bugby at ii 11 ill yil coombe 12 Bubben bail ball and welston Wel wei ston W 0 coventry and nu neaton neaten F brink drink M and 8 corley 11 stoneleigh Stone au an I 1 coventry at 1045 M X fenny penny compton 12 radford and ladbrook tu trafford bridge dridge 19 southam ani and th tb hellidon gellidon Hel He lidon lUdon 14 southam and phi ory ery 0 marston S steeple claydon 49 40 ga gaydon adon and banbury twenty two meets in the week all within easy reach by road or rail letus lotus let us dine and decide at table we leave the menu to the walter waiter but lot jet him bring for consideration during the me meal al the tile list of meets brinklow station twelve miles that seems the most fei feasible thing in the catal catalogue ogile for tho mor morrow rowand and who has not heard that tile the atherstone is a capital pack but then tile ii I 1 i even oven better knowland know kilow nand the tra train in reaches readies rugby in time for the meet let et the choice bo be decided with the tile help of coffee and cigars and possible advice during the soothing digestive half hour in the me sin smoking okin g room dinner over wander away through the tortuous dim passage that leads to the sombre hall where wb re alone in english inns tile the t twin win crimes of or billiards and smoking are arc permitted ermit ted and while writhing under uner er the furtive glances of the staid and middle aged east indian who evidently knows you foran A american merl meri and who is your only companion decide with your nations ability to riach reach conclusions without premises whether it should be pytchley or atherstone dont ask your neigh neighbor boh lie is an E englishman rig ilg li and have we not been told that englishmen are gruff reticent men who wilo wear thick shells and whose warm hearts can be reached only with the knife of a regular introduction however you must make up your mind what to do and you need help which neither the waiter nor the porter can give the tile gentlemanly clerk does not exist in england thank heaven and you have not yet learned what an invaluable mine of information boots is faithful useful help belp helpful ful rul and serviceable to the jast degree I 1 salute him with gratitude for all he has done to make ilfe lire in english hotels almost easier and more homelike than in ones own house Itis it is sago safe to advise all tra travelers celers to make him an early ally to depend oil on him to use him almost to abuse him and finally on leaving to remember him film not yet having como conic to know tile tilo boots I 1 determined to throw myself oil on the tender mercies or of my stern silent c companion and I 1 very simply stated my iny case my bly stern silent companion was an exception to the rule and lie he told me all ali it I 1 wanted to know and more than I 1 knew I 1 needed to know with a cordiality and frankness not always to be found among the genial smokers of our awn wn hotels liot ilot els eis his volo was in favor of the atherstone as being the most acceptable thing for the next day ford the veterinary surgeon of leamington leavington Lea had on oil several occasions ca done good service for friends who had gone before me over the hedges badges of north warwick shire and I 1 went to him for advice about a mount here I 1 found I 1 had made a mistake in not engaging horses in advance to get a hunter for the next day would be impossible but he would do what he could for fora a few days hence all lie he could promise for tile the morning would be to lend me a horse hors e of his own a thoroughbred mare not up to my weight but tough and wiry and good for any amount of road work he kindly volunteered to arrange for our going by the first train to coventry only a couple of miles from brinklow it turned out to be nine mile mlle mi iesso lesbo lesso aso yso that wo we should arrive fresh on the ground at seven in ta the ae morning he be came to my room to say that everything was arranged and that I 1 should find the mare at the station in an hour swallowing wing a glass of milk as a stay stomach my usual habit babit I 1 put myself for fortne forthe we first time since the war wat ended into breeches and boots and drove to the station on a turnout turn out stood a horse box I 1 one of the institutions of england a three stabled freight car for the transportation of horses paying five shillings for a horse ticket to coventry only twice the cost of my own seat I 1 saw the mare snugly packed into one of tile tiie narrow stalls and made fast for the journey passing through a beautiful farming country we came in due duo time to the quaint old town of coventry where several horse boxes coming from bimi birmingham and other stations were discharging thein their freight of well bred hunters As we rode from this station mother hard shelled emril EmIll englishman sliman silman iu in brown top boots and spotless white leather ieather breeches accosted me pleasantly I 1 e a santis re reminding binding me that we rafat had d come fruin iruin london together lier ller tile the day before aud and staking cas tas as he lie had recognized mo me for au an A american meri merl if lie he could be of service to me pray how did you know that I 1 am from america only by your askine if you should change cars at rugby bugby an englishman would have said gear cear ear carriages J very well I 1 am glad my earmark was waa no greater can carl you direct me to an hotel w where 11 ere I 1 can weta geta get a bite before I 1 go on certainly you will find the angel very comfortable take the next street to the right and arid you will soon reach it good morning it is nine miles to the meet and i I 1 will move on slowly command me if I 1 can ean help you when you conie come up I 1 did find I 1 tile tiie angel comfortable as what english Engli sll sli inn is not and arid soon fortified myself with cold pheasant and sli bil sherry erry erny a compact and little burdensome repast to ride upon served in a cosy old oom by the neatest and most obliging of handmaidens hand maidens on oil the road I 1 fell in with 6 ling glida groups of horsemen in red coi oats ts and black coats leather ieather leat lier ller breeches ree ches and cord cords white tops and laek blaek lack all neat and jaunty and all wearing the tilo canonical canonic ai stovepipe stove pipe hat my little mare was br brisk iskand and I 1 had llad to no hard riding to save her for so I 1 pass passed eda edn a dozen or more of the party getting from each one some form or other of pleasant recognition and finally from a handsome young fellow oil on a very spicy mount excuse nie me are you going to 0 brinklow 2 yu must turn to the he right tiu tilt I 1 n nl C ishmon ilion thought 1 1 where is their traditional coldness and reserve and I 1 reined up for a chat my ary companion came from tile the vicinity of birmingham like so many of ills his class he be devotes three days a week to systematic hunting and lie he was as enthusiastic as an american boy could hav have 0 beadle beanie been bead in 15 telling me mcall all ali J Y wanted to know about the sport to get pt hold hoid or of a grown man who had llever liever never gelin gelia seena foxhound seemed s teemed iw an event for him and my firs it instructions were very agreeably taken ran past the beautiful deer stocked park of coombe abbey where the kree green gree m gra grass of a moist december and the thick clustering growth of allem all em bracing ivy carried the flesh husn hue of our summer over the tilo wide lawn and to the very tops or of tile tiie trees about tile the grand old house tile tiie few villages on our way were neither interests inte interesting resti 1 nor or pleasant beasant lea iea sant but the thatched farmhouses farm lioums houses and cottages and the and the charming fields and aud and hedges were vere all that could have been asked I 1 I 1 and then the roadsides and the stiles stile sand and tile the foot paths and the look of age and richness of the well kept farms ami arul again a aad ifil everywhere the ivy clinging fast to each naked thing and clothing it with luxuriant beauty there is in all our hearts an inherited chord that thrills in the presence of this dear old home of our race not this sport and not these scenes but the air the tone the spirit of it all these are as familiar to our instincts as water to the hen brooded blooded duckling brinklow station has the modern hideous nees nega and newness of railroad stations stations everywhere in country neighborhoods and it was pleasant to leave it behind and follow the gay crowd down a sloping and winding road into the real country again amin and into a handsome and via iii well weli ell eli kept park beyond which thero there stood a fine old house of some pro tension and well set about with terraced terraced lawn and shrubbery a charming english countryseat country seat r here my eyes were greeted with the glory of my first meet anda and a glory it was indeed pictures and descriptions had bad suggested labut they had only suggested it this was the reality and it far exceeded my anticipation uhe the grounds were fairly alive with a brilliant company of men and women happy and hearty and just g gathered for the days sport red coats white b breeches r clies ciles arid and top boots were plenty and the neat holiday air of the whole company was refreshing and delightful scattered singly and in groups mounted on foot and in carriages were a couple coupie of hundred people of all ages and of all conditions chatting from the saddle and over carriage doors lounging up and down the drive or looking over the hounds the company were wele leisurely awaiting the opening of the ball they had come from a circuit of twenty miles around and they appeared to be mainly people who habitually congregate at the cover side throughout ghou t the hunting season and to bo be generally more or less acquainted with each other the element of col coi was not absent but co boquett quett Y Is ii appal apparently bently not a natural product of the english soil and iund that sort of intercourse was not conspicuous the same number of handsome young men and women would b be C more mor 0 demonstrative at a similar gathering Ingin in america A similar gather ing ng however would not be possible in america we have no occasion loii on which people of all sorts come so freely and so naturally together interested lna ina in a traditional and national sport which is alike open to rich and poor and meeting not for the tile single occasion only but several times a week winter after winter often for many years noblemen gentlemen farmers manufacturers professional men s snobs n 0 cads aads errand boys everybody b 0 ta in short who cared cured to come seemed to have the right to come and so far as the hunt hudt was concerned seemed to bo be on in an equal footing of course the poorer element was waa comparatively alland sm mainly from the immediate neighborhood bo the of a hunt are seldom below the grade of well to todo odo o do farmers servants from the house were distributing ments riders were mounting their hunters grooms were adjusting saddle saddie girths gerths two fiery animals were being quieted and there was gerl geri generally bially an air of preparation about tho the wh whole ole oie asse assemblage rrb age A little at one side kept well together by tho the him fan an and a couple of in were tho the hounds the atherstone paek pack ack about forty of them twenty couples strong limbed large eared party colored whole some looking fellows they attracted much attention and elicited frequent commendation for they were said to be the very finest pack in england as was also aiso each of the three other packs that I 1 saw to the unskilled escand simply viewed as dogs dogg they were not remarkable but it was wag a case in which the judgment of an unskilled person could have no value th tho the e horses appealed to me tile much more strongly certainly I 1 had never before seen to together ether the tile same number of the maln same e average excellence and some of them were fit to drive one wild with envy there was on the who wholeness leless of the blood look than would be expected bya by a man who had got his ideas of the hunting field from leechs drawings but there wasa was a good deal of it nevertheless everth eless and in its perfection too and where it was wanting there was plenty of bone to make up for it at eleven the hounds were led out to the cover and the whole field followed slowly and irregularly and at some distance there were about ono one hundred bundled and fifty mounted for the hunt perhaps one third of these wore scarlet coats white breeches and top boots another third had bad black coats and some of them black clack boots hoots and the remal remainder rider riden of the field was made up of half a dozen ladles ladies a few stout old gentlemen of seventy or so on stout old cobs of discreet age little boys on smart ponies farmers and tradesmen and their clerks mount on they could get and men of every intermediate grade and with all sorts of horses A certain amount of rinn riff grafl not mounted at all but good on their tins eins pins and ready for a run were hanging about for a chance to pick up a whip or a hat or catch a horse or brush a muddy coat or turn an honest shilling in anyway any way that might efrer offer in the te chances of the day some of these fellows rigged out with the castoff cast off clothing of their betters sported red coats coati black blaek velvet caps and leather leggings one added to 0 all this gorgeousness the refinement or of bare feet the hounds were taker taken into the cover a brambly tangled wood nearLy near by which had llad probably been pla pia planted and made a little wilderness to serve as a cover for foxes they soon found a fox drove him to the open and followed him out of the wood with a whimpering sort of ti a cry which was disappointing after the notion that the full cryor cry of the books had bad g given iven and which is herd in the very different fox hunting of our southern woods the run lay up a hill several fields w wide ide and across an open country one bold rider not not a light one mounted on a staving black blaek horse home went to the right of the cov coveland erand made a splendid leap up hill overa stiff looking lookin ir hedge and lauded at the tail tall of tib tio the e pack the master and his assistants had got away with the hounds the rest of the field went to the left waiting their turns through a farm gate once through some twenty of them dashed up hill cleared a clever hedge bedge and kept the pack in sight the rest took an easier place where a farm laborer had pulled away the stakes by which a gap had been filled here hero there was very much light |