top of gate.]

Also, on pasture land we have need to temper valour with discretion, and
especially after Christmas, when ewes and cows are heavy with young, and
are not in a fit state to safely endure the dual evil of fright and
violent exercise. Later on, when lambs have appeared, it is cruel to
gallop so near these mothers and their young, as to cause suffering.
Sheep are such stupid animals that they appear to have no idea of
evading a crowd; and cattle, as a rule, lose their heads from fright,
and career madly about their fields, sometimes for two or three days
after the sudden passing of a hunt. When a gate is negligently left
open, and the terrified animals avail themselves of this method of
escape, the unfortunate farmer will generally have great trouble in
finding and bringing them back, because they often go long distances,
and he has seldom any means of knowing what route they have taken.
Horses give him far more trouble than cattle in this respect, because
they can travel faster and farther. I have seen ladies who have the
interests of hunting deeply at heart--Mrs. James Hornsby, for
instance--ride back and fasten gates which have been carelessly left
open.

One grievance which lies very near the heart of a farmer, because I
suppose it frequently touches his pocket, is the damage done to his
fences, especially during a check, by people who unnecessarily potter
through small gaps, which, after they have finished, resemble open
spaces. The farmer who has to get them mended speaks very bitterly about
fox-hunting, especially if he has to do the repairing at his own
expense, as he argues that if it was necessary to work a passage in this
manner through his hedge, the field might have been content with one
open door instead of making several. A farmer in the North Cheshire
country was so irate on this point that on one occasion when the hunt
wanted to cross his land, he and his men gave us a welcome with
pitchforks!

A kind of farmer whom I despise is the man that hunts on the free list
and pretends to support fox-hunting, while he keeps his land encompassed
by wire during the entire season! I have known some of these men enjoy
unmerited popularity with the Master, and even take charge of Hunt wire
boards. Their non-hunting neighbours who take down wire and over whose
land they ride with safety, are obviously the better supporters of
hunting, although they may not be able to afford a nag, even if they had
time