riety of horsemanship from earliest infancy.

It was a thoroughly democratic assemblage; every one was there for
sport, and nobody cared an ounce how he or anybody else was dressed.
Slouch hats, brown coats, corduroy breeches, and leggings, or boots,
were the order of the day. We cast off in a thick wood. The dogs struck
a trail almost immediately and were off with clamorous yelping, while
the hunt thundered after them like a herd of buffaloes. We went headlong
down the hill-side into and across a brook. Here the trail led straight
up a sheer bank. Most of the riders struck off to the left for an easier
place, which was unfortunate for them, for the eight of us who went
straight up the side (one man's horse falling back with him) were the
only ones who kept on terms with the hounds. Almost as soon as we got to
the top of the bank we came out of the woods over a low but awkward rail
fence, where one of our number, who was riding a very excitable sorrel
colt, got a fall. This left but six, including the whip. There were two
or three large fields with low fences; then we came to two high, stiff
doubles, the first real jumping of the day, the fences being over four
feet six, and so close together that the horses barely had a chance
to gather themselves. We got over, however, crossed two or three
stump-strewn fields, galloped through an open wood, picked our way
across a marshy spot, jumped a small brook and two or three stiff
fences, and then came a check. Soon the hounds recovered the line and
swung off to the right, back across four or five fields, so as to enable
the rest of the hunt, by making an angle, to come up. Then we jumped
over a very high board fence into the main road, out of it again, and on
over ploughed fields and grass lands, separated by stiff snake fences.
The run had been fast and the horses were beginning to tail. By the time
we suddenly rattled down into a deep ravine and scrambled up the other
side through thick timber there were but four of us left, Lodge and
myself being two of the lucky ones. Beyond this ravine we came to one
of the worst jumps of the day, a fence out of the wood, which was
practicable only at one spot, where a kind of cattle trail led up to
a panel. It was within an inch or two of five feet high. However, the
horses, thoroughly trained to timber jumping and to rough and hard
scrambling in awkward places, and by this time well quieted, took the
bars without mistake, each one in turn