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Title: The Sportswoman's Library, Vol. 1 of 2

Author: Various

Editor: Frances E. Slaughter

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The Sportswoman's Library.

Vol. I.

[Illustration: _THE MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER._]




THE SPORTSWOMAN'S LIBRARY.

EDITED BY FRANCES E. SLAUGHTER.

VOLUME I.

[Illustration]

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND OLD PRINTS.

WESTMINSTER:
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.,
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS,
1898.

       *       *       *       *       *

DEDICATED
BY PERMISSION TO THE
MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER
A KEEN SPORTSWOMAN AND WIFE
OF ONE OF THE FOREMOST
SPORTSMEN OF THE AGE.


BIRMINGHAM:

PRINTED AT THE GUILD PRESS, 45, GREAT CHARLES STREET.




THE SPORTSWOMAN'S LIBRARY.

Vol. I.

Contents.


Preface.

1. Englishwomen and Sport                The Editor.

2. Fox Hunting                           Mrs. Burn.

3. Hare Hunting                          The Editor.

4. Shooting                              The Hon. Mrs. Lancelot Lowther.

5. Fishing for Tarpon                    Mrs. Murphy-Grimshaw.

6. Archery                               Mrs. Berens and Miss Walrond.

7. Skating                               Miss May Balfour.

8. Golf                                  Miss Starkie-Bence.

9. Croquet                               Mrs. Spong.

Appendix A. Golf Rules and Glossary.

Appendix B. Croquet Rules.




PREFACE.


When I look at the completed MSS. of the first volumes of the
_Sportswomans' Library_, I feel deeply grateful to the many good
sportswomen who have aided me in my work, not only for the great stores
of practical knowledge they have brought to bear on the several subjects
of which we have treated, but for the way in which they have
collaborated with me. For this my warmest thanks are due to them one and
all.

The object we have placed before us, is to give women the information
and help they are not likely to find in those books, which are written
chiefly from a man's point of view, and we have therefore avoided, as
far as possible, trenching on ground that has been already adequately
covered by those who, to sportsmen and sportswomen alike, are the best
authorities on the various subjects. If, therefore, our writings
sometimes seem to be wanting in completeness, it is, I venture to
think, to be attributed to this cause.

When I first gathered round me the body of contributors, some of whom
were personally unknown to me, I could but feel that the many threads I
held in my hand might prove to be a very "tangled skein," before the
work was brought to completion. This foreboding, however, I am glad to
say, was entirely without foundation, for each writer threw herself into
her part with such genuine determination to do the best she could for
the _matter_ of her work, that the minor details as to the _manner_ in
which it should be given to the world, did not assume undue proportions,
and there has been nothing to throw the slightest shadow over the
harmony in which we have worked. That the effort we have thus jointly
made to give some help to our sister-sportswomen may be successful, is
to wish the writers the best reward they can have, for the labour they
have bestowed.

Besides my fellow workers, I have a debt of gratitude to discharge to
all who have so kindly assisted me in my work. Foremost among these I
must acknowledge the valuable help given by Lady Gifford, Mrs.
Pryse-Rice, Mrs. Cheape, and Miss Lloyd, of Bronwydd, without whose
assistance I could not have ventured to write on the subject of
Hare-Hunting: by Mr. T. F. Dale, author of _The Game of Polo_, whose
great practical knowledge of sport has made him an invaluable referee on
many important questions: by another good sportsman, Captain the Hon. R.
C. Drummond, who generously gave me the benefit of his advice on matters
which have been a life-long study to him: by Elizabeth, Lady Wilton;
Lady Theodora Guest, Lady Gerard, Lady Dorothy Coventry, Mrs. Wrangham,
Mrs. T. E. Harrison, Miss Serrell, Mr. C. H. Bassett, late Master of the
Devon and Somerset Staghounds; Mr. Ian Heathcoat-Amory, Master of the
Tiverton Staghounds; Mr. W. L. Wyllie, A.R.A.; Miss Maud Earl, Miss
Walrond, Mr. Cuthbert Bradley, Dr. Lewis Mackenzie, Miss Florence
Ritson, and Mrs. Dudley Smith.

I must also acknowledge the help so readily given by Mr. Charles
Lancaster, and Messrs. Holland and Holland, on the sport with which
their names are so closely connected, and I must thank those
photographers who have exercised their skill on our behalf, viz.:
Messrs. Lombardi and Co., who, from the first, have helped us largely;
Messrs. Lambert Weston, J. Weston and Son, Stuart, Becken, and A.
Debenham.

My thanks are also due to the Proprietors of _Baily's Magazine_, _The
Field_, _The Gentlewoman_, and _The Lady's Pictorial_ for the use of
blocks which have been re-produced in their pages.

Lastly, I must discharge the debt of gratitude I owe Messrs. A.
Constable and Co., for the unfailing courtesy I have met with at their
hands, and for the hearty way in which they have thrown themselves into
the interests of the book.

Whether we have all succeeded in our object, viz., to give clear,
practical directions to women in the several out-door recreations of
which we have written, it is for our readers to determine, and on their
verdict will depend the extension of our plan to other branches of
sports and pastimes.

To the great body of sportsmen, who so far have held almost undisputed
sway in the realm of sporting literature, I would plead:

            "Softly, my Masters!
      Do me this right--hear me with patience."

                             The Editor.

Beeding,
March 31st, 1898.


[Illustration: _Lombardi and Co. 13, Pall Mall, East._

MISS FRANCES SLAUGHTER.]




ENGLISHWOMEN AND SPORT.


In all ages of the world's history, women have taken part in the
out-door recreations in which men have ever delighted, the extent to
which they have joined in these health-giving exercises being regulated,
by the amount of freedom and independence allowed to the sex, by the
unwritten laws of the spirit of the age. In a consideration of the
subject that is rather suggestive than attempting to deal with the
matter in any final sense, we can perhaps trace in the easiest way the
position held by women in the world of sport, at different epochs of our
history, by seeing how the subject was regarded by the authors of the
period.

[Illustration]

In the romances of the middle ages--to go no further back in our
researches--sport for all divisions of the upper classes of society was
regarded with a favourable eye. The nobles, the superior clergy, and the
dames of high degree had their deeds of prowess in the field extolled by
the literary lights of the time. For a noble not to care for hunting was
considered nothing less than a disgrace, while the clergy were expected
to require the relaxation of the chase, and to them was given the right
to hunt in their own parks and enclosures. Of this privilege they seem
to have availed themselves to some purpose, as at the time of the
Reformation the see of Norwich is said to have possessed no less than
thirteen deer parks. The wives of the nobles and those who ruled over
the religious houses for women, seem to have had an almost equal amount
of liberty in sharing in these recreations, and in organising hunts for
themselves. The doings of these gay dames--for the religious habit seems
to have made but little difference--are extolled by the poets, and if
the feats recorded of them are true, they must not only have been
accomplished horsewomen but very keen and determined huntresses. On
many occasions, we are told, they organised hunting parties, "winding
the horn, rousing the game and pursuing it by themselves." Nor, in spite
of what it is the fashion of the present time to say of that period of
our history, do the stay-at-home embroidery-loving dames come in for the
same share of praise at the hands of the old writers.

In hawking especially women were proficient, and one scribe even tells
us that they excelled their husbands and brothers in the knowledge and
exercise of the art of falconry, from which, however, he deduces the
ungallant conclusion that the pastime was to be regarded as "frivolous
and effeminate."

At the time of the great revival of letters, the art of falconry was at
the height of its popularity, and both in England and in other countries
of Europe it was the rule for women of noble birth to train, handle, and
fly their own hawks. It was the seventeenth century which saw the decay
of this sport as a royal and aristocratic amusement, for though in the
early years of the age it was still the most popular form of recreation
in the field, by the time the following century had dawned it was all
but extinct.

After this, during the eighteenth century, there is no doubt that the
prowess of women in the field suffered an eclipse, and the few bold
spirits who from time to time broke through the trammels that restrained
their less enterprising sisters, were regarded with a certain amount of
suspicion and distrust. To come to the days when the writings of Sir
Walter Scott opened up a new field of enchantment to his readers, we
know that his creation of Di Vernon needed excuse at the hands of the
author for her sport-loving tastes, as the presumption was against her
being a true specimen of the "womanly" woman, in the best sense of the
word.

Whyte Melville, entirely devoted to the chase as he was himself, is yet
doubtful of the place of his heroines in the hunting field, and in his
well-known novel, _Kate Coventry_, he seems to consider it a reasonable
condition on the part of the man Kate is about to marry, that she should
give up hunting when she becomes his bride. In the pages of Surtees,
which give such a vivid picture of the fox-hunter's life in the first
half of the century, the woman who hunts is nearly always an
adventuress, while in the social sketches of Trollope sport has no place
in the life of his otherwise charming heroines.

[Illustration]

But gradually and surely women once more made good their position in the
realm of sport, one of the early books to take a decided line in this
matter being, I believe, a little-known novel entitled _A Matched Pair_.
In this book which was published anonymously, a young man and woman who
have kindred tastes, are brought together through their common love of
hunting, and an amusing instance of the prevailing spirit, is given at
their wedding breakfast. When the hour is drawing near for the departure
of the bride and bridegroom, news is brought to the latter that the
M.F.H. of the country has met with an accident, which will keep him from
the saddle for the remainder of the season. The lady of course is told
the news, and she receives the suggestion that their honeymoon should be
given up, in order that her husband may stay and hunt the hounds, with
the most obliging readiness. This incident I give from memory, as it is
now many years since I have seen the book. The strangest thing about the
incident, perhaps is, that such a truly sporting couple should not have
delayed their marriage till the end of the hunting season.

It is during the last ten years that women have come to be reckoned as a
power in the land, in the matter of sport, and it is now a matter of
course for the novelists of the day to make their leading
women-characters of almost all classes, join in some one or more form of
out-door recreation. Vivid pictures of the hunting-field, the banks of
the salmon river, the croquet lawn and the golf links, show the love of
the nineteenth century maid and matron for the healthy out-door
exercise, which has given to the younger generation a physique that
would have been regarded with wondering awe, not unmixed with
disapproval, by their gentle and delicate great-grandmothers.

In a bird's-eye view, too, of the course of our history, we may note
that at the time of the absence of the great body of the nobles in the
Holy Land in the days of the Crusades, the women, so many of whom had
been left in charge of the castles and lands of their lords, came very
prominently forward in the domain of sport, as well as in the social
life of the period. On the return of the warriors, this liberty seems in
some degree to have been curtailed, and whether this is to be attributed
to any undue exercise of freedom during their time of independence, or
to the fact of the minds of their lords and masters having been effected
by the Oriental ideas as to the conduct of women, does not seem very
clear.

[Illustration]

The restraint however was but temporary, and when the highest place in
the land was filled by a woman, and "Queen Bess" ruled her subjects with
a judicious determination none could gainsay, her humbler sisters shared
in the reflected glory of her fame. Elizabeth herself, as we all know,
was an ardent sportswoman, and took the keenest delight in a run with
hounds, or a trial of skill with the cross-bow, long after she had
passed the age, at which even modern Dianas are wont to retire from an
active share in the fatigues of the hunting-field.

The reign of Queen Anne on the other hand, although the Sovereign
herself and the members of her court were lovers of the chase, seems to
have had a distinctly depressing effect on the independent position of
women. It was not till the present century, when our beloved Queen by
her conduct on the throne, and in her private life, gave such a stimulus
to the position of her sex, that women came forward to take their share
in the sports, as well as in the more serious duties of our national
life, in a way that was new in the world's history.

That the young Queen whose every act was eagerly copied by her girl
subjects, could have ridden after hounds as she did in the early years
of her reign, without having many followers, is not to be supposed. Thus
indirectly--for Victoria's early succession to the duties of a sovereign
left her but little time for the enjoyment of the lighter side of
life--Her Majesty's example has probably had not a little to do with the
increased love of sport among the women of the present day.

In the history of sport, therefore, as in other departments of our life
as a nation, the name of Victoria will be remembered as the great
benefactor of women, by having given them larger, truer conceptions of
life, and by opening to them spheres of usefulness and pleasure which
the deadening influence of the eighteenth century, seemed to have closed
to them for ever.

The Editor.

[Illustration: _Speight. Rugby._

_MRS. BURN._]




FOX HUNTING.


"My dear young lady, you would enjoy your hunting so much more if you
would _only_ watch the hounds!" I once heard a Master of Hounds say to
an eager young woman whose only aim and object seemed to be to get on.
Such indeed was her anxiety to do this that she was quite oblivious of
the fact, she was meanwhile riding the hounds off the line. The M.F.H.
quoted being one of the finest huntsmen in England, I have remembered
his words. For it is simply wonderful to think of the hundreds upon
hundreds of people in Great Britain, who hunt regularly week after week
in the season, and who never "watch the hounds!" Talk and chatter when
they draw, gallop of course and jump--most probably--when they run, but
"know what they are doing?" _No._

And yet to anyone who is really fond of hunting, the greatest charm of
all is in watching the hounds and in taking an intelligent interest in
the hunt itself. Not that this interest is given to all, for crowds come
out, some because they can afford it and it is the right thing to do,
some to see their friends, and others to _ride_, and lastly some, not
many, to _hunt_.

These last have generally been "bred to it," as a man would say, and
have the love of hunting born in them, and so they are able to enjoy
themselves when others do not. For even though the scent be bad, and
they "cannot run a yard," these few will take a pleasure in watching
hounds really hunt, and will hug themselves with delight as they
distinguish old Rhapsody feather up a furrow away from the rest till she
can assure herself that it is right, and then with a note like a bell
bring all the others flying to her cry, till one after another they pick
up the line and proclaim that it is good.

Part of the charm of hunting is the beauty of its surroundings. I know
nothing prettier than the different scenes of a hunt. To watch the
hounds put into covert, to stand at a corner and see down the ride the
huntsman's red coat and all the hounds round him, among the brown
leaves on the ground and the dark trees in the background is simply a
picture, and time after time in each hunting day such pictures appear,
and delight the eye. Then the joy of listening to the cry, and not only
the cry, for it does one good to hear the huntsman cheering the hounds
in covert, especially if he has a good voice and can blow a good note on
his horn.

Even the smell of the dank leaves turned over as the hounds rustle
through them is delightful, and like all loved scents it brings back
more than anything else the days of long ago.

I never go out cub-hunting now without that scent bringing back to me
the old days at Brigstock, when my father[1] hunted the Pytchley hounds.
In Spring and early Autumn we always went to the Woodlands, for the
Woodland Pytchley had not then become a separate pack, and I once more
seem to see him, long of leg and lithe of limb on the raking chestnut
mare, and hear his cheery voice drawing those great woods. And as I
listen to his view halloa I feel a thrill run through me, and in fancy I
see them striding down the broad grass ride, while the hounds fly to him
from every side, and with an "over, over, over, over," which simply
make one shiver, he cheers them over the ride, while they swing to the
right and crash into the covert with a glorious burst of music like a
chime of silver bells. It is odd how these things remain in one's heart.

[Footnote 1: Colonel J. Anstruther-Thomson.]

"Wire and silence" will be the end of hunting, so he says; he being my
father whom on all things venatic I firmly believe.

I suppose hardly one "hunting" woman out of every hundred who go out,
ever know how many couple of hounds there are out, or think of counting
them while the Master sits outside the covert blowing them to him. Yet
this is interesting in itself, and if you know the hounds personally all
the more so, as you watch them come tumbling through the fence by ones
and twos and go smiling up to their huntsman's side, with a satisfied
expression as if they were saying "here I am anyhow."

[Illustration: _ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF WILTON, ON WILLOUGHBY._]

Hunting in the provinces has that great advantage over the shires, that
you have fewer people out, and consequently you really can take an
interest in the hound work and watch what they are doing, and when they
run you can keep your eye on them all through, and ride to them, whereas
in a fashionable country you get cramped up at a corner of a covert with
three or four hundred people hemming you in, behind a narrow gateway may
be, hardly wide enough for one horse to get through at a time. Your
horse probably gets frightened in the thick of the fray, and tries to go
backwards instead of forwards, the man's horse in front of you has his
ears back and a ribbon in his tail, while those behind keep cramming on
with cries of "_Get_ on, _do_, or else let _me_ come," so by the time
you have sniggled yourself through this turmoil, hounds have slipped
away and are out of sight. You may then ride for all you are worth, but
you probably will never see the _hounds_ again until they kill, or at
any rate check. So you must e'en be content with galloping in the wake
of somebody else's back, and trust to luck that he is going the right
way, but it is dull work compared to picking your own places and using
your own head to get to hounds the shortest way.

Of course the country in the shires makes up for almost anything, and to
stride away over the pasture lands of Leicestershire or Pytchleydom, is
truly the realisation of the "Happy Hunting Grounds." After you have
once learned to find your way over a cramped country, intersected with
lime and mortar walls and barbed wire, in Scotland, or after you have
scaled the heights and fathomed the depths of the banks and drains in
Ireland, then to go down for a hunt in the shires is a holiday worthy of
the name. "Call this a ditch?" you exclaim inwardly as you flick over an
English fence, after encountering those gruesome dykes in Meath. True, I
only hunted in Meath one season, but my private verdict at the end of
the time was, "a splendid education, but an awful experience as far as
the fences are concerned." But then I do not like a ditch I cannot see
the bottom of, especially when it has sheer cut-out sides which every
person in front of you makes bigger and bigger. I also have a vivid
recollection of seeing several top hats (nothing else) wandering up and
down on the level of the ground, as other brave souls went at those
ditches and cleared them and their contents, human, equine and all. This
was on a pleasant spot in Meath, known as the "Bush Farm," and I don't
mind saying that for appalling fences I have never met its equal, and
devoutly trust I may never come in contact with its superior, unless I
am mounted either on a bird or a balloon. But for sport it was
undefeated, and the beautiful old turf was a pleasure to ride on. A
great blessing too it is having no ridge and furrow, for really
sometimes in England, the Bay of Biscay "is jokes" compared to the
ground you ride over. The continued galloping up and down is so hard on
horses, and though of course one knows the dodge of taking them
slantways, still it is not half such fun as swinging away over smooth
grass.

One thing about Ireland--and when I say Ireland, I am thinking only of
the county Meath, for I have never hunted with any other pack over
there, barring one day in Kildare--is that a pony can get over it. It
will creep about and jump like a cat, and cross the country as it never
could in England. Then, too, people do not seem to hurt themselves so
often when they fall over there, and that no doubt is because they ride
_slowly_ at their fences, but then how one misses the gates. It is
almost impossible to believe at first that there really are not any, but
the cruel fact is proved time after time, till at last you are forced to
own that it is only too true.

Scotland, some years ago, before so much wire crept in, was as good a
school as need be to teach anyone how to get to hounds. You sometimes
had to crawl and creep, and sometimes to jump a bit of timber standing,
perhaps uphill in a corner, or an awkward place under a tree, with
generally a wire somewhere through it or standing handy by, and it is a
great thing to _learn_ where there are difficulties, for it teaches you
to use your head, which is as important out hunting as it is in daily
life. Yet how few people seem to hunt with their heads. As long as they
can gallop and jump in sight of someone else's coat tails, there are
many who seem to be quite content, and will assure you they enjoy their
hunting immensely.

But this is not the _real_ way.

To use your own judgment, to have a quick eye to hounds, and as they
turn and swing to cut off the corners, to save your horse by choosing
the weak places in the fences and the best going in the fields, this is
the science of riding to hounds. Yet very few know how to do it, and
fewer still have the gift of being able to make a horse gallop. In a
crowded country where everything depends on your getting a start much
also depends on this.

To be _strong_ on a horse is given to few, to ride light to very few,
and yet to be a really good horsewoman one ought to be both. It is
pretty to see a really good man or woman riding to hounds. How they keep
flitting along to one side of the pack, never seeming in a hurry, but
always moving on, down the furrows and over the gaps, and those who try
to catch them will find they are always in front and generally clean.

One great thing to learn, and especially I think for a woman, is to go
quietly and not to splash. One hates to see the women of a hunt always
on the gallop, going from covert to covert across the fields. It looks
so much better, and _is_ so much wiser to trot quietly over them than to
go helter skelter past everybody else, probably squelching muddy water
over them as you go, and incurring the condemnation of the opposite sex,
who, if they are sportsmen of the right sort, will seldom be seen
bustling between times.

Not only to ride your horse quietly, but to _be_ quiet yourself is also
an advantage. I shall never forget once in Leicestershire, after an
almost blank day, the whole field was drawn up to one side of a small
spinney by the road, and all our hopes of retrieving the day lay in our
getting a fox away from the far corner of the wood. All who understood
the importance of keeping quiet were dumb, and we could not help feeling
a little bit bored by one good lady, who in strident tones gave an
exhaustive history of her aluminium watch. Her listener would evidently
have gladly cut her short had his manners been less good, and the rest
of us wished heartily that both she and her watch were at the bottom of
the sea. Poor lady, she hunted with the greatest regularity several days
a week, but she had never learned the _why_ of things out hunting.

Then there are what may be called the "let _me_ come" women--those who
have to gallop at their fences because they dare not go at them slower,
and if anybody happens to be before them think it necessary to shout. I
know, of course, that opinions differ as to riding fast or slow at a
fence, though personally I hold to the latter, and cannot help thinking
that people who always ride at them fast are afraid to do so any slower.
Certain it is that a horse will jump a place more surely and more
cleverly if you give him time to see what he is going at, and most of
them can jump very much bigger places even standing than people
generally give them credit for. If you take a pull to steady your horse
when you are a little distance from your fence, you will probably
arrive at the other side far more collectedly, and be striding away
again over the next field, before others who allow their horses to
gallop on right up to the fence are near you. They are going too fast to
notice the grip before they arrive at it, and consequently their horse
takes off from the wrong leg and lands like a star-fish in the next
field, then stumbles, pecks, and recovers again before he is once more
set in motion. All this takes time and tires the horse, moreover should
the luckless animal thus ridden fail to recover from the stumble and
peck, he will give his rider a far worse fall than if he had gone at it
slower.

"Hands" of course have everything to do with the niceties of riding, and
"hands" cannot be taught. But, after all, _thinking_ has a great deal to
do with good riding, and if people would but remember that horses are
not machines, that they _do_ feel and their poor mouths _are_ sensitive,
it would go far towards improving their horsemanship and hands. I am
sure that half the falls we get are due to our own faulty riding, though
we all know how we say if our horse falls with us he is a stupid brute
for doing it, yet if the same mishap should occur while a groom is on
his back, it is then _he_ who gets that title for letting him down. We
read sometimes about people "lifting" their horses, but I do not know
what that means. One must _trust_ them to a great extent, and any
interference at the critical moment is most likely to land them head
over heels.

I remember hearing a well-known coper say to a friend of mine who could
ride a runaway horse without being even pulled, "Ah, but then you've got
the fingers." I once tried to explain to my sister that she must "carry
her own hands," and she laughed at me for telling her to try and make
them be like soufles. "Anything will pull if you pull at it," I have
often been told, but it is _not_ easy to be like a soufle when you are
going forty thousand miles a minute, skew-ways on at a double wire fence
with a river in between.

How women long ago could possibly ride across country without a third
pommel is a mystery to me. Yet we are told they went well. I cannot
credit their having been able to ride anything but patent safety horses,
for one needs all the strength the third pommel gives to steer an
awkward horse along, though of course one's knee should hang below it in
the ordinary way of riding. I believe the great tip in women's riding is
to ride off the right leg. So much strength is to be got out of pressing
the leg against the saddle flap, and it is noticeable what a much
prettier seat those have who rise in trotting off the right thigh than
others who laboriously rise out of the stirrup.

[Illustration: _LANCER, IRISH HORSE._

(_Property of Mrs. Burn._)]

Another thing that often strikes me is how few women carry their stirrup
foot in the right place. The proper position for the left foot is to
hang in a straight line from the knee, with the foot easy in the
stirrup, not pressed against it, but home in it _I_ think, though I see
many who only touch it with their toes. It is pitiful to ride behind a
woman and see the sole of her foot sticking up at the back, yet some
find they get their grip in this way, so they tell me, the grip which
_should_ come from the pressure I mentioned before, of the right leg
against the saddle flap.

A well-known woman to hounds was once pointed out to me as a wonder on a
horse. So she was, very good; _but_ if she had ridden with a spur she
would have been killed long before, for she rode with her toe out and
her heel pressed against her horse's ribs. Why many women have not
broken their necks before now I do not know. Those who ride with a loose
rein, for instance. I once saw a gallant girl galloping hard across a
heavy plough, with her reins hung over one finger. It may have been
smart, it certainly was brave, but the sad thing was it showed her
ignorance so patently that one pitied her from the heart, and her horse
still more, for had he not been one of the cleverest in England he must
have tumbled her head over heels.

Women out hunting should take their chance with the rest, and never
trade on the chivalry of the opposite sex, for this is what makes them
unpopular in the hunting field.

If they are not brave enough to take their own place at a fence, they
must be content to wait their turn at the gap or gate. If they are wise
they will keep on the very _outside_ of the crowd in a gateway, as they
will pass through quicker like that than if they go straight into the
mass of struggling humanity, which will probably jam them out the more
they try to get in front.

If you hunt, be ready to help other people, "and do unto all men as you
would they should do unto you."

Don't let a loose horse gallop past you, because you happen to be a
woman, but _catch_ him. Always do what is wanted promptly. If the
Master says "hold hard," or only holds up his hand, "stop." It would be
very bad form for a woman to lead the way on such an occasion by going
on, as the Master cannot so well tell _her_ what is in his heart, as he
probably would if the delinquent were a man. If you should make a
mistake and earn a reproof, hold your tongue, and remember an M.F.H.'s
life is not a happy one, and there is more to worry and aggravate him
every hour of every hunting day, than his field ever dreams of. So
instead of feeling angry at his speaking to you, be sorry that you have
deserved it. Remember too that most people out hunting are exactly like
a flock of sheep, so if you show the way over a seedfield for instance,
or by unnecessarily jumping fences when hounds are not running, your
example is very likely to be followed, and the result will be damage
done and consequent trouble.

Women are more generally accused of riding jealous than men, but real
good sportsmen of either sex will never think of such a thing. Of course
being "alone with the hounds" is a pleasure that cannot be denied, and
there is an uncontrollable feeling of joy when one happens to be among
the favoured few who get well away. But that is more because it gives
you a better chance of being with hounds, and more room to ride, than
when you are surrounded by hundreds of people hustling and bustling all
over the place. Live and let live, is just as sound a maxim out hunting
as elsewhere.

Always make way for the huntsman at a gate, over a gap, or wherever it
may be. Let him pass, for it is his proper place to be with his hounds.
Always too, wait for dismounted men. If anyone has to get off to open a
gate or break down an impracticable place, cut a wire, or for whatever
cause it may be, pull up and wait till he is on again. For remember no
horse will stand still to be mounted while others are galloping past
him, though strange to say few people seem to think of that. It is
rather hard on a man after letting you through a gap or gate to see you
gallop away, leaving him to struggle with his impatient horse which
assuredly will give him little chance of getting on again in a hurry.
Possibly you might be able to help him by holding his horse's head till
he is up. There are so many little things like this that can be done
quietly, by a woman being quick to see what is wanted, and just being
helpful without being officious.

If you arrive first at a gate, open it, and swing it back for the
others, that is to say, if you are sure you won't make a mess of it, and
only keep the whole crowd waiting while you fumble helplessly between
your whip and the latch. If you think you cannot open it, do not try,
but pull back and let somebody else do it for you, and so save time. No
one will thank you for it if you get in the way, and then only fumble.

It always distresses me to hear men saying, as alas, they often do, and
very often I fear with every excuse, "a woman of course," or, "a lady as
usual," when a hound has been kicked or a man jumped on. It is so
unnecessary, for why should not a woman use her brains as much as anyone
else out hunting.

I remember once hearing of a lady, who had not much experience, and was
mounted on a kicking horse. She stood among the crowd in a gateway with
her horse kicking viciously at everybody near, till at last an
exasperated man could bear it no longer, and remonstrated, saying,
"Really, Mrs. Smith, do you know your horse is kicking most
dangerously?" "Oh, yes," she replied with an innocent smile, "I know,
but I assure you I don't mind." Such innocence is sweet, but out
hunting it is as well to remember to turn your horse's heels to the
hedge, and his head to the hounds when they are coming past you, and if
your horse kicks to keep out of the crowd. For the sake of all other
women who hunt, do not risk their reputation by doing a stupid thing, or
not doing a kindly action whenever you get the chance, and try never to
give anyone an excuse for wishing that women should not come out
hunting. That warning shout of "seeds," or "young grass," in an agonised
tone from the Master himself, is too often unheeded by the hard riding
woman who has not taken in the fact, that in her anxiety to "show them
all the way," she is careering alone across a newly-sown field, while
the rest of the people have gone round on purpose to avoid doing damage
to the land. It is extraordinary how few people take such a state of
things in, but it is as well to know young grass or sown wheat when you
see it, and having seen, to avoid riding over it as much as possible,
also to shut the gates behind you if you can, and in all ways to try to
keep friendly with the farmers, for on them depends the continuance of
hunting.

Now a word on the disagreeable subject of falling and getting into
difficulties. In the latter case I hold with the words of Solomon, who
said, "Their strength shall be in _sitting still_," and he generally
talked sense, though perhaps he was not thinking of hunting when he made
the remark. Anyhow, the best thing under difficulties is to keep your
head and sit still. Take your foot out of the stirrup, so that you may
get clear away as soon as opportunity offers and good sense dictates. A
good thing is to kick your foot free of the stirrip before you get into
the mess, if you think it at all likely to occur. It is well to be as
free as possible, and not to meddle with your horse's head, for he will
probably be as keen to set himself straight again as you are, if he only
gets the liberty to do so.

One can but speak from experience, and my own is this, that since I
learned to ride slow at my fences, I have not had one-third of the falls
I used to get before. By riding slow, I mean taking a pull about three
or four lengths from the fence, and getting your horse to go steady and
_look_. When once you are over, you can go striding away again as fast
as you like, and so not lose your "pride of place." Indeed you are far
more likely to keep it in that way, than if you gallop over your
fences, for before long the _over_ will relapse into _through_, and then
it will be only a question of time how soon you will measure your length
on the ground.

Of course one is bound to fall sometimes, however good the horse,
however good the horsewoman. Blind fences, wire, a wide place on the far
side, or the sun low so that it catches your horse's eyes, are all
pretty well bound to knock you over, and then the main thing is to fall
clear. Nowadays we are mercifully seldom hung up, thanks to our safety
skirts and safety stirrups, without both of which no woman should, in my
opinion, be allowed to hunt. It is wise to minimise the dangers of
hunting as much as possible, and I think that in one's clothes and
saddlery for hunting, everything should be as plain and as _safe_ as
possible.

[Illustration: _COMET._

(_Property of Lady Gerard._)]

I believe myself in Champion and Wilton's safety stirrup, and dislike
hunting on a saddle without it, though some people "crab" them, and say
they come off at the wrong moment. If indeed this does happen, the
stirrups must require mending, or else the movement of the rider has
caused the leather flap which protects the bar to rise, which of course
will set the stirrup leather free. But this is obviously not the
stirrup's fault. I also like the arrangement on the off flap, so that
you can tighten your own girths, for it is nonsense to say that women's
girths should "never need tightening." They need it far more than men's
as a rule, and if you can pull them up a hole or two after a gallop,
yourself, it is a great convenience, and much better than making some
unfortunate man, or his groom, fumble about at a buckle covered with mud
below the horse's body, as on other saddles.

As for the safety habits, I believe in the apron skirt, for in that you
must fall clear. I have tried several so-called safety habits, and have
been hung up both on the near and the off side, but since I took to the
apron I have had no more danglings. Of course the drawback to the apron
is its appearance off the saddle, when it is certainly too scanty to be
becoming. I have, however, overcome that difficulty by having an extra
"modesty," made of the very thinnest serge, which I always carry under
the near flap of my saddle, so that it does not show, and yet when I get
off to ease my horse's back, I can put it on and feel quite independent
and happy. I therefore commend this plan to others, as being far
handier than buttoning the extra covering inside their habit skirt, and
much nicer than going without altogether.

Women, as a rule, are not particular enough about the way they put their
boots on. Though they would be very much surprised if they saw a man out
hunting with the tags of his boots sticking out, they seem to forget
that anything wrong in the way they are put together, is sure to be
noticed, and that it is only when our clothes are right that they
attract no attention. One should always study, therefore, to be neat and
clean-looking beyond everything.

I know many men assert that no woman should ever wear a spur. Of course
they are chivalrous enough to add, because women should never ride a
horse that needs one. Such a state of things would indeed be delightful,
but as there are some in the world still, who would rather go out on
anything than not go out at all, and that "anything" is as often as not
a refusing brute of a hireling, as cunning as a monkey, I cannot agree
with the opinion. In saying this, however, please note I do not mean by
a spur, that horrible sort of a dagger which works with a spring, and is
commonly sold as a "lady's spur," for of all the dangerous and cruel
inventions, that is about the worst. I mean the ordinary small man's
spur, with the rowels blunted, and of course this should only be worn by
those who know how to use it, never by a beginner, or indeed by any but
a really fine horsewoman, for if the foot is not carried in the right
position you are sure to touch your horse with it unwittingly, and if
you make a mistake you will probably have to pay for it. If your horse
is very hot and eager, too, you will be better without it.

One of the most useful things for a woman to learn, is to be able to get
on her horse off the ground by herself. If you cannot do this, you are
so utterly dependent on the kindness of the long-suffering man. It is
very easy to learn, if you have any spring in your body. You simply put
your left foot in the stirrup, catch hold of the cantle of your saddle
with your left hand, and the pommel and reins in your right, and up you
go. Be careful, however, not to knock up the flap over the stirrup bar,
if it be a safety, in doing this, or out it will come, and down you will
flop again. Of course the main thing is, that your horse should stand
still and allow you to mount. A horse is generally so tactless about
this, he will fidget and dance and never give you a chance, but, by
taking the off reins up short in your left hand, you have at least so
much control over his curvetting, that by pulling his head away, you
make him turn his body and saddle towards you. But mind in doing this he
does not trample on your toes, which he is very likely to do.

Of course you should always try to get your horse on lower ground than
yourself, and if he is still too high, you must let down the stirrup
until you can reach it. Always try and sandwich your horse between
yourself and a fence or house, so that he cannot revolve round and
round, as they are so fond of doing at the critical moment. Try, also,
not to tickle or kick him with your toe, after it is in the stirrup, as
that will probably induce him to kick you off before you are safely on.

It is really a marvel how few men can jump a woman on to her horse
properly, and how few women go up as they should. The operation is quite
easy, if only the man can be persuaded to _stand still_ and merely give
his hand a little heave upwards. The majority of men who do not know, no
sooner feel the foot on their hand than they count hard and run
backwards towards the horse's head, carrying the unfortunate woman's
foot with them. Thus, instead of sending her up, dragging her down till
the whole thing ends in a wild struggle, she clinging round the pommels
with her chest, chin, and arms. Too degrading an exhibition. If the man
will stand still and take it quietly, and if the woman will just spring
off her right leg and straighten her left knee, she will arrive in her
saddle gracefully and lightly, and the man will not have felt her weight
at all. It is best to come to a thorough understanding with the man
before you begin, as to when he expects you to spring. If this is to be
when he counts three, or as soon as your foot is in his hand? Do not in
any case allow him to have hold of the hem of your skirt with your foot.
Unless this is free it will hold you down, and a sort of
Jack-in-the-box-performance will begin. You spring and the man's hand
remains inert, then he jerks up your left foot when you are standing
stolidly on the right, and generally the end of all is that you arrive
in a heap on your saddle, and finish by kicking the man in the face.

How to have a quick eye to hounds? Yes, how? But I do not know. It is a
gift which few have, and most people have _not_. To keep looking out
for the hounds in front and all round if you are _not_ seeing them, and
to keep your eye on the leading hounds if you _are_ in that lucky
position, to notice every turn and be quick to turn with them, to cut
off the corners and go the shortest way, a sort of anticipation without
anticipating, that is all I can say about it. Never ride exactly
_behind_ the hounds, as if they check you are thus sure to hustle them
on over the line and incur the wrath of the huntsman besides spoiling
your own sport and everybody else's. Ride either to one side or the
other of the pack, down wind for choice, about forty yards in their
wake, so as to give hounds plenty of room to swing or stop, should they
come to a check.

As there is hardly one woman in fifty or a hundred who can go her own
line and pick her way all through a run--or perhaps it would be more
courteous to say _I_ do not _know_ many who, if put down in a country on
an ordinary hunter alone with the hounds, could find their way into and
out of ten fields in succession; it is as well for most women to have a
pilot. First, though, ascertain that the man is willing to accept this
onerous position. Then be careful _to give him room_, not to ride in his
pocket or get in his way, and above all things to give him time at his
fences to land _or fall_ without jumping on him.

[Illustration: _MISS SERRELL ON COLLEEN._]

When you have once chosen your pilot, obey him. If at a gate or in a
crowd, or for any other reason, even if you do not understand it, he
should want you to go first, _Go!_ Nip through quickly and quietly, and
don't keep others waiting whatever you do. Take your turn whenever it
comes, and take every chance that offers without hanging back, which
hinders other people, and without hustling, which annoys them. In fact,
if after you have achieved being _quiet_ out hunting you succeed in
being quick, you will have begun to grasp the situation.

It is as well for your own comfort and that of other people to ride sane
horses as far as in you lies. I once had a ride on an insane one, and it
was far from satisfactory. It was perfectly immaterial to that horse
whether he arrived at his fence with his head or his tail foremost. Now
it is not a pleasant sensation to waltz round and round, or to find
yourself bounding backward towards an impenetrable black bullfinch and
at the last moment to whip round and swish through or over as chance
befalls. It was rather like having a hunt on a wild cat, for I never
knew where or how he intended either to take off or land, but he would
not fall, though the bridle _behind his ears_ was a mass of mud and
grass, after one double distilled peck into a boggy field.

Of course a woman has not half the strength on a phlegmatic horse that a
man has to "gar them gang," as we say in the North. A man can squeeze a
half-hearted one over a fence, where a woman would be simply powerless
to do anything, and I think the worst sort of a horse a woman can ride
is a refuser. It is bad for her in every way, for body, temper, and
nerve. One can forgive a horse everything if he will but try, but a
sulky or funking brute, who grows more and more slack as he nears each
fence until he collapses at the brink, is too high a trial, especially
when the fight which must come generally ends in rearing, which is of
all things most dangerous for a woman.

I once had a racehorse given me, which had been spoiled in training,
with the temper simply of a fiend. In racing, he never would try, but
always shut up just when he ought to have won with ease, for to give the
devil his due--and he _was_ one--he could gallop. That horse out hunting
was simply purgatory; he could jump like a stag, which was the most
irritating part of the whole thing, and sometimes he would gallop and
jump with the best for a few fields, then all of a sudden collapse,
stop, dig in his toes, and that was the end of my hunt, for no power on
earth after that would induce him to go _forwards_. Backwards he would
go all round the field, with intervals of rearing. I saw him fall
backwards twice in one day, when one of the whippers-in was riding him,
because he refused to go through an open gate.

Riding a refuser does I think teach one to be strong on a horse; but is
it worth it? You can always acquire strength to a certain degree by
riding different horses, which is a far more agreeable form of
education, and much more interesting than always sticking to two or
three of your own. For a beginner, of course, it is necessary she should
above all things have confidence in her horse that he will carry her
safely, so that when she finds one she had better stick to him. A made
hunter in the prime of life with nice manners, easy paces, and good
temper is the horse for her, for he will carry her safely without
fatigue, and for that there is nothing like the action of a
thoroughbred, whose low, slinking stride hardly makes one rise. A woman
should not ride too big a horse for her size, as a great stride is very
tiring, especially when hacking on the roads. One of the greatest
luxuries is a smooth hack, and if you wish to keep warm on your way to
the meet, then, instead of driving, to canter along the grassy sides of
our English roads on a thoroughbred polo pony, is one of the most
delightful sensations in life.

The ideal hunter would be neither too young nor too old. For the young
one will be too brave, if he is bold by nature and ridden by a keen
beginner, he will with his rider probably come to grief through want of
discrimination. The old hunter will fall short, in the sense of being
too cunning to jump one inch bigger than he need; moreover when he falls
he will not pick himself up as quickly as he might. Therefore if, when
riding him he falls, you do not happen to be "top side" your peril will
be prolonged, though mercifully horses are mostly kind and really try
not to tread on one or hurt one if they can avoid it.

It is more than foolish ever to jump a tired horse, it is unfair, for it
he is fond of hunting, horses mostly are, he will jump as long as he
can, so if, after a long run he refuses a place, _take the hint_ and go
home.

No one knows better than I the lonely feeling of being obliged to pull
up in the middle of a good run because one's horse is beat, "while the
merry chase goes heedless sweeping by." But if you have only one horse
out, it is hopeless to compete with more fashionable souls who are on
their fresh second horses, so it is really wiser to make the best of a
bad job, and though you feel it hard, go home. Your horse will come out
again the oftener, too, and you can enjoy a hunt but little, if you know
you are asking more of your horse than you ought. A tired horse, too,
makes a tired rider, and _that_ makes a sore back, and then--where are
you? Talking of going home and tired horses, reminds me that if you are
at all far from home it is best to put your horse in a public, or some
friendly stable on the way, and give him a drink of gruel, for this will
freshen him up and make your ride home all the pleasanter. Perhaps it
would be as well to mention how the gruel should be made, in case you
should ever have to do it yourself. Thus, place two double-handfulls of
oatmeal in a bucket, pour boiling water over it and stir until it
becomes a thick cream; then pour cold water till cool enough for the
horse to drink, which will be when it is about blood heat. Should your
horse be very done, add a pint of ale or a little gin, to revive him.

The ride home is now shorn of some of its terrors, by the saddles which
let you sit downhill. What a boon these are, for one used to suffer
anguish, jogging for miles on the old-fashioned saddle whose pommels
rose higher than the seat, so that your knee was almost under your chin,
and the consequence was a pain between the shoulder blades, which made
you long for rest. Oh! those long jogs home. Miles and miles at hounds'
pace, on a rough or tired horse. How I used to pull up and walk, and
then gallop to catch up my father, he jogging even on, even on, all the
time. I can hear him now answering my complaints with, "nonsense, child;
it rests one all the way."

[Illustration: _GONE TO GROUND._

(_PORTRAITS OF FOUR B.V.H. PRIZE WINNERS._)

(_From a picture by Basil Nightingale, in the possession of Lady
Theodora Guest._)]

Perhaps I am a Sybarite, but I do like to drive both to and from
hunting, and to have a second horse out completes my joy. An open cart
with a polo pony to drive, is to me better than all the broughams in
Christantee. To drive on in the morning through the soft damp air that
smells like hunting, with hopes running high for the sport to come,
seeing the tiniest second horseman jogging on with the biggest of
horses, everything makes one feel the joy of life. And when the day is
over, to slide off your horse and send him home, and turn in yourself to
a bright fire, and tea and poached eggs, at some little Inn by the way,
is most comforting. Then you wrap yourself up in your fur coat and
woolly gloves, and tuck yourself in to the rugs, and bowl away home in
the twilight, with the stars twinkling above you, and the blackbird
chuckling his good-night, while the pony trots his best in the
anticipation of oats to come. A pleasant sense of healthy tiredness is
upon you, which serves to make you appreciate the comforts of your
drive, as you sit there cosy and warm, dreaming of the happy day that is
done.

R. M. Burn.

[Illustration: _Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street._

_LADY GIFFORD AND HER HARRIERS._]




HARE HUNTING.


This sport has a peculiar interest for women inasmuch as they are able
to take a leading part in it. With foxhounds, the duties of the huntsman
are too arduous, even though a woman M.F.H. has not been unknown in the
past. But to the Lady Salisbury of venatic fame who hunted the fox
manfully over Hertfordshire, we may refer as the exception that proves
the rule, for few women would feel they had the physical strength for
the task.

With harriers, however, the case is different, for in the first place
the little hounds are very handy, and the hunting of the hare is a sport
which should above all things be conducted quietly. The less holloaing
and noise there is with them the better, for the hounds should be
trusted to work out the puzzles set them by the hare, with as little
interference as possible. Of course hare hunting may be turned into a
poor imitation of fox-hunting, by racing a hare to death with 22-inch
foxhound bitches, but this is not true sport in any sense, for it gives
the quarry little chance of saving its life, and should be
discountenanced by all lovers of the chase. Apropos of this subject,
there was in a certain harrier country a great, flat-sided, long-legged
hound which attracted the notice of a sport-loving stranger, as being
evidently too fast for the pack. In all innocence this visitor remarked
to the Master, "I suppose you will draft that hound?" To his
astonishment the Master, with an expression of horror and indignation,
exclaimed, "Draft him, why he is the best hound I have. He kills more
hares than all the rest put together." The visitor said nothing, but he
knew the kind of sport that lay before him.

To leave the travesty of honest hare hunting, let us turn to the more
pleasing subject of how the chase should be carried on, and here at the
threshold we may pause to recall the names of those women, who of late
years have carried the horn and hunted their own hounds. Mrs. Cheape,
the Squire of Bentley, has shown good sport for many a year, first with
the Wellfield Beagles, and since 1892 with the Bentley Harriers with
which her name is so intimately connected. Mrs. Pryse-Rice became M.H.
only two years later, having started her pack in 1894, and last season a
third name appeared in our hunting lists, when Lady Gifford took the
field and carried the horn with her harriers. Great success has attended
both the kennel and field management of these enterprising sportswomen,
and when we come to consider the history of their efforts, we shall see
that they have proved the fitness of women for the duties in which they
themselves have excelled. Lady Ileene Campbell too, before her marriage,
proved herself fully equal to the hunting of her brother Lord
Huntingdon's celebrated pack in Ireland, the Duchess of Newcastle at the
present time enjoys the pleasure of hunting her little pack in the
neighbourhood of Clumber, while Mrs. Briscoe in Ireland whips in to her
husband's hounds, and Miss Lloyd of Bronwydd does the same to her father
Sir Marteine Lloyd's famous pack of beagles in South Wales.

As we have already said, there should be no fuss and bustle in the field
with harriers. When hunting them you should never interfere with them
unless they are entirely at fault, and then you should have some
definite idea of where the hare is gone, and should know, or think you
know, something the hounds do not. There is no cracking of whips wanted
in this sport. A touch on the horn, or, better still, a low whistle--if
you possess this accomplishment which to many good sportswomen is
denied--should bring your pack round you, and you should then slowly
trot off in the direction in which you think you will pick up the line.
If you view the hare, as you often will, squatted close to your horse's
feet, do your utmost to prevent the hounds getting a view, for it is the
destruction of good sport with harriers for them to view the hare till
within a few moments of the end. The hunting should be done fairly and
honestly, inch by inch, till the quarry has been run down. Any hound,
therefore, that is given to staring about for a view, I would draft, or
make a present of to one of those packs which holloa, mob, and course
hares to death.

[Illustration: _MRS. PRYSE-RICE'S KENNELS._

(_WOODMORTON CHARITY AND WILFUL._)]

Foot people who as a rule come out largely with harriers will of course
holloa, and in some cases when they receive no encouragement to do so,
but their too noisy zeal should be steadily discouraged, and while you
show every willingness to let this part of the field see sport, you
should let it be known that you wish for, and expect silence from them.
If your wishes are not respected, I should then advise you either to
take hounds home, or trot right away for two or three miles before you
look for another hare. No woman should attempt to hunt hounds who has
not the resolution to keep her field--both mounted and unmounted--in
proper order. You may indeed--for it is very hard for some men to
believe that a woman can understand hound-work--be troubled by
suggestions from your field, which they would never dream of offering if
a man were carrying the horn, but most women will know how to meet such
cases with the courteous indifference which will protect them from
further interference. An instance of this has lately come to my
knowledge. A lady M.H.'s pack was drawing for a hare on some moorland,
and it was evident to her that hounds were on a very stale line, but
were slowly working it out foot by foot. This was not very amusing to
her field, and at last the farmer who owned the land went up to her and
said that hares never worked the way hounds were going, and asked if
she would not cast them up the moor. The M.H., however, answered quietly
that while she felt sure the farmer knew the run of his hares, she
thought the hounds were close on their's, and that in another moment or
two it would get up in front of them. The words were scarcely spoken
when up got the hare, and the worthy mentor had to sit down and ride for
all he was worth, for she ran as only a moorland hare can, and hounds
had a fast forty-five minutes before they ran into her in the open.

Quietness and trust in her hounds are the two qualities without which no
woman can hunt a pack successfully. This brings me to the subject of the
hounds themselves, and though it may seem rather like putting the cart
before the horse, to speak of hunting them first, yet it is certain that
no one will find the hounds of much use until she knows how to handle
them. The first point of course to decide is the kind of hounds you mean
to have, whether dwarf foxhounds, stud-book harriers, or the old pure
harrier.

[Illustration: _H. E. Coles. Redditch._

_BUXOM, BENTLEY HARRIER._

(_Winner of Champion Cup, Peterborough. 1897._)]

The pure harrier has undoubtedly the advantage in tongue, but though
good music is a charm it is not so necessary with harriers as with
foxhounds, as the former are generally in sight. As against this they
have, unless very carefully bred, a lightness of bone and a tendency to
splay feet and flat sides. Here again, however, we shall see presently
what the experience of those who have taken the matter in hand has been.

Dwarf foxhounds are only to be recommended in countries where hares are
bold and strong and go away like foxes, for most countries they have too
much drive, and will be continually flashing over the line, and if you
compare the hunting of one of these packs in an ordinary country with
that of good stud-book harriers, the balance of sport in the long run is
sure to be with the latter. What the foxhounds gain in speed they lose
in the tendency to over-run the line. And now we must face the question
of what a stud-book harrier is. A pure harrier, with an infusion of
foxhound blood some generations back, so that now the hare-hunting
instinct of the former, and the good feet and shoulders of the latter
are combined in the shapely, compact, little harrier to be seen taking
the prizes at Peterborough, is, I suppose, about as good a description
as we can have. The nose and the patience characteristic of the good
old-fashioned hare hunting hound are necessary to good sport, and that
power of hunting a cold scent down a road, which they transmit to their
descendants, is a most useful one. But the make and shape which will
enable them to stay through a long day's hunting, and a certain amount
of drive which adds greatly to the sport, come from an infusion of
foxhound blood. Then, after at least three generations devoted
exclusively to the chase of the hare, we may hope to get the happy mean
between the drive forward on the one hand, and the pottering and towling
on the other, in which lies the pleasure and success of hare-hunting.

When you have got over the preliminary difficulties of starting a pack
you should draft down your hounds till you have as level a lot as
possible, 18-19 inches being about the general standard. Larger hounds
than these will smother the hare, and smaller ones cannot get over the
fences of any ordinary country. The ultimate aim of everyone is, of
course, to have a level pack, as otherwise, no matter how good the
hounds may be, they can never have the smart appearance in the field so
dear to the sportswoman's heart. I would always prefer to have even two
or three couples short, than to spoil the look of the pack by having out
hounds either too large or too small. It is not in any case desirable
to have out a large pack to kill hares, from eight to fourteen couple
being quite enough for any country. Some twenty couple of good stud-book
harriers then in kennel, will be enough for you to have a smart
workmanlike lot of the requisite number in the field, two days a week.

There are no hounds so full of faults, both of make and disposition, as
harriers, and it is never an easy matter to buy a pack ready made. The
best way, therefore, to begin is with unentered drafts from known
kennels, such as the Boddington, the Aldenham, and the Bath and County,
and then to breed and buy as opportunity offers.

I would remorselessly draft hounds that do not throw their tongues, and
this in spite of the fact that mute hounds are often good in other ways,
and the rest of the pack will fly to a trustworthy one directly it
begins to feather on the line. This recalls the amusing hypothesis
recently made by a brilliant writer on sport, that hounds have a system
of signalling with their sterns, analogous to the "flag wagging" of our
army. Did the original idea of signalling, this writer asks, come to
some gallant officer while he was watching hounds feather on a scent? If
not, many will agree that the system _might_ have originated in this
way.

But to return. Worse hound faults, even than muteness, are jealousy,
skirting and babbling, any one of which should be at once met by
drafting. The last--babbling--is incurable, but the other failings often
appear in good hounds after they have lost their pace. As these habits
are very catching, the only remedy is to draft the hounds directly they
show symptoms of them, and you will find that you need to be constantly
drafting from the head and tail of your pack, and you will be wise to
keep few hounds over four seasons.

The first thing in the training of hounds is to get them perfectly handy
and under control, and to do this will mean time and trouble. You must
win their affection, and consequently must spend much time with them,
both in the kennel and on the road. In this way you will soon get to
know the character of each hound, and you will take out the docile ones
first in couples, and then when you can trust these, the wilder and more
headstrong hounds. You should take notice of the hounds continually on
the road, speaking to them of course by name, and your whipper-in
should be ready with his thong whenever it is wanted. Not that the whip
should be much used, this will not be necessary if you study your
hounds' dispositions, and treat each one according to the peculiarities
you have noted. But all the same, chastisement should be prompt for any
attempt at rebellion after due warning given, and then you must harden
your heart to the piteous cries that will follow. Always keep a watchful
eye on the hounds when you have them out, and never let them break away
if you can possibly help it. If, however, such a thing does happen, it
will add greatly to your comfort it the ringleaders be transferred at
once to another kennel. At the same time when on the road, or out for
exercise, you should give hounds plenty of room, for it is bad for them
and certainly does not look well, to have them packed close round your
horse's heels.

Never under any circumstances take a pack into the field before you are
sure that their discipline is perfect. Till the hounds know you
thoroughly you should drill them whenever you go into the kennel. Let
them greet you while you make much of them, for it is thus that you will
win their hearts, but, this over, it is a good thing to make them "lie
up," and not to let them venture to leave the bench till they are called
by name. Then you will call first one and then the other, making much of
the obedience and readiness shown, and rewarding the hounds with
biscuit. If you mean to hunt the hounds yourself, you must go to the
kennels daily, and in any case it is always well to see that the
servants are sufficiently careful in preserving perfect cleanliness and
sweetness, both with the hounds themselves and in the kennels. It cannot
be too much insisted on that cleanliness rigorous, absolute and
complete, must always prevail. This is quite practicable, and no excuse
should be accepted as to its failure in any one particular. A good
disinfectant such as Jeyes' Fluid, and constant vigilance on the part of
the kennel-man, are all that are required.

[Illustration: _WOODBINE, WELLFIELD, BUXOM,

BENTLEY HARRIERS._

(_W. West_, K.H., _with Three Champion Winners_.)]

If you have a good kennel-man, it is not necessary for you to feed
hounds yourself, but you should frequently inspect the food, as even the
best servants are apt to be careless in this matter. If, however, you
study economy and only have a lad in the kennels, then you or some
member of your family should always see to the feeding of the hounds.
The food may consist of horseflesh and old oatmeal, with a few biscuits
and some bone-dust, and this diet I should say would be found the best
and cheapest in the end. This, however, is a matter in which each hound
owner will use her own judgment. There are of course various ways of
cheapening the diet, but I cannot honestly recommend any of them. On the
care in the kennel depends the sport in the field, and without health
and condition in the hounds you can hope for no good days. Far better to
have a less well-bred pack, or an inferior country, than hounds which
are out of sorts and condition. This reminds me that whenever you go
into the kennel you should have a watchful eye for the slightest
symptoms of a dull or heavy look in any hound, and order such to be
separated at once. A healthy hound should be clear of eye and bright of
coat, as well as bright and cheery in manner. If you are in doubt about
the health of one of your pack, remember that the pink of the mouth is a
great sign of health, while paleness and yellowness about the gums is
the reverse.

Quite the worst part about keeping harriers, in my opinion, is the
constant drafting of the hounds. Perhaps in the case of some old
favourite which you know has taken to skirting and hanging on the line,
you overlook the faults and refuse to part with him. But what is the
result? You find the younger hounds are becoming demoralised, and
reluctantly are forced to recognise the truth of the verdict, that
harriers should be drafted in their fifth season. It is only the few of
exceptional constitution and strength to whom this does not apply, and
so you have constantly to be hardening your heart to send some old
favourite away.

There are only two points on which I need touch further, and these are
your assistants in the field, and the treatment of the quarry. For the
first you should have two whippers-in, one an amateur and one a
professional, and though as long as things go right they will not be
needed, they should always be ready in case of riot, or when hounds are
nearing forbidden territory. For though harriers will do no harm in a
country if they are properly managed, it is well to remember that
M.F.H.'s are tenacious, and covert owners are ready to take alarm.

A question that has to be faced is, what to do with the hare when your
little hounds have caught her, and my advice is to let hounds break her
up themselves without any fuss, as the Badminton hounds do their foxes.

And now to turn to the interesting topic of the experience in kennel and
field of our present lady M.H.'s, and all will doubtless like to know
something of the methods in which each of these pioneer sportswomen has
built up her pack.

In South Wales, where Mrs. Pryse-Rice has her kennels, the conditions of
sport are very different to what they are in the southern counties of
England. In the first place, the spare little black-backed mountain
hares of Wales, have a turn of speed beyond the powers of their better
fed English fellows, and are very hard to kill. Instead, too, of
circling round and round when before hounds, they will generally go
straight away and will often give a five mile point as bravely as any
fox. The reason of this fitness is to be found in the fact that they are
constantly being coursed by the farmers' cross-bred greyhounds and
collie dogs, which are often scantily fed and badly in want of a dinner,
and they have far to go themselves for food, as they have no nice fields
of roots at hand like the more luxurious lowland hares.

It is evident then that the hounds to follow these speedy little hares
must be quick in getting away and have plenty of drive, and I cannot do
better than quote Mrs. Pryse-Rice's own words on the subject, as to how
she has succeeded in building up such a pack.

"I started my harriers in 1894, being much helped in the first instance
by gifts of hounds from my father-in-law, Mr. Vaughan Pryse, who hunted
his harriers for forty seasons, and is one of the oldest Masters in the
kingdom. To these I added a few couple of the Woodnorton pack when it
was given up by the Comtesse de Paris, and some small foxhounds chosen
from my husband's pack, which he had given up the season before.[2] The
first year I ran a small pack of twelve couple, and though the hounds
were perhaps not a very level lot, they gave us a very good season's
sport. Now after four years of breeding, buying and drafting, they run
up well together, and are a Stud-book pack of twenty couple of 19-20
inch hounds.

[Footnote 2: Mr. Pryse-Rice was Master of the Tivyside
Foxhounds.--Editor.]

[Illustration: _Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street._

_MRS. PRYSE-RICE AND HER HARRIERS._

(_MR. PRYSE-RICE AND A. MANDEVILLE_, K.H.)]

"Although I am of course keen to breed a Peterborough winner, still my
great ambition is to own a pack that will hunt and drive. I am not in
favour of the slow, sure and persevering type of hound, for though these
may hunt and constantly kill their hare, they will by giving her time,
allow her to run round and round in the country she knows, instead of
_driving_ her out of her beaten track. I like hounds to get away on the
back of their quarry and if they drive her into a strange country she
will be almost certain to go straight. If hounds do this and possess
plenty of drive without flashiness, they will often _make_ a good scent,
when otherwise they would find an indifferent one."

As an apt commentary on the remarks of this very successful M.H., we may
note that Mrs. Pryse-Rice's hounds had some really extraordinary runs
last season.[3] For instance early in December they found a hare in the
heather, and after running her down wind for nearly two miles, they
turned and went at a pace that tried their followers for a five-mile
point dead up wind, killing her in forty-five minutes from the start. In
the same month another mountain hare gave them a good five-mile point,
and on January 12th the hounds were two hours and forty-five minutes
going at a good pace, and travelling over a great extent of country, and
they did not reach kennels after this, their best run of the season,
till 7.40 p.m.

[Footnote 3: 1897-98.]

It is clear, therefore, that Mrs. Pryse-Rice is to be counted among
those who have attained more or less to the ideal they have set before
them in breeding, and she has beside scored high honours at
Peterborough. The noted Harrier Stud-book bitch, Aldenham Restless, a
veteran of pure foxhound blood, by the Whaddon Chase Tarquin--Oakley
Sarah, is now in the Llandovery Kennels. This bitch won the Champion Cup
at Peterborough in 1893, and three years later took the Silver Cup for
the best brood bitch,[4] after which she became the property of Mrs.
Pryse-Rice.

[Footnote 4: I must express my regret that it has not been found
possible to reproduce the photograph of this famous hound, though it was
most kindly sent me by Mrs. Pryse-Rice.--Editor.]

The stock of Restless are well to the fore, for last year--1897--no
fewer than nine of her descendants were winners at the Peterborough
Show.

Rigby, a fine upstanding hound, of pure harrier blood, by Eamont
Barrister--their Russet was second for the Champion Cup in 1897, and as
he was unentered and was shown against old dog-hounds, this was a
remarkably good performance.

To quote once more from Mrs. Pryse-Rice's own words: "We have never,"
she says, "had a big count of hares killed. We--my husband acts as my
first whip and A. Mandeville is K.H. and second whip--are quite content
to come home having accounted for one hunted hare, or when we kill a
brace in this way, it is quite a red-letter day for us. I do not see any
fun in either chopping them, or in killing three or four hares that only
run a few fields, though of course this does make up the count."

Touching on the subject of the introduction of the foxhound cross with
harriers, Mrs. Pryse-Rice says that she is "in favour of an infusion of
foxhound blood, in moderation, into the harrier kennel."

The country hunted by Mrs. Cheape lies round Redditch, and extends into
Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. In 1892, when "The Squire" inherited
the Bentley estates from her father, she bought the well-known pack of
harriers belonging to Captain Spicer, of Spye Park, and several couple
of the Herondon Hall harriers. The Bentley pack of the present day
includes many Peterborough winners, and deservedly ranks very high among
the harrier packs of the land. The hounds, however, have not been bred
for show purposes only, but for nose and tongue, and to show sport. At
the Peterborough show of last year (1897) the first prize for dog
hounds, under 19 inches, was taken by Mrs. Cheape's Wellfield and
Gainer. The former of these is by Lord E. Somerset's Dancer--Woodbine,
and through his dam, which was the winner of the champion cup for bitch
hounds not exceeding 19 inches, at Peterborough in 1893, strains back to
the Aldenham Restless. Gainer, on the other hand, is a home-bred hound.
A grand three couple, which took the silver cup in 1897, are Buxom
(Wellfield--Bracelet, dam by Boddington Borderer--Breconshire
Lightstone) also winner of the champion cup; Gadfly, home-bred; Verity
(Aldenham Valiant--Their Restless); Waterwitch, home-bred
(Waggoner--Woodbine); Warlike, also a son of Wellfield; and Dahlia, home
bred (Druid--Worry); the sire of the last (Ashford Valley Pillager--H.
H. Dewdrop) being one of the winners of the first prize for best couple
of entered hounds, not exceeding 19 inches, in 1894, at Peterborough.

Truly a triumph of breeding and selection of which any woman may be
proud.

[Illustration: _BRACELET_, _WATERWITCH_, _VERITY_, _WOODBlNE_,
_GENEROUS_, _WORRY_.

_MRS. CHEAPE AND HER PETERBOROUGH WINNERS._

(_Best Three Couple under 19 inches, Peterborough, 1896._)]

[Illustration: _DULCIMA, PURE HARRIER._

(_Property of Lady Gifford._)]

Lady Gifford began by having a small pack of beagles, but as she found
it impossible to keep with these hounds on foot, she gradually changed
to harriers. The ideal she then placed before herself was to get a level
pack of 17 inch hounds of pure harrier blood. In colour, too, Lady
Gifford is particular, her fancy being to get her hounds as dark as
possible, with golden-red tan on their heads, but, as she truly says,
though a smart appearance is much--and such hounds are very smart--"when
you get a good-shaped hound it does not do to quarrel as to colour." In
starting her pack Lady Gifford has gone a good deal to Mr. Allgood's
kennels, and Dulcima, a very beautiful bitch by his Durable--Darkeye,
has perfect colouring and good bone, and, moreover, an excellent nose,
and will gallop all day without tiring. Her owner naturally regrets that
owing to the fact of Mr. Allgood not being a member of the Association
of Masters of Harriers, she is not able to show hounds bred by him,
although Lady Gifford herself has joined the association.

The country over which Lady Gifford hunts is the moorland near her home
in Northumberland, and she finds the little hounds of 17-18 inches
beautiful to ride to over the open grass land, and very quick to get
over the stone walls and the heather. That they need to be speedy after
a heather-fed hare there is no doubt, for such an one is stronger than
most of her kind, and will usually go straight as a good fox, after a
ring or two to start with. The open land, too, generally carries a fine
scent, and even though you have harriers before you, you will find you
need to be riding a horse with a good turn of speed to enable you to
live with them.

In kennel management Lady Gifford takes the keenest interest, and her
system appears so excellent, that all engaged in hound breeding may find
something to learn from it. "I always think," writes Lady Gifford, "that
when hounds are in work, they are often given their food too wet. This,
I am sure, is a mistake. I give my hounds the best oatmeal that can be
got, and too much care cannot be given to the making of the porridge. It
must be boiled just right, or it is worse than useless. There is a
biscuit known as bread biscuit, which I find extremely good for hounds,
though it is a little difficult to get. It is made, I understand, from
the dinner rolls and bread left at London parties, and so you may be
sure it is made of the best meal. I always find, however, that my meal
merchant is anxious for me to have _any_ kind of biscuit except this.
The washing and grooming of hounds is, I think, a point in the kennel
not sufficiently thought of. All the summer months I have my hounds
thoroughly washed with soap and warm water, and of course thoroughly
dried, and though no doubt this takes a long time, the result well
repays you. If hounds are well groomed every day, they will keep twice
as healthy, and their coats will have a shine like satin, exactly like
a well-groomed horse. As to exercising, I take them out on the road
every morning about six o'clock, for two hours, and in consequence they
never really get out of condition, but by the time August comes round
they are quite ready for 'cubbing' so to speak."

Another point on which Lady Gifford gives information which others may
find valuable, is concerning a cure for that "kennel dread," distemper,
which she learnt from the great veterinary surgeon, Professor Pritchard.
She advises a preparation of coffee and milk in equal parts, exactly as
you would have it made for your own consumption, then to drench the
puppy continually with it, allowing him to touch nothing else, and while
the treatment lasts to keep the puppy in an even temperature. The
results of this treatment, in Lady Gifford's kennel, has been all that
could be wished, and though previously she had had heavy losses from
this cause, she has never since lost one that she has tried it on. Is it
possible that as this simple remedy becomes better known, we may find
that cruel scourge, distemper, disarmed of its terrors?

[Illustration: _MRS. PRYSE-RICE'S KENNELS._

_ALDENHAM BITCHES._]

_Beagles._ Beside the harrier, there is sport and good sport too, to be
had with the beagle after hare, and those who are young and active and
to whom the merry cry of hounds is a delight, will find a never-ending
source of interest in hunting with these little hounds. This sport has
too the advantage of being inexpensive, for it not only requires but a
small outlay to start with, but necessitates a very moderate sum for the
keeping up of the pack. Of course there are degrees of expenditure both
in the management and hunting of beagles, to be determined by the means
at your command, but a sportswoman can have a good and efficient pack of
beagles in the field for very much less than she could have other
hounds.

The first necessity, if you wish to hunt your own beagles, is to have a
country to hunt over, and you must get leave to pursue your quarry over
a farm or farms where there is a fair proportion of hares. The number of
hares, indeed, need not be very great, as not very many will fall before
beagles. Neither do you require a large extent of country to hunt over,
as a hare is not likely to be driven right away, but in a majority of
cases will circle round the place where she is found. Yet there is a
charm in beagling, which lies in the open air, the active exercise, the
music of the hounds, and the working out by them of the puzzles set by
the hare.

When you have secured a country--or before, if you are so inclined--you
will need to get together your pack. If a good pack of beagles should
come into the market, you would do well to buy them, provided you do not
mind the expense to start with. If, however, you do not object to
trouble, and do mind the outlay, then, even before you think about
country, you will buy some well-bred bitches and set to work to build up
a pack. In any case, if you mean to have beagles, _have them_, and do
not have dwarf harriers. The Beagle Stud-book will help you in your
choice of strains. Go to good beagle kennels such as those of Sir
Marteine Lloyd, or the Caledon, and having decided on the type for which
you intend to breed, keep true to it.

Having succeeded, either by buying or breeding, in getting a pack, you
will then have to keep your hounds up to a certain number. From about
six to twelve couple will be all that you will want to take out, but
this of course will mean that you want at least two couple more in
reserve. You should breed a certain number of puppies every year, and in
this you must be regulated to a great extent by the walks at your
command. You might keep one couple at home, giving them a free run of
the stables, yards and paddocks, and though you will find them
troublesome and as mischievous as monkeys, their small size will prevent
them being the unmitigated trouble that foxhound puppies undoubtedly
are. Still, the infant beagle has a marvellous appetite for sponges,
brushes, and all sorts of indigestible household requisites, and he will
besides be credited by the servants with even more mischief than he
really works. You will find some, or perhaps most of your field, ready
to undertake the charge of a few couple--and those who come out
regularly ought to look upon this as a duty--and for a small payment you
can secure homes in cottages, with those who will look after the puppies
carefully and intelligently, and who will, indeed, treat them so well
that you will not improbably have a very sulky lot of little dogs to
deal with, when they first come under kennel discipline.

Perhaps it may be thought that I have touched too lightly on the very
difficult question of breeding beagles true to a type, for except it be
the Clumber Spaniel there is no dog more likely to give you trouble
than the beagle. Still it can be done successfully, and if you choose
your bitches in the first instance and are careful in you selection of
the sires, constant care, scrupulous cleanliness, careful feeding and
regular exercise will do the rest.

The most charming and graceful type of hound, as well as the most likely
to be useful in hunting, is one that corresponds in miniature to that of
the foxhound. There should be the same alertness and good carriage, the
good shoulders and straight legs of the larger hound, and any puppies
that fall below the standard in any particular should be immediately
drafted. To a certain extent you must be guided by the sort of country
over which you are to hunt, for if this be fairly open, without thick
coverts, stout fences or wide drains, then you will find a small
lightly-built hound, of some fourteen or fifteen inches, the best, but
if on the other hand, you have much plough and strong fences, you will
require a beagle of the heavier and larger type, standing about sixteen
or seventeen inches. With beagles as with other hounds, muteness is a
fault which should immediately be met by drafting, and I would strongly
advise the same even for great economy of tongue. Skirting or any
suspicion of falsehood will meet with the same fate, as well as the very
slightest symptom of jealousy, for the little hounds should score to cry
at once.

There was in a pack I used to know well, a certain very handsome little
bitch, aptly enough named "Fallible," which, when she found the hare, or
touched the line first after a check, would hunt with the best, but if
another hound was before her, she would scour away at right angles to
the line, throwing her tongue vigorously when she had nothing whatever
before her. So good was this hound _when she pleased_, and "such a
pictur'" to look at, that it was a great wrench for the Master to part
with her. It was found, however, that it was a choice between letting
her go and having the whole pack demoralised, so "Fallible" carried her
gifts and her failings elsewhere. This instance will also serve to
remind you, that good hounds are not easily parted with from any kennel,
and, therefore, it behoves you to be very careful in the choice of those
you take into your own.

The kennelling and feeding of beagles is a comparatively simple matter,
cleanliness, warmth and wholesome food being the great requisites. On
the building of kennels you need not expend any great amount of money,
as almost any out-buildings you may have can be adapted for the purpose.
The cardinal points to be considered are:

      (_a_) Freedom from damp.
      (_b_) Freedom from draughts.
      (_c_) Good ventilation overhead.

Then the hounds must on no account sleep on the floor, but have the
usual benches provided, and there should be a palisaded or walled-in
run, into which they can go from their sleeping room. If these points
are attended to, the workmanship of the buildings may be almost as rough
as you please, but above all things you must not let the use of the
limewash brush be spared.

The scraps from the house boiled up with vegetables--with care that
everything is perfectly sweet and fresh--and any good dog biscuit, will
be found to answer for their food. No hounds will do well on biscuit
only, and it should be remembered that rice is not nourishing food. Meat
and vegetables are needed, and of the latter I should advise a certain
amount of cabbage to be given. The amount of food, and this specially
applies to meat, should be carefully proportioned to the number of days
you hunt in the week, and the length of days you make.

It is a great mistake to feed hounds either too high, or too low. If you
have not an experienced and trustworthy kennel-man, you should see the
hounds fed yourself, and then observe the appetite and needs of each
hound in the pack.

Hounds should have plenty of exercise before hunting, and as much on the
road as you can give them when they are not hunting. They should be
trotted out with horses if possible, and out of the season eight miles a
day or even ten, will be found necessary to keep them in condition.

Since the establishment of the Association of Masters of Harriers and
Beagles--which body I would strongly advise any woman interested in
hound-breeding to join--and the foundation of Stud Books for both
classes of hounds, immense strides have been made towards the perfection
of the respective types. The competition for the prizes at Peterborough
consequently becomes keener every year, and the glory of success is
proportionately greater.

No one has done more for the improvement of the Beagle than Sir Marteine
Lloyd, whose pack known as the Bronwydd Beagles, is the best, as it is
one of the oldest packs in the land. A feature of this hunt, specially
interesting to women, is that Miss Lloyd, Sir Marteine's daughter, takes
an active part in the management of the hounds, and in the field acts as
whipper in to her father. Miss Lloyd has been kind enough to write the
following short account of her father's hounds, in which all beagle
lovers will be interested.

[Illustration: _Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street._

_SIR MARTEINE LLOYD
AND SOME OF THE BRONWYDD BEAGLES._]




THE BRONWYDD BEAGLES.


This pack was started in 1864 by my grandfather, the late Sir Thomas
Lloyd. Next to the Royal Rock (started by Colonel Anstruther Thomson in
1845) they are the oldest pack of beagles in the kingdom. They measure
15-1/2 inches, and we generally have fifteen couples. They are pure
bred; dwarf harriers never being admitted. In 1892, the Bronwydd "Nigel"
won the Champion Cup at Peterborough, for the best dog-hound, and in
1894, the Cup was won by our "Merryboy." The Harrier and Beagle Show was
started at Peterborough in 1889, as though before this there were rules
laid down for foxhounds on the show bench, beagles had not been given
similar attention, and it was suggested by my father and a few kindred
spirits, that it was time to stop the continual drafting of dwarf
harriers into beagle packs, regardless of rule or standard. My father
consequently appealed to the Peterborough Committee, asking them to form
a show for Harriers and Beagles upon the same principle as that on which
the Fox-hound Show was based. In 1896, the Bronwydd Beagles celebrated
their Jubilee. They have not been hunting this season.

[Illustration: _SO BORED!_]

"Sir Marteine succeeded to the Mastership in 1877, but he had begun to
hunt the hounds himself in 1867 at the age of sixteen, when the old
huntsman, John Walters, retired. George Davies commenced his career as
whip at the same time and I was added to the staff as whip a year ago."

I have only to add to this that the photograph of Sir Marteine Lloyd is
taken on his mare "Grand Duchess," and that four of the hounds with him,
named "Liberal," "Favourite," "Comical," and "Comely," are special
favourites and excellent workers in the field.

Frances E. Slaughter.

[Illustration: _Lombardi and Co. 13, Pall Mall East._

_THE HON. MRS. LANCELOT LOWTHER._]




SHOOTING.


In these few words on Shooting for Women, I must begin by saying that as
this is my first attempt at writing, I hope any faults I may make will
be lightly treated. It is only within the last few years that the idea
of a woman being able to see a gun without screaming, much less fire one
off, has even been thought of, but now I venture to say that there are
many women who are just as good shots with both gun and rifle as men,
and perhaps some better. I do not mean to infer that we can count
amongst our number anyone who can take the place which Lord de Grey,
Lord Walsingham, and a few others take amongst men, but as shooting
becomes more popular, and is more practised among women, I daresay we
shall in years to come see some of the latter just as good even as those
I have named.

I am afraid it will take some time for men to get over the terror which
the sight of a woman with a loaded gun in her hand always gives them.
The reason of this is that they think we are much too careless to be
trusted with such a dangerous weapon, and that we think no more of
carrying a loaded gun than if we had a walking-stick in our hands. The
first thing, therefore, that a women who takes up shooting has to
remember is, that as an Irishman once said about a gun, "loaded or
unloaded, she's dangerous." One cannot be too careful in handling either
a gun or rifle, always to have it at half cock when not actually
shooting, and always to take out the cartridges when getting over or
through a fence. Accidents happen quite easily enough without Providence
being tempted by the neglect of these simple precautions.

A woman requires a light gun if she is to carry it all day. There are,
of course, as every one knows, a variety of different bores. I will
mention the ones mostly used, which are the 20, 16, 14, and 12-bores.
The 20 and 16-bores are mostly made for women, but personally I prefer a
12-bore double-barrel hammerless gun. Of course it must be made rather
lighter than for a man. I have always myself used one of these that was
specially made for me, weighing exactly 6 lbs., both barrels medium
choke, and a thick india-rubber pad at the end of the stock to prevent
all recoil. The cartridges I use are made with Schultze powder 35
grains, and seven-eighths of No. 6 shot. I have found this a perfect
gun, and one I should always recommend. It is not too heavy, and is
first-rate for shooting pheasants, partridges, pigeons, etc.

The great thing in ordering a gun is to have it very well balanced, a
thing which is hard to describe but which is easily told apart, as no
one who has tried the two can fail to appreciate the well-balanced gun
as against the badly-balanced one. It chiefly consists in having the
muzzle and stock of the gun to divide their weight, neither one nor the
other being a half ounce too heavy. When choosing a gun, it is necessary
to put it several times quickly to the shoulder at an object level with
the eye, and if the sight taken comes fair on the mark aimed at, the gun
will probably suit. Another thing to remember and guard against, is
having cartridges loaded too heavily for the gun, as it makes the gun
"kick," and nothing puts you off shooting so much as expecting every
time you fire to have your shoulder bruised. This is beside very
dangerous for a woman. If, however, a gun fits you properly, and the
charge of the cartridges is proportionate to the size of the gun, a
"kick" should never happen.

You must also be particular to have the stock exactly the right length,
so that it can be brought up quickly and easily to the shoulder. It must
be held firmly against the shoulder, with the left arm extended as
straight as possible from the shoulder and the right hand behind the
trigger guard.

More accidents happen by _following_ game with the gun than by any other
means. There are very strict rules of etiquette to be observed in
shooting, as in hunting or any other sport, and nobody is more hated and
feared than a jealous shot. These are indeed a source of danger to
everyone, as they are always so anxious to add another bird to their
score that they never give any thought to their neighbours, or think of
other people. For a person, whether a man or woman, who is beginning to
shoot, the best thing is to go out with some experienced shot or keeper
who will thoroughly explain the art of shooting, and show how to load
and unload a gun and how to hold it. To quote from the excellent article
on Shooting in the _Badminton Library_: "A beginner should at first
start with a small charge of powder and be taught to fire this off at
small birds, every attention being paid to his handling his gun with
safety as if it were loaded. He may next shoot at small birds with a
half ounce of shot. If he succeed pretty well, and is above all things
careful in the way he manages his gun, he can next be permitted to fire
at pigeons--with their wings slightly clipped, so as not to fly too
fast--from under a flower-pot or out of a trap, at a distance of fifteen
yards."

[Illustration: _CLAY PIGEON TRAP._

(_Used at Charles Lancaster's Shooting Grounds._)]

You must remember that accuracy of aim will only come by practice. When
you are fairly sure of yourself the next step is to go out to walk birds
up, but you must get it carefully explained by an authority what birds
you ought to fire at, and what are to be left alone, and on no account
should you, if walking in line, fire across a neighbour's gun, or at
birds that strictly belong to others from their having got up nearer to
them than to you. It is always better to fire a yard too far ahead of
flying birds or running game than too far in the rear. In the former
case, the shot is more likely to meet the mark, in the latter it never
can. In the former if it does count a hit it means one in a vital part,
the head, in the latter at most it means a wound in the extremities. It
is utterly impossible to measure distances in the air in front of a
flying bird or running game; instinct, aided by practical experience,
will alone teach the hand and eye to obey the brain in this respect, and
to give the correct distance at which to aim in front.

If a rifle is required for small game such as rabbits and young rooks, a
300-bore Holland rook rifle would be useful. Rifle shooting is a far
more difficult thing, and requires more practice than shooting with a
gun. You must have a very steady hand and straight eye to be a good
rifle shot. It has often been remarked that a woman as a rule shoots
better with a rifle than a gun. I do not quite know why this should be
the case, but so it is. When shooting with a rifle one must never forget
that a bullet from even one of the smallest rifles goes a very
considerable distance.

I used, as a girl, to have many an enjoyable evening's sport with my
rifle in the park at home, stalking "Brer" rabbit, of which there were
any number, but the difficulty was to get up to them, as they were very
shy from being constantly shot at, and at the slightest noise used to
scurry off and disappear like lightning down their burrows. Some
evenings I used to bring home two or three rabbits, though oftener than
not, none at all, but whatever the result, it was all the same a very
pleasant way of spending a summer's evening, and there was a good deal
of excitement about it. Then another great amusement of both my
brother's and mine was rook shooting. Most people, unless they have
tried it themselves, would think there couldn't be much sport in
shooting at a young rook sitting quietly on a branch of a tree unable to
fly away, but let them once try rook shooting with a 300-bore rifle,
when there is enough wind to blow the trees about, and they will find it
requires no small amount of skill to fetch down a young rook from the
top of a high tree which is gently swaying to and fro. There are two
difficulties in this particular form of shooting which affect a woman
perhaps more than a man. The strained attitude in aiming, necessitated
by the height at which the rooks build their nests, causes serious
stiffness at the back of the neck, which soon communicates with the
muscles of the shoulders and obliges one to rest awhile. Again, and
this more especially occurs when the tree-tops are moving, the tiny
target a young rook makes when peeping out of its nest, will soon become
indistinguishable among the twigs and branches around it, unless the
sight taken is both instantaneous and accurate. Many a time has it
happened to me to gaze and gaze down the barrel of my rifle vainly
attempting to draw a bead upon the swinging rooklet, until everything
becomes blurred and blotted, and I was perforce obliged to bring the
rifle down in despair.

I may say at once that I have a decided preference for the rifle as
opposed to the gun, though I should be the last to minimise the
pleasures of pheasant and partridge shooting. I am not one of those
women who prefer the excitement of a regular "battue" to the more sober
joys of a quiet pot-hunt. To begin with, there is no doubt that a woman
is a great bore at anything like an organised shooting party. It would
do the intending lady-shot good to see the faces of the men on hearing
that they are to have the honour of her company during the day. The
smothered grumbles of the younger sportsmen are drowned in the more
forcible ejaculations of the older generation. But apart from this, and
I am not for one moment assuming that it is the duty of women to
consider exclusively the whims of the sterner sex, there always seems to
me to be some special enjoyment in sallying forth with the object of
replenishing an exhausted larder, and with the certainty of having to
work one's hardest to accomplish the task. Every shot then becomes of
importance, and the comparative scarcity of the prey redoubles one's
vigilance and activity. Should the wily partridge elude your aim on
these occasions, you feel as if some tremendous disaster had occurred,
and your spirits do not recover their normal condition until some
special success has rewarded your efforts, and a long and difficult shot
has added another victim to the bag. In shooting, as in so many other
pursuits, it is quality not quantity that should be sought.

[Illustration: _From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl._

_POINTER ON PARTRIDGE._]

One of the most amusing day's shooting I ever remember was a hare drive
in Austria. We left the house at one o'clock and drove about eight miles
through a very flat country to the "rendezvous," where we found a
perfect army of beaters who were chatting volubly in an unknown tongue.
I discovered later that they were talking Polish, which is the common
language of the peasants in that part of Silesia adjoining the
Austrian-Russian frontier. The men were mostly barefooted, but in other
respects resembled the average English beater. The keepers were
distinguished by their green livery and Austrian conical hats. They
carried horns slung from their shoulders, and when a line had been
formed some quarter of a mile in length, the signal was given by the
head-keeper on his horn and was taken up by his subordinates. An
excellent method was observed in allotting a certain number of beaters
to the care of each keeper, who was then responsible for their
maintaining a good line and preventing stragglers.

The ten guns were of course distributed at intervals along the line, and
we started across level fields of potato and beet-root sugar roots which
took the place of our turnips, and were much easier to walk through.
There were no fences, and the fields were divided by ditches and low
banks. Game was plentiful, and although we only shot for about
two-and-a-half hours, we succeeded in killing about two hundred hares
and several partridges. The beater who carried my cartridges was greatly
excited whenever I was fortunate enough to kill a hare, and jabbered
away in his native tongue. I have never heard anything approaching that
language. It is a fearful and wonderful thing, and I wished I could have
brought some of it away with me to use on special occasions in England.
The only drawback was the weather. It rained cats and dogs, and while I
was glad to note that England has not the monopoly of inclement weather,
I must confess that the Austrians think no more of a wet jacket than we
do. At five o'clock we gave up, and returned home wet to the skin, but
none the less my husband and I have the pleasantest recollection of our
first day's shooting in Austria.

Before closing this article I must refer shortly to the subject of
dress. The first thing to remember, is always to have a dress of some
dark or neutral tinted material that will not be conspicuous on a moor
or when birds are being driven, and which will also keep out the rain. A
short skirt, breeches, thick boots, and either woollen stockings or
gaiters, and a double-breasted loose coat are the most convenient as
well as the most sportsman-like. But the coat must be loosely made, so
as to allow one to bring the gun up to the shoulder quickly and easily,
otherwise it will seriously interfere with the shooting.

Gwendoline Lowther.

[Illustration: _From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl._

_IRISH SETTERS._

_CHAMPIONS SHANDON II. AND GERALDINE._]

       *       *       *       *       *

A friend, whose name I may not divulge, has kindly given me the
following notes, and I venture to think that their excellence will make
them acceptable, even though the writer prefers to remain
unknown.--Editor.

Shooting is a sport which requires neatness, accuracy, and the most
persevering practice. Its real pleasure lies in successful shots rather
than in the number of slain. Of course this does not mean that you
should chance doubtful shots, but rather that you should gain the skill
enabling you to kill a driven grouse, or partridge, or rabbit crossing a
ride, or a high-flying pheasant, neatly, instantaneously, and with
scarcely the loss of a feather or fluff of fur. To do this, constant,
steady and unremitting practice will be necessary.

With regard to the choice of a gun I have little to add to Mrs.
Lowther's remarks. Many people would say that you might begin practising
with a common gun, but my strong advice is to get a good weapon to learn
with, for you will overcome difficulties much more easily if you have a
really good gun, and one that fits. The good shot, indeed, may do
fairly well with a less perfect gun, but in my opinion a beginner should
have the best possible weapons to her hand. Bad shooting will not spoil
a good gun, but an uncomfortable ill-fitting, too heavy gun, may spoil
the novice as a shot for ever.

Having chosen a suitable gun, the next thing to do is to learn to shoot.
If the gun fits you well, this is no difficult matter, at all events up
to a certain point. Aim should be constantly taken at a small paper
target set up in a room, and regular practice should be had every day at
bringing the gun quickly up to the shoulder, with the sight on the mark
at which you aim. Thus, fixing the eye on the imaginary point at which
you are shooting, and holding the gun lightly and firmly, bring it up to
the shoulder so that as soon as it is in position you could fire at the
object without delay. As soon as you find you can do this, the gun still
unloaded, should be the companion of your walks, and should be brought
up to the shoulder in the same way at birds, rabbits, or any mark
animate or inanimate that you please. This practice will have the double
advantage of training your eye and hand, and accustoming you to the
weight of the gun, which though not great, will yet be felt after you
have tramped a good many miles.

Then you need to learn to judge distance. A good plan is to fix on an
object in front of you when out for a walk, and after saying to yourself
how far it is off, to pace the distance. Another good plan is to cut out
of cardboard a rough figure of a bird, pheasant, or partridge, and
fasten it to a tree. Then measure forty yards, thirty-five yards, and
twenty yards, for you should never shoot at birds much nearer than that.
After this begin at twenty yards and move slowly back, aiming every yard
or so and making mental notes of the size of the cardboard bird as it
appears to you. Half the missing, and more than half the wounded birds,
come from a want of power to judge distance. Fortunately continued
practice is very easy, and you should be always measuring distance when
you are out walking.

Boys when they learn to shoot either go out with the keeper or get shots
at jays, hawks, or other vermin in the woods, or they surreptitiously
prowl about the hedges and shoot at anything that moves. But there are
objections to both these plans for women, who may not have woods in
which to range, and it is hardly necessary to say that the shooting of
small birds is not to be encouraged. So for the next step I would
suggest the clay pigeon. I have found that practice at these is very
useful, and the flights are so ingeniously arranged that plenty of
variety is given to the shooting. If there are several shooting people
in the house, it will be possible to organise little competitions and
sweeps which will improve your shooting by the spirit of emulation. I
may add, by the way, that in country houses a clay bird shooting
competition is a capital thing to fill up the day in the cub-hunting
season, when after an early morning's sport, the rest of the day
sometimes hangs heavily on our visitors' hands.

The next step is to the rabbit, though bunny is a most difficult and
deceptive animal to shoot, having been made by nature at least six
inches too short. The best way for a beginner to shoot rabbits is to go
out with the ferrets, and get shots at them as they are bolted. I prefer
shooting rabbits in this way for quite a beginner, to stalking them in
the open when feeding near their holes, as until one is pretty sure of
killing them, there is always a danger of wounding them, and then they
creep away into their burrows to die miserably. Never shoot at a rabbit
going dead away from you, and learn from the first to aim well forward.
Of course the easiest of all shots for a beginner is at a hare crossing
in covert, but hares are hardly numerous enough in most places and often
are more or less preserved for harriers or coursing. By the time you can
hit a wood pigeon and bowl over a rabbit neatly, you will have made some
progress, and will be able to take up the various kinds of shooting in
turn.

I will speak of grouse first, because these birds afford the very best
shooting possible. For women who have the opportunity, there is no doubt
that driven grouse are in some respects more suitable to their powers
than the birds to be obtained after a long fagging tramp over the moors.
With the universal popularity of driving, both with shooters and the
owners of moors, such opportunities are likely to come frequently in the
way of women, whose means enable them to shoot in Scotland. Driving is
popular with owners because it is better for the moors, a larger
proportion of old and therefore useless and injurious birds being
thinned out by this method, than when a moor is shot over dogs in the
ordinary way. With shooters it is popular, because driven grouse afford
perhaps the finest shots of any known game, with the possible exception
of the Himalayan pheasants, as they sweep with their grand rush down the
sides of the mountains.

There are certain points which all shooters of driven grouse should bear
in mind, one being that the eyes should be, so to speak, working in
front of the gun, which should come to the shoulder with one movement,
and the trigger be pulled at once. It is this instinctive action in
shooting which makes the constant practice, on which so much stress has
been laid, so necessary. It cannot, so far as I know, be acquired in any
other way, but if a woman has the perseverance and keenness necessary,
she is likely to acquire it more quickly than a man.

Birds, it must be remembered, coming at the pace of driven grouse, fly
into the shot, and therefore the shooter must aim further in front than
would be the case with birds going at a slower pace. But the angle at
which the birds are coming, their height, and the inclination of their
flight, all make a difference. Infinite variety is the characteristic of
shots at driven birds, and it will need all the coolness and steadiness
of nerve of the shooter to meet each occasion as it arises with
promptness and success. When the birds are coming within shot, the
gunner should fix on the bird she means to shoot at first, this being
the one which is easiest for her, that is to say, the one which offers
the sort of shot at which she is best, and at which, therefore, she can
fire with the most confidence. Then keeping her gun at the shoulder, she
will take the second available one. There is no necessity to look to see
if the first one has fallen, for if you have missed you can do no more,
and if it is dead you should waste no more time on it. This is
undoubtedly the method of shooting grouse most suitable to women. It
gives the minimum of fatigue with the maximum of skill, and it is to
skill rather than bodily force to which a woman must look if she would
excel in sport. For however young, strong, and active she may be, it
must never be forgotten by the prudent sportswoman, that we _are_ the
weaker sex.

If, however, the moor on which the woman has the chance of shooting is
not suitable for driving, and some far northern moors yield better
results to dogs, then she may try her luck over the pointers and
setters. Very delightful you will find this, but it is well not to
overtax your strength, not only on your own account, but also to avoid
being regarded as an encumbrance by the male members of the party. Beats
near the lodge, if possible, should be chosen, and luncheon should, in
my opinion, be the signal for the prudent sportswoman to retire.

When I turn from the grouse to the partridge I shall probably have a
much larger public, for partridge shooting is, next to the rabbit, the
most easily attainable form of sport. It varies in quality of course,
but is always enjoyable, though it requires very much smaller
expenditure than the grouse. Almost every girl that can use her gun, may
hope to get a shot at partridges. The partridge is little inferior to
the grouse, or perhaps I may say, it is only inferior in its
surroundings. In its pursuit the wild romantic scenery of the moor, will
be exchanged for the tamer but not less beautiful landscape of the
manor. There are three ways of shooting partridges, the drive, walking
up, and shooting over dogs. The first of these is only suitable for
large estates, and is not therefore within the reach of many women. I
well remember the first time I saw one. The friend to whom I owe most of
my shooting, whom I will call Mrs. Robinson, had herself learned to use
her gun in order to accompany her husband who was very fond of the
sport, and when the management of the estates fell into her hands, she
threw herself enthusiastically into the improvement of the shootings.
Mrs. Robinson does not drive her estate, as she holds that walking up
and shooting over dogs is more suitable for her ground. But she has a
neighbour, Lord B., who does, and it was when I was staying with my old
friend, that the latter asked us both over for a "drive."

I was all excitement at the prospect, novelty having ever a charm for
me, though I was a little nervous too as to how I should acquit myself.
My friend offered some earnest advice. "I have told Lord B. you are a
capital shot, so do keep cool, and remember that the birds fly much
faster than when you are shooting over dogs or walking, and, therefore,
the allowance must be greater. In the first drive you will probably find
yourself placed about twenty yards from a high hedge. Stay where you are
placed, and watch the top of the hedge, and try to shoot the birds as
they appear in sight over it. There are a good many red-legs on the
estate, so you may expect plenty of single shots. If you should be near
Colonel A. watch him, for he is one of the finest shots in England, both
for style and results." It was with a decided feeling of nervousness
that I found myself, as my friend had said, stationed about twenty yards
or more behind a high and rather thick hedge. "You will get some really
sporting shots here," said Colonel A. as he went on to his own station,
which I saw was near to mine. As it happened he got the first birds. I
saw his gun go up--quickly but without flurry--and he fired as it were
all in one motion. Two birds were topping the hedge, and a brace of dead
partridges dropped, killed neatly and instantaneously. Almost
immediately afterwards I got my chance at a single bird. My performance
was not so neat, for the bird went on, towered, and fell behind us. I
need not go into a long history of the day's performance, suffice it to
say I came away thoroughly delighted with partridge driving. The number,
variety and sporting character of the shots, made it a most exciting
day, and when at the close the slain totalled up to 123 brace, I felt
that we had had a really fine shoot. It was not that I took actual
pleasure in the numbers killed, but I had never before seen so many
birds which afforded such sporting shots. I have been almost inclined
since that experience to put partridge driving, for actual skill
displayed, at the head of shooting.

As an illustration of shooting partridges by walking up, I may give an
account of a day's shooting over some of Mrs. Robinson's best ground.
Our party consisted of our hostess, Lord B. and his son, the rector of
the parish and myself. To each of us was assigned a man and a dog, and
in the dogs I took the greatest interest, as they had been bred and
broken by my father and myself. But of these more anon. They were three
good dogs, and one super-excellent one, named Dinah, a black retriever.
There was also a brace of pointers, to save time on the turnips. Mrs.
Robinson adopted the formation of beaters and guns recommended by Mr.
Stuart Wortley in his delightful volume on the Partridge--which every
shooter should read and re-read--that is, of a semicircle, with a gun in
the centre and one on each flank. This is undoubtedly the best plan, for
more, and I think better, shots are obtained than by walking in a
straight line. In root crops we left the beaters, and let loose the
pointers, which is a saving of time, and is far the most effectual. Two
guns went with each dog and took the points in turn. The root crops
finished, the pointers were called up and the beat resumed. Then we used
to walk up the partridges on the various beats. The estate was well
preserved, the keeper being both popular and efficient.

But I think perhaps the days I liked best were those on which my friend
and I went out alone, with two steady pointers and my dear old Dinah,
and picked up what birds we could. Of course it is difficult now to make
large bags over dogs, even where birds are plentiful, as they do not lie
to dogs in the shaven fields of modern times as they used to do in the
days of stubble fields, nevertheless, we were generally able to pick up
four or five brace in a morning, and a few rabbits. Hares were preserved
for a pack of harriers, much affected by the farmers on the estate.
Sometimes too, we would beat the hedgerows with a brace of good clumbers
for rabbits, or stray pheasants, and once, in a little copse or spinney,
we found, and I shot, a woodcock.

In turning to the subject of pheasants I have not a great deal to say,
the opportunity of shooting them in these days coming but rarely to
women. There are many reasons why a woman is out of place in big shoots,
and as pheasants now are not often shot in any other way, it is not easy
to get much practice at them. Nevertheless, there are one or two places
on my father's property where, with a steady old setter, I can generally
find a brace of pheasants or more. A pheasant flushed in a hedgerow, is
no doubt sometimes an easy shot when you are in practice, but it is good
for beginners, as is everything that gives you confidence in yourself.
When you shoot your first pheasant and he comes down stone-dead, you
feel you really are a sportswoman, and a new confidence which brings
success in its train, springs up in your heart. In woods, of course, the
birds give a greater trial of skill, as you must as a rule make longer
shots, for they will be travelling much faster.

I seem to have said but little about pheasants which are after all the
most important game, but the principles of shooting are the same in all
cases, and with such pheasants as come in your way, you will be able to
deal, if you read and put in practice the general precepts I have given,
not forgetting to attend to the list of "Don'ts" to be found at the
end.

We now come to rabbits, which are very important from one point of view,
for the woman who can get nothing else can often get shots at "Bunny."
There are so many ways you can get him. You may bolt him with ferrets,
you may stalk him with a rabbit rifle or a gun, you may drive him out of
covert with fox terriers or beagles, or you may make him the occasion of
a big shoot of his own. There is one thing about the rabbit which is
invaluable, he hardly ever offers you an easy shot, and very often he is
one of the hardest animals in the world to hit. Rabbit shooting in
company, unless that company be one of the most select, is decidedly
dangerous, for more stray, careless and excited shots are made at
rabbits than at any other form of sport. I am somewhat solitary in my
sporting tastes, and much as I love the _chasse aux lapins_, I like it
in solitude, or at all events with one trusted companion.

The form that I really prefer is that which in my younger days prevailed
in Sussex, of bringing the rabbits out of their haunts with a small pack
of rough beagles, the charming cry of these little hounds adding greatly
to the pleasure of the day. About four couples are quite enough, and
they should be well under control or you may find yourself toiling
after your vanishing pack as they run the line of a hare, or even a fox.
Beagles which are wanted for this kind of work should be kept strictly
to rabbits and well exercised, so that they may be steady. Some
preparation is desirable for a day of this kind, and in order to keep
the rabbits above ground it is wise to run muzzled ferrets through the
burrows a day or two before. The rabbits will then lie above ground.
There is near my home a hill covered with patches of gorse, which we
keep for this kind of shooting. We are very careful about our invited
guns, as a careless shot easily mistakes a beagle for a rabbit. Indeed
this sport requires great care and steadiness. But to my mind it is one
of the most exciting and enjoyable of sports, the cry of the little
hounds, the ringing shots, the dart of the little brown forms with their
snowy patches of white down, the pleasure of success as the
neatly-killed "bunny" turns over dead in his tracks, make up a most
delightful whole for the enthusiastic gunner. The same kind of sport can
be followed by spaniels, free-tongued dogs of any race being the best.
Spaniels are better than any other dogs for working thick hedgerows,
into which rabbits have been previously bolted by ferrets. Some people
use terriers, but I only advise these when you have no other dogs handy.
It is most difficult to keep terriers above ground. They should at any
rate never be taken out in the spring, if you know of an earth in which
a vixen fox may have lain up, or into coverts where foxes are.

If you wish to enjoy the pleasures of deer stalking on a small scale,
take out a small rifle and stalk rabbits. You will find it a most
entrancing sport, calling out all your knowledge of woodcraft, and
teaching you much you did not know before. You will not shoot many
rabbits, but those you do get will be well earned. Remember, however,
that bullets from these rifles travel a long way, and that you should
always know what is behind the rabbit when you shoot. By the time you
can kill a rabbit fairly often, at from fifty to sixty yards with a
bullet, you will be a good shot.

[Illustration: _From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl._

_FLAT-COATED RETRIEVER._

_CHAMPION DARENTH._]

Of other kinds of shooting it is not necessary that I should write much,
for if you can shoot easily and well under the circumstances I have
spoken of, you will be able to fire at anything with a fair and
reasonable chance of hitting it. One form of shooting is both difficult
and interesting, and that is catching wood pigeons on the return flight
in the evening. Many a time have I waited an hour or more for a few
shots, though often returning home empty-handed after all. But when
successful, I have had the greatest possible pleasure in getting only
one or two pigeons, which have been due to really creditable shooting.

_Dogs and dog-breaking._ This is a subject on which I can speak with
enthusiasm, and with a certain amount of practical knowledge. Everyone
knows that in these days landowners have to consider all ways possible
of utilising their land, and of making money. Some years ago our home
farm came back on our hands in a very poor state. Never very good land,
the last tenant who had been insolvent for years, had not been able to
afford to keep the stock required, much less to use artificial manures.
My father and I decided to take it in hand ourselves, and to use it
partly as a game farm and partly as ground on which to break our dogs.
The cultivation of the farm was carried on in such a way as to form
covert for all sorts of game, and I may say that by care and personal
management, the farm is now one of the most profitable on the estate.
We always had some good retrievers, and we decided to increase the size
of our kennels, and to raise and break a certain number of retrievers
and setters for the market. My father and I reckoned that there was now
a real market for good thoroughly broken retrievers. I had seen enough
of keepers and their ways with dogs, to feel sure that very few of them
understood and cared for dogs, and I determined to see to the breaking
process myself.

We have never shown, because we think the show bench and judging ring
are not good for dogs which are really meant for business, but we use
many of the leading prize strains. "Dinah," the best retriever I ever
had, and a bitch which seems to have the power of transmitting her
virtues to her descendants, is a black retriever of a well-known strain.
She is a model of intelligence and a beautiful worker. She watches the
birds fall, and is wonderfully good in marking the spot where they come
to the ground. No bird ever escapes her, unless it goes to ground, as
pheasants will sometimes, and you can call her up at any moment. I
attribute her obedience and docility to the fact that she has been my
constant companion, for retrievers cannot be too much with their
owners, and the first thing in training is to make friends with the
puppy, and get him thoroughly in hand before his field education begins.
Nothing is more fatal than a headstrong disposition, which I am
convinced is often the result of bad treatment. "In for a penny, in for
a pound," seems to be the reflection of a retriever, when looking back
at his raging master and evidently understanding that he will be beaten
in any case, he goes off for an entrancing chase after a hare, thus
perhaps spoiling half a day's sport for you. And vice once contracted is
most difficult to eradicate, indeed it was my bitter experience on this
point which led me to undertake the education of my retrievers myself.

As soon as I had attained to some skill in shooting, it was my custom to
take my gun with me whenever I went out for a walk. Now, there is a
small river which runs through our grounds, and at a part of its course
feeds a number of ponds in which probably were fish stews in the time of
the monks, who were our predecessors. There are one or two small islands
on these ponds. One day I had out with me a new purchase, a good-looking
black dog. He came to heel, and retrieved a rabbit I shot, fairly well.
It so happened, however, that not far from the river an old cock
pheasant got out of the hedgerow, and as it was late in the season and
we had done covert shooting, this was a chance for me, so I fired and
hit him. The bird, however, went on, towered and fell into one of the
ponds. Directly I gave the word off went my dog, and I began to think I
had got a treasure. He went straight for the water, plunged boldly in,
and swam direct to the bird, but then to my horror, he went off to the
island, and taking the pheasant ashore proceeded to eat it.

It was then and there that I determined to break my own dogs, and such
success attended my first efforts that we have since done it on a large
scale. "Dinah" was my first attempt. It so happened that a friend of
ours who used to breed retrievers for show purposes, took me to see a
wonderful litter of champion-bred puppies. There were eight, all black
except one which had a white star on her chest. This last, the owner
said, he was going to drown. "Oh! give it to me," I said, moved to pity
for the little round sleek victim. "Well, if you will take it away now,
you can have it." So I carried off "Dinah," and brought her up by hand.
From very early years I was able to teach her obedience, and to fetch
and carry, being greatly helped in her training, by her affection for
me. She has always lived in the house, and consequently understands a
great deal, and I had but little trouble with her. Her lessons in
seeking for hidden bits of meat were a delight to her, but I was very
careful never to allow her to chase. I believe if a dog once does this,
it is most difficult to cure, and that the vice is always liable to
break out again.

I break all the dogs to my own voice and whistle, being attended by a
kennel boy who manipulates the check cords. As to punishment, I carry a
small dog whip, the crack of which is generally sufficient. If a young
persistent offender requires a blow, three stripes will be found enough,
but my experience is that if I cannot break a dog without beating, he is
beyond my powers. The great secret of breaking, however, is
companionship, my retriever for the time being never leaves me, and I
have the kennel dogs in my company as much as possible. Above all, I
always take them out for a run, at least once every day.

The cardinal rules for retriever breaking are:

(_a_) To get the dog thoroughly obedient and under control.

(_b_) To make them perfect at the down charge before you attempt to
shoot over them.

(_c_) To make friends of them.

(_d_) To check faults at once, and never pass them over.

(_e_) If a dog shows real vice to get rid of him.

(_f_) To be patient, and not confound a headstrong disposition with
vice, for some dogs that are troublesome to break, turn out the best.

I believe in high feeding for sporting dogs, and hard work. The fewer
dogs you have and the harder you work them in reason, the better. The
kennel food of our dogs is really the same as that of a pack of hounds,
viz.: good Scotch oatmeal, after it has been kept for a year, horseflesh
or mutton--I dislike beef--with a certain proportion of cabbage boiled
up with it. Once a week I give a _raw_ bone to each dog. No biscuits,
except as rewards.

As to the best kind of retriever, we have had of all kinds, and perhaps
the best after "Dinah" herself, is a cross-bred between her and an Irish
water spaniel. But we do not now keep cross-bred dogs, as they are no
use after the first generation, though you may often get very good ones
then. We now use curly and flat-coated blacks, bred from prize strains.

The grooming of sporting dogs, especially of setters and retrievers is
most important, and cleanliness, assisted by a good disinfectant, will
be found after all the chief element in kennel management.

I have not said anything about the breaking of pointers and setters,
because there is nothing to add to General Hutchinson's system.
Patience, kindness and perseverance will lead you to success, but the
patience required is often great, for it is sometimes not till the third
season that a dog is really at its best. On the other hand there is much
pleasure in it and some profit, and as time goes on, it becomes much
easier, for the young dogs not only inherit the capacities of their
parents, but learn a great deal from them in the field, especially from
their mothers.

_Books._ The general topics concerning shooting have been so ably dealt
with in several recent books, that it may be well to give a short list
of those likely to be of service to the beginner. I would especially
recommend

_The Art of Shooting_, by C. Lancaster. The diagrams in this book are
most valuable and practical, and there are many useful hints.

The Badminton Library, _Shooting_, 2 vols. The chapters dealing with
Pheasant shooting are particularly good.

The Fur and Feather Series, _The Partridge_, a book as delightful to
read as it is useful to study.

Hutchinson on _Dog Breaking_, a book which has never been approached,
much less surpassed.

Daniel's _Rural Sports_, to be found in most country house libraries, a
thoroughly useful and practical book from which many subsequent writers
have borrowed. It deals of course with sport from an old-fashioned point
of view, but is none the worse for that.

Tegetmeier's _Pheasants_, a first-rate standard work, by an expert.

Now let me give a few useful cautions to young shooters:

Don't point your gun at anything but the game you wish to shoot.

Don't risk a shot if you have doubts as to its safety.

Don't fire at birds when too near.

Don't try long gallery shots. It is cruel.

Don't fire at your birds, but in front of them. The exceptions to this,
are birds coming direct to you or going away.

Don't potter in your aim, but aim and fire quickly.

Don't, if you can help it, shut either eye.

Don't wound. If you can't kill neatly, don't fire.

Don't fire at a pheasant's tail feathers, but try to intercept his head.

Don't climb over stiles with a loaded gun.

Don't keep your cartridges in the gun, except when actually waiting for
game.

Don't talk when shooting, or if you must do so, let it be in a low
voice.

Don't fire at fur going directly from or to you.

Don't talk about shooting except to sportsmen and sportswomen.

Don't stay out too long and get over-tired, or some or the foregoing
warnings may be forgotten.

[Illustration: _MRS. MURPHY-GRIMSHAW._

(_With a Tarpon caught at Fort Myers. Weight, 147-lbs. Length, 6-ft.
7-in. Time, 1 hour 25 minutes._)]




FISHING FOR TARPON.


Whether there be any truth in the saying "that opportunity makes the
thief," it is decidedly the case that it makes the sportswoman, for
although I now find myself in such goodly company, low be it spoken that
until I went to Florida I had never fished in my life. Such being the
case, it will easily be understood that when I found myself one blazing
day in a very small boat, with a sturdy rod in my hand, listening to a
very black guide retailing many wonderful stories of what tarpon did
when they were hooked, my feelings were chiefly those of trepidation.
However I was destined to have a large and varied experience with
sharks, jew fish, bass and many other monsters of the deep, before the
eventful day arrived on which I killed my first tarpon, and here let me
advise anyone who may be meditating an expedition to Florida for tarpon
fishing, to beware of going to Punta Gorda.

This most charming and picturesque place was once a very favourite haunt
of the tarpon, but owing to works which have been recently started,
which entail a constant passing of steamers up and down the river, the
fish have quite deserted it. We fished there for six whole weeks,
starting often at 5 a.m. and generally staying out till 7.30 or so, and
we never saw one fish the whole time. We proved a fruitful source of
revenue to the guides and boatmen who had ever some fresh reason for our
non-success, and we had on the whole a charming time, for the hotel is
comfort itself and is a perfect paradise of flowers. We had lovely
expeditions up the river, and any amount of bass, sea trout and other
fishing, but neither we nor anyone else ever saw a tarpon. We got tired
of this at last and decided to move further down, to a place called Fort
Myers on the Caloosahatchie River. This we found to be an extremely
pretty little town, with low white-painted houses, nestling in roses and
magnolias, surrounded by gardens full of brilliant-coloured flowers and
luxuriant orange plantations, with however most primitive arrangements
in the shape of an hotel. We were fortunate in securing the two best
guides on the river and a good sailing boat, and at last our luck
changed.

We always followed the same routine. Breakfast about 6 a.m., sometimes
earlier, then we sailed down the river towing our tarpon-boats (for each
person has his own guide and boat), till we found some place where the
fish was feeding, when we anchored the sailing-boat and went off each on
our own account. I wish I could convey the charm of those early morning
sails, the crisp, exhilarating feeling in the air, before the heat of
the day began, the brilliant sunshine, the pale blue vault above,
reflected in the shining depths beneath, where we and our snow-white
boat seemed to be floating in some delicious ether in a crystalline
bowl. Or again it might be a cloudy grey morning, when the heavens above
and the wide expanse of river below, were all one lovely pearly
opalescent haze of pinks and greys and soft indefinite blues, suffused
with a warm light, telling of the golden glory of the sun which would
presently melt the clouds away; and all the teeming population of the
river seemed to be rejoicing with us in having awakened to another long,
happy, busy day. The solemn pelicans decorating every post and
sand-bank, too intent on their breakfasts to notice us, excitable
flocks of little black duck which would rise scolding and chattering
like a crowd of school-children to settle, still volubly objecting to
us, a few hundred yards or so further on, gaunt fishing-eagles and
turkey buzzards, leviathan-like porpoises gambolling round our boat, and
everywhere the flash of the silver mullet as they leapt and played; both
the bird and animal life being an incessant source of amusement and
interest to watch.

When we arrived in Florida on the 6th of March, we found the weather
just like that of a perfect English summer, cool mornings and evenings,
in which a thick cloak was always acceptable, for the air on the water
was invariably fresh, then blazing hot in the middle of the day. One's
poor face suffers terribly from the glare off the water, and till you
get hardened it is quite painful from the intense burning, though at
last you settle down to a uniform tomato-red or brick-dust tint. So far
as clothes are concerned, you require the very loosest form possible.
Thin silk shirts, and light serge or holland skirts for fishing, and
thin, very high boots, for when you land on sand banks or on one of the
fascinating little islands which dot the river, your ankles will be
devoured by what is euphoniously named "the red bug," and then you will
be driven nearly mad with the irritation. Indeed one English woman I met
in Florida had been quite lamed and laid up for weeks from these bites,
after having walked in low shoes along the beach. Then you must have a
large and shady hat, or do as most of the American women do, and wear
sun-bonnets. I adopted the latter plan, as the sun-bonnet shelters the
back and sides of the neck, which otherwise suffer from the heat. Then
for days when you are not fishing, you will want the thinnest of white
frocks, and for the evening or sitting on the piazza, where it is always
deliciously cool and shady, being surrounded by orange trees and a
tangle of roses, I found some muslin tea-gowns which I happened to have
with me, the greatest comfort.

Last, but most important of all, you must be well provided with the
thickest leather driving gloves, at least one size too large, indeed
men's gloves will be found the best, as otherwise your hands may get cut
to ribbons by the line swishing out. I have had all the fingers of one
hand cut to the bone through this, and it is of course most painful. A
leather tarpon belt such as is sold at the Army and Navy Stores, is
also quite necessary. The rod I killed most of my fish on was a bamboo,
about 7 feet long. In choosing a rod, remember it must not have too much
spring, and you will require from 150 to 200 yards of linen line. But
all requisites of this sort are to be found at the Army and Navy Stores.
The great difficulty is to find a really satisfactory hook. We tried all
kinds and varieties, but I think the chief thing is to be sure that they
are made of the best steel, with good large eyes. The hooks are attached
to the line by a raw hide snooding, which is far better than wire or any
other kind, though it is true that sharks, which very frequently take
the bait, can bite through that much easier than piano wire.

The bait used, is the soft part of the silver mullet, and the providing
of this bait was one of the greatest troubles we had. Each person
requires at least one dozen mullet a day, and the natives are very lazy
about catching them. We used to be down on the pier sometimes, with the
tide just right for starting, only to be told that the bait had not
come, and then we had to wait, fuming and fussing, for nearly an hour
perhaps, with all our chances of getting off on the flood tide
disappearing. At last a coloured man would come sauntering along with
the long-looked-for bait, and would meet all our remonstrances with the
most hopeless and exasperating good humour, and probably the same thing
would be repeated the next day. At Fort Myers however, we had less
trouble about it, our guides being white men, who very often caught the
mullet themselves. Such nice, cheery fellows these guides were, most
amusing and interesting companions, and real sportsmen.

After we had been at Fort Myers a few days, I caught my first tarpon. He
was a fine fellow, 6 ft. 7 in. long, and weighing 147 lbs. He gave me a
very hard fight indeed, lasting for an hour and twenty-five minutes. I
never felt so sorry for anything in my life as I did for that tarpon as
I played him. He made such a plucky struggle for life, and was worthy of
a better antagonist, for he could not know that it was no skill on my
part that finally conquered him, but a sheer determination to get the
better of him. I was thankful indeed when at last I succeeded in working
him near enough for Santi to gaff, for my arms and thumbs were
absolutely numb with the enormous weight and strain. One very quickly
learns the knack of playing the fish and tiring them out, and I rarely
took longer than twelve or fifteen minutes, and sometimes less, in
killing my fish after a little practice.

The tarpon were late in coming up the river the year we were there,
owing to the water being very cold after the dreadful "freeze" which
devastated so many flourishing orange plantations, so that the fishing
was not really good till about the middle of April. From then till we
left, however, about the 15th of May, we had splendid sport, killing
forty-eight tarpon between us, of which seventeen fell to my share. My
husband's biggest kill in one day was five, mine was three, and I found
that quite enough, for though it does not take long in point of time, to
kill your tarpon when once he is hooked, the strain on all your muscles
is enormous. It calls all your faculties into play, as may be imagined,
to kill a 150 lbs. fish on a small rod, and a line no thicker, if as
thick, as a salmon line. The one thing to avoid is letting your reel
over-run. If that happens, and it easily does, for the reels are on ball
bearings and run at a touch, your fish is practically lost, you can
rarely clear the line again.

I was miraculously lucky in never losing a fish through breaking the
line, but the danger of letting your reel over-run has been very
strongly impressed on me, and you quickly find out how much strain you
dare put on the rod. The great point to be remembered is always to keep
the rod as upright as possible, and your thumb on the brake.

I think very few things can equal the keen excitement of playing a
tarpon. You may have been sitting in the boat perhaps for hours, on the
look-out for the bubbles on the water, and the sound of the "puff,"
which show a tarpon is feeding near. Your line, of which twenty yards or
so have been coiled loosely in the bottom of the boat, suddenly begins
to creep out, gently, almost invisibly. You think, as you see it, "it is
those wretched cat-fish again," but no, it is too determined and
continuous for that. You watch the line, breathless with excitement,
till nearly all is gone, and the pace gets quicker and quicker, then you
take the rod up carefully, so as not to interfere with the line, for at
this stage the very slightest jerk or stoppage of the line will cause
the tarpon instantly to spit the bait out. Now the line is whizzing out.
You strike with all your might and main, and have a confused feeling of
having hooked an avalanche, an earthquake and a thunderbolt all in one,
for instantly a huge mass of shining silver leaps yards high into the
air, falling with a mighty splash, to leap again, and again, and again.
Your reel is screaming as the line whistles out, but long before the
tarpon has finished his first leaps the guide has hauled up his anchor
and is away, rowing with all his strength down on the fish, which soon
settles down to a long, steady, dash downstream. You do your utmost to
make him leap again and so exhaust himself, by reeling up a yard or so
of slack at a time, then pausing with both thumbs hard on break and line
as he throws himself wildly out of the water. But away he goes again,
taking out perhaps every foot of line on the reel, and again you reel
up, working him hard. Slowly and by degrees his leaps become shorter and
fainter, you work him nearer and nearer the boat till he lies exhausted
on his side, but with one wary eye on the gaff, ready to slew round and
make another dash for life and liberty. But you hold him tight. One
skilful blow with the gaff, and another gallant fish has met his fate.

[Illustration: _MRS. MURPHY-GRIMSHAW_

_ON BOARD THE TARPON BOAT._]

A rope is passed through his gills, and in triumph you return to the
sailing-boat, there to tie him up. This all sounds very simple and
straight forward, but there is no end to the tricks of which a tarpon is
capable. He will dash backwards and forwards beneath the boat, till you
think no power on earth can ever prevent your line becoming hopelessly
entangled with yourself or the oars, he will double up and down, and
round and round, he will even leap clean over the boat, often
threatening to land himself inside it, and so swamp you. On one occasion
a fish I had hooked started away up stream, then suddenly turned in his
tracks, met the buoy of our anchor, took three clean turns round it, and
continued his mad career towards the Gulf. I thought all was over, but
Santi by some marvellous _tour-de-force_ somehow unwound it, shouting as
he did so "Let your line out as hard as you can," and away we went. All
this with a tide running about seven knots an hour, and the boat
swinging wildly in mid-stream. We killed that fish, which greatly
surprised us both.

One hears wonderful stories of fishermen being towed many miles by
tarpon, and one Englishman we met had been over four hours one day
having a desperate fight with a very large fish, which I believe he
lost in the end. After we had been at Fort Myers some time, we heard
great accounts of the sport to be had at a place called Captiva, an
island in the Gulf of Mexico. We were also told it was a very dangerous
form of tarpon fishing there, as the place where you fish is a very
narrow pass between two islands, where there is always a tremendous sea
running, so that you are liable to be swamped. They also told us it
would be quite impossible for a woman to attempt to land a tarpon there,
as owing to the rapid tide you must land in order to play your fish, and
this entails running up and down the beach after him, which is very hard
work with a heavy fish. All this naturally made us much keener to go, so
we made our preparations, which had to be considerable, as the only
accommodation on the Island consisted of two or three fishermen's huts.
We laid in a couple of small camp bedsteads, while sheets, pillows,
blankets, and the ever necessary mosquito curtains were lent us by our
host at the hotel. We also invested in a tin plate, mug, knife and fork
each, a few cooking utensils, the largest tin bowls we could find to tub
in, a large supply of tinned provisions, chickens, ice, in fact, all we
could think of. Then we found a coloured cook, a vast and very cheery
young man, who turned out an excellent _chef_. Finally we started, with
our guides and tarpon boats--and towing our sailing-boat--on the steamer
which plies every other day between Punta Gorda and Fort Myers, and
which passes within a mile of Captiva Island.

Captiva is a dream of loveliness, lying like a pearl on the
sapphire-blue, ever changing waters of the Gulf of Mexico--an enchanted
garden where all the ordinary troubles and cares of life seem to have no
place. As we landed for the first time on its snowy beach, where the
brilliantly green trees and vegetation come down almost to the water's
edge, and cast intense violet shadows on the low-growing cactus, with
its yellow, starlike blossoms and redly purple fruits, and gazed out on
the wondrous waters of the Gulf, where every exquisite shade of palest
and brightest emerald green gradually deepened into softest yet most
vivid blue, we felt we had indeed chanced on the Land of the Lotus
Eaters, and that here we could spend our days in dreaming blissful
dreams, far away from the multitudinous cares of civilisation. Life was
so simple there, one's requirements narrowed down in a remarkable way.
The climate is so exquisite, with the blazing sun tempered by breezes
from the Gulf, and the hut we had was a simple structure of two or three
poles thatched with palm leaves, into which you entered by a square hole
in the wall. Guiltless of furniture was the hut, beyond two trestle-like
tables, on one of which I erected my bed, to escape the numberless
cockroaches which infested the thatch.

Our meals we had in the other hut, where cooking went on, and what
delicious repasts they seemed to us. They generally consisted of fish,
soup or chowder, a sort of "olla podrida" of bits of chicken,
vegetables, green corn, anything our _chef_ could lay his hands on, or
fried fish fresh caught, and such delicious varieties of these there
were too, and bananas fresh or cooked. We always marvelled at the
inventive genius of our coloured Soyer. But in reality you never think
of being hungry, or thirsty, or tired, or anything else at Captiva, you
feel quite superior to all bodily wants.

We used to bathe at night in the mystical moonlight, when the air was
heavy with scents, a belated mocking bird's song perhaps mingling with
the soft rush of the tide on the shelly beach. Then we would sleep
sounder than we had ever done before, till 4-30 or so, and awake keen
and eager for another delightful, long, busily lazy day. It used to be
my greatest delight to get out on the beach, before any of the old
sailors even were about, and watch the daily miracle of the sunrise over
the shining waters of the gulf, when the air seemed stilly waiting for
the wonderful moment when the golden glory of the sun should flood land
and sea, and chase away the dreamy evanescent hues of greys and rose and
blues, which had clothed the world but a moment before.

The island is about three miles long and one mile wide, curved rather in
the shape of a letter S, which made the most fascinating little bays and
inlets. We used to spend all our spare time rambling about and exploring
it. It is quite uninhabited except for four or five old Spanish
fishermen, who have their little settlement of two or three huts and a
drying shed for the fish, on the beach where we landed. The whole island
is covered with trees and a thick undergrowth, with here and there open
spaces covered with flowers of all varieties. The butterflies are
another great feature, of every size and colour imaginable, and the
mocking birds make the air ring again with their lovely plaintive note,
so like our nightingale. On the beach the shells were a never ending
interest to collect, so wonderful and varied they are. With all these
different amusements we never found time too long, for when we were
tired of investigating the hidden nooks and corners of our Garden of
Eden, we could always sketch, and occupy ourselves in vainly
endeavouring to reproduce the ceaselessly changing and indescribably
beautiful tints of the Gulf, with its waters rippling gently on the
golden shore at our feet, or the picturesque old fishermen in their
faded blue garments, as seen against the dim background of the drying
shed, where the fish were a mass of irridescent mother-of-pearl and
jewel-like hues, and where huge, green glass demijohns for water made
yet another note of brilliant light.

[Illustration:

      _7-ft. 0-1/2-in._      _6-ft. 7-in._      _5-ft. 4-in._
      _156-lb._              _136-lb._          _80-lb._

_A GOOD BAG OF TARPON._]

At Captiva you fish on the flood tide, which when we first arrived
there, chanced to be about 6 p.m. so we had all the day at our disposal.
About 4-30 p.m. would see us setting forth in the tarpon boats, bigger
and deeper ones than those used on the river, so as to minimise the
danger of capsizing. Gently pulling down to the fishing ground, half a
mile or so away, we would take up our places as near a tide-rip as
possible, for that is where the fish love to feed. The pass is very
narrow, about a quarter of a mile across, so we and any other boats that
might be there would be at very close quarters, indeed the swinging of
the tide frequently brought about collisions between neighbouring boats.
There we anchored, a somewhat difficult business, as the bottom is so
rocky it is very hard to get an anchor to hold.

While waiting for the tarpon to begin to bite, we would pass the time
catching smaller fish for the next morning's breakfast, red grouper,
with their cavernous rosy-red mouth, very excellent eating; black ones
of that ilk; king fish, an extremely difficult gentleman to catch, as he
is very active and game for his size, and in colour and shape rather a
cross between an eel and a mackerel; sea trout always welcome for the
pot, or some unhappy fisherman perhaps would discover he had hooked a
jew-fish, which would mean either hours of hauling and much expenditure
of bad language and energy, or cutting the line and sacrificing hook and
snood. The jew-fish is a horrible looking thing like a large pig, a
dirty yellow in colour, covered with scales so minute that they look
like a skin, and with a huge head. These fish generally weigh over 200
lbs., and fishermen naturally dread them, for they are absolutely
unsporting and just bore down and down on the line, never jumping or
showing any fight, but steadily resisting all efforts to raise them,
till it is like trying to lift an elephant. But whenever or wherever you
throw a line, a catch of some sort is a certainty, for the water simply
teems with fish, and you probably get a different one every time, which
adds greatly to the interest and excitement.

In bottom-fishing, as it is up the river, the more rods you have out the
more chances of bites, but at Captiva the fish bite so voraciously and
so incessantly that two rods are as much as you can do with, one for
yourself and one for the guide. Even then if you hook one fish out of
every ten strikes, you do well. In bottom-fishing you wait for the fish
to gorge the bait before striking. At Captiva you must strike the very
instant you feel a bite, or otherwise the tarpon spits the bait out on
feeling the line, and you must strike with all your strength too, for
the tarpon's vast mouth is lined with a perfect coat of mail, in which
there is but one soft spot, an inch or two in length, where the bones
divide. The hook is put into the bait about two inches from the end, and
the shank, seized to the end of the bait, is connected with the line by
three feet of piano wire, which replaces the raw hide snooding in this
Pass fishing, where there is so much strain on everything owing to the
difference in the way the fish take the bait, and the tremendous tide
running. You need a rather more limber rod too, to help you keep a tight
line on your fish, no easy matter in very rough water. The fish are in
innumerable thousands in the Pass, which they must all enter on their
way up the river, and it is a fine sight to see the water literally
alive with these splendid fish, all leaping and playing like minnows in
a pond.

I must say I felt very nervous at first as to my chances of landing a
tarpon at Captiva, having been told it was so impossible a feat for a
woman to achieve. Great therefore was my delight and pride, when, the
second day after our arrival, I landed a fine one, weighing 126 lbs.,
and measuring 6 ft. 5 in. It was a thrilling moment, when, after many
futile strikes, I at last got one on safe, and saw his huge silvery bulk
leaping wildly into the air, while Santi threw out his buoy and we
started down towards the Gulf. I strained every nerve to keep a tight
line on the fish, working in the slack by a foot at a time, while
keeping the tip of my rod high in the air. By very slow degrees we edged
towards the shore, and at last felt the welcome grating of the keel on
the beach. I scrambled out, knee deep in water, and then the real tug of
war began; for it is a very difficult matter to run up and down a
shelving, shingly beach with nearly 130 lbs. fighting for dear life at
the other end of your line, threatening every instant to snap it, or to
make a wild dash out to sea. After about twenty minutes of this, when I
was very nearly exhausted, I felt to my great relief that the tarpon's
struggles were becoming less effectual. We could see him occasionally,
and at last I hauled him close up, Santi made his usual clever stroke
with the gaff, not however till after many attempts, and much splashing
and objecting on the part of the tarpon. I was decidedly thankful when I
saw him lying high and dry on the shore.

My husband had two great battles in one night. He hooked an enormous
tarpon which ran straight out to the gulf. He and his boat disappeared
entirely from sight, and when after about two hours we went in search,
we discovered him breathless and exhausted but triumphant, having just
gaffed his fish, which measured 6 ft. 10 in., and weighed 180 lbs.! The
second one measured 6 ft. 8 in., and weighed 175 lbs., a fine kill for
one day at Captiva. These two, with mine, looked splendid specimens
lying side by side in the moonlight.

It is if possible even more exciting to fish in the dark than during the
day. When you have it all to do by "feel," it is a weird sensation, to
struggle with an invisible foe, the only outward signs of which are the
showers of phosphorescent spray, as the tarpon leaps and falls again. Of
course on a moonlight night you can see all that is going on, and the
tarpon looks like a dream fish as the silvery light glitters on his
gleaming sides.

After ten days or so of fishing in the Pass we heard they were getting a
good many fish at Port Myers, so we returned there, quitting our idyllic
life at Captiva with much regret. It is a lovely trip by steamer between
these two places. The river is thickly studded with islands of all
shapes and sizes, some flat and low, covered with an impenetrable
thicket of mangroves, others larger with a few houses and probably an
hotel. We called at two or three of the more important ones, always
finding the same scene, a dilapidated wooden pier, constructed on
slender piles standing far out into the river, where most of the people
gathered for the event of the day, the arrival of our boat. A
queer-looking motley crowd they were, coloured people of all shades of
blacks and browns and dirty yellows, languid, lazy-looking "crackers,"
as the native Floridians are called, with here and there a pretty girl
in a sun bonnet, flirting with the lanky and very leggy young men in
shirt sleeves and sombrero-like hats. All were lounging in the sun, most
of them with a line, pulling up cat-fish, sea-trout, jack-fish, or
sheepsheads, as fast as they put the bait in.

The sea is a wondrous emerald green, and we lean over the side of the
boat watching the rolling porpoises, some of which follow us for miles,
and catching an occasional glimpse of an evil-looking shark, or again
passing through huge shoals of stingarees, like enormous submarine birds
with their flapping wing-like sides. The day wears on in warm drowsiness
till at last we approach Fort Myers, and are met at the dock with eager
enquiries and congratulations on our successful expedition to the Pass.
By the 15th of May the weather had become very hot, and the mosquitos
very bad, and all the other fishermen having already taken their
departure, we felt our time had also come. It was only a few days before
we left, that I caught what was supposed to be a record fish in point of
length, 7-ft. 1/2-in., weight, 156-lbs.

On a blazing morning we lingeringly and regretfully bade farewell to
Fort Myers, where we made so many pleasant friends, and had such
glorious sport, and we had a blazing ten hours passage on the _Laurence_
up to Punta Gorda, so that we hailed the evening cool with thankfulness.
At Punta Gorda the big hotel was closed, and the visitors and fishermen
had all fled long since, but we found a room in which to pass the short
time that elapsed till the train was ready to start for Jacksonville.
There we arrived after twelve hot weary hours in the cars. We waited
there two nights for the boat to New York. Jacksonville is the chief
town in Florida, and a most bustling and amusing place to see.

We had an exquisite passage to New York, five days of absolutely calm
and glorious weather, with scarcely a ripple on the sea, or a cloud in
the intensely blue sky. We arrived to find New York shivering in cold
winds and a prey to spring weather of the worst description, heavy
showers and dreary intermittent gleams of sunshine, a strange contrast,
indeed, to the perfect climate we had so recently left. Among our
luggage was a gigantic coffin-like case, in which reposed the body of my
first tarpon. I had insisted on having him stuffed and set up, as I was
quite convinced at the time I could never catch another one so fine,
though afterwards I rather regretted my haste, when I found I was
destined to even greater success.

Hermione Murphy-Grimshaw.

[Illustration: _Lombardi and Co. 13, Pall Mall East._

_MISS WALROND._]




ARCHERY.


There is probably no weapon in modern use which can boast a more ancient
and distinguished lineage than the bow, and so slight is the change it
has undergone during its lengthened career, that the bow of the present
day is in no-wise--save in strength and finish--dissimilar to the more
deadly instrument of far-off times. In dealing with the history of
Archery as relating only to women, a volume might be filled with the
stories of the marvellous military exploits of the warlike ladies who
lived in the East.

But leaving these and coming to medieval times we are told of a stirring
incident, during the plundering of a village in Usbec Tartary, by some
soldiers belonging to the Emperor Aurunzebe's army. An old woman warned
the plunderers to desist, threatening them with the vengeance of her
daughter should they continue. Her words having no effect the marauders
collected their prisoners and booty and were retiring when a damsel rode
up carrying bow and arrows and mounted on a warlike steed. She boldly
summoned the soldiers to release their prisoners and return their
plunder, and promised that if they did so their lives should be spared.
Finding that no attention was paid to her, she then raised her bow and
shooting three or four arrows, emptied a corresponding number of saddles
among the enemy. In return the soldiers attempted to shoot her, but
finding that their weak Indian weapons were not equal to her Tartar one,
and that their numbers were being lessened by her incessant shower of
arrows, the veracious historian tells us they released their captives,
too late, however, for their own safety, as those who did not fall to
her arrows were put to death by the sword. Truly a remarkable episode.

In Dr. Southey's _History of the Cid_, it is stated that Clorinda, a
Moorish Queen, "was so skilful in drawing the Turkish bow, that it was
held as a marvel," and it is said that they called her in Arabic,
Nugneymat Turga, which is to say, "Star of the Archers."

Hansard, in the _Book of Archery_, writes of the Persian beauties of
the Harem, who were permitted to amuse themselves with Archery. These
oriental bow meetings he says, "take place within the recesses of the
Royal Gardens where, their black-bearded tyrant and a bevy of female
attendants excepted, no spectators are allowed to be present. The butts
consist of moistened sand enclosed in a wooden frame, and beaten into a
hard compact mass. These are set up in a slanting direction at the
boundary of some verdant alley, where the over-hanging branches of vine
and orange tree exclude the fierceness of an Eastern Sun. Consistent
with that gorgeous taste so prevalent throughout the East, the whole
exterior of this butt is covered with elegant scroll work and patterns
of flowers. Gold and silver intermingled with various pigments of the
most brilliant hues, are lavishly employed to produce this effect. A
female Abyssinian slave stands beside the mark, provided with a large
round pebble, to form and preserve an unbroken hollow in the centre, and
at this cavity every arrow is directed. She repeats the operation
several times whilst her mistresses are shooting: for the triumph of
Persian archery consists not merely in a central shot, but also in
making the arrow penetrate deeply into the sand at every discharge."

Still more striking are the words of a French traveller named Gentil,
who speaks of a race of Amazons, seen by him in the retinue of an Indian
Prince. They were about a hundred in number, were well paid, lived in
the Palace, and accompanied the Prince when he hunted, or formed his
body guard in time of war.

There are Prints and Records dating from the fourteenth century, which
show the fondness of the English women for sports. We find them in the
field with the men, sometimes taking part in shooting at the animals as
they were driven past them, and proving themselves no mean markswomen.
They are said often to have conducted a hunt entirely by themselves,
"winding the horn, rousing the game," and following it without any help
from the opposite sex. Strutt tells us that on these occasions, some of
them went so far as to wear divided skirts and sit their horses like
men, but we do not hear that the fashion became general.

[Illustration: _From a Harleian MS. in the British Museum._]

John Yonge, Somerset Herald, who attended Margaret Tudor, the daughter
of Henry VII., on her journey to Scotland for her marriage to James IV.,
states under the date Alnwick, 27th July, 1503: "Two mylle from the sayd
place, the sayd Erle (Northumberland) cam and mett hyr well accompayned,
and brought hyr thorough hys park, when she kylde a Buk with hyr bow."

In Sir II. Nicolas' _Household Expenses of Henry VIII._ we find these
entries:

      May, 1530. Itm the same day paid to Scawsely for bowys,
      arrowys, shafts, brode hedds, bracer, and shooting glove
      for my Lady Anne xxxiijs iijd.

      June. Itm the same daye paied to the King's Bowyer for iiij
      bowes for my ladye Anne at iiijs iiijd, a pece xxiiijs
      iiijd.

      June, 1537. Itm payed to Charles Morley for Bowes, Arowes,
      a qwyver, wt other thinge for my lade g'ce xijs xd.

These show us that archery was among the Royal amusements of this time.
Elizabeth is said to have been extremely fond of hunting, and to have
been expert with her bow. Roger Ascham, a great lover of archery who
wrote the first treatise on the pastime, and after whom the long
cupboards so well known to every archer are named, was Elizabeth's
tutor, though whether he initiated her in the mysteries of the art is
not known, but certain it is that during this Queen's reign archery was
a popular pastime among the ladies of the Court.

When Elizabeth was being entertained by Lord Montecute at Cowdray, in
Sussex, it is stated in _Nicol's Progresses_ that "On Munday at eight of
the clock in the morning her Highnes tooke horse and rode into the
parke, where was a delicate bowre prepared under the which were her
Highnesse musicians placed, and a crossebowe by a Nymph with a sweet
song, delivered to her hands, to shoot at the deere, about some thirtie
in number, put into a paddock, of which number she killed three or four,
and the Countesse of Kildare one. Aug. 18th, 1591."

It is stated on this occasion, that the Queen was surpassed in skill
with the bow by her favourite Lady Desmond, the latter, however,
courtierlike, avoided giving her mistress any cause for jealousy, by
judiciously missing her quarry occasionally. Again Robert Cary, Earl of
Monmouth, speaking of events which happened in 1596 says "the Queen came
to dinner to Enfield House, and had butts set upon the park to shoot at
marks after dinner."[5]

[Footnote 5: Memories of Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth.]

Lady Berkeley is said to have "used the longbow, and was in those days,
among her servants, so good an archer at the butts, that her side by her
was not the weaker, whoes bowes, arrowes, gloves, braces, scarfe, and
other ladylike accomodation, I have seen and heard herself speak of them
in her elder year."[6]

[Footnote 6: MS. Memoirs of the Berkeley Family.]

Lady Shrewsbury also was an adept in the use of the bow, as we find Sir
F. Leake writes to her husband: "My right honourable goode Lorde,--Your
Lordeshyppe hath sent me a verie greatte and fatte stagge, the welcomer
beynge stryken by your ryght honorable Ladie's hande; I trust by the
grace of God, he shall be meanlie eaten at thes assizes, when your
Lordeshyppe and my ladie shall be often remembered. My bold bucke lyves
styll to wayte upon your Lordeshyppe and my Ladie's comyng hyther;
howbeit I knoe her Ladishipp takes pitie of my bucke sense the last tyme
yt pleases her to take the travell to shote att them. I am afraeyde that
my honourable Ladies Alathea and my Ladie Cavendish will commande their
aroe heades to be verie sharpe: yett I charitable trust that such good
Ladies wyt be pittifull." (1605).

From this time until the revival of archery at the end of the last
century, its practice among women appears to have been gradually
abandoned.

The first Archery Society to be established in 1781 was the Royal
Toxophilite, but this consisted only of men. Shortly afterwards many
other societies were started, among them in 1787 the Royal British
Bowmen, and to them belongs the honour of being the first to admit
ladies as members, and very sociable, pleasant gatherings they seem to
have had. Other societies soon followed this good example, some admitted
ladies as members, and some like the Woodmen of Arden only as guests.
The assemblies at Meriden are still held every year, the old customs
being strictly kept up.

[Illustration: _Hertfordshire Society of Archers_

_Dutchess of Leeds._ _Marchioness of Salisbury._ _Hon'ble Miss
Grimstone._ _Miss Seabright._]

Women were not slow to appreciate the gracefulness of archery, and it
soon became a fashionable amusement, the Lady Salisbury of the time
being one of its most ardent supporters. Most of the societies adopted a
distinctive dress, in which white and green predominated. The Royal
British Bowmen adorned their Lady Patroness with a white feather in her
hat, the other lady members being compelled to wear black ones, while
their dresses were green with pink vandykes round the edge of skirt. The
Harley Bush Bowmen were so fond of the distinctive colour, that they
even had green boots, and it is pleasant to know that it was provided by
the rules these should be "easy fitting!"

Archery was taken up very strongly in the closing years of the last
century, and of the doings of this period many interesting particulars
are to be found in the collections of Miss Bank Banks, daughter of Sir
Joseph Banks, which are in the British Museum. They give descriptions of
the various meetings, the balls given by the different societies at
which both ladies and gentlemen appeared in uniform, and one of the
anecdotes given may be worth quoting, as, if authentic, it shows greater
success with the bow than has been achieved by any woman in modern
times. "A match was shot at one hundred yards between Mr. Gilpin, Mr.
Wyburgh, and Miss Littledale, in which the last was victorious: during
the shooting, which lasted three hours, Miss Littledale hit the gold
four times, and, what evinces superior skill, the three last hits made
by Miss Littledale were in the gold."

Though archery was taken up so warmly, it died out a few years later, in
consequence of the war, and it was not again taken up until the final
conclusion of peace, in 1815, when it was revived. Many new societies
were started and old ones restored, and from this time it has continued
to flourish, not only in England but in many other parts of the world,
notably in the United States of America, the Mauritius, and at
Melbourne. Space prevents my mentioning these at length.

Besides these societies, which hold prize meetings at intervals, there
are five public meetings in the year, beginning with the Leamington and
Midland Counties' Meeting at Leamington, in June, where the
Championships of the Midland Counties are competed for. The Crystal
Palace Meeting follows, at which the Southern Counties' Championships
are shot for in July. The Grand National Meeting, where the
Championships of All England are shot for, and the Grand Western Archery
Meeting, at which the Championships of the West are awarded, come next,
either meeting being occasionally held before the other. The Grand
Northern Meeting for the Northern Counties' Championships is usually the
last held. These three meetings are held in a different place each year,
to encourage archery in local clubs. At the Grand National, in addition
to the prizes, badges and medals are given, and it is a great joy to the
young archeress to get her first "spider," which is a little brooch in
form of a target with three arrows placed through it.

[Illustration: _Archery Dresses_

(_About 1832_).]

If you wish to compete at a public meeting you pay a
subscription--unless you are an annual subscriber to that particular
society--and a target entrance fee, besides which each archer subscribes
sixpence a day, for the payment of the target boys. There are usually
five or six competitors at each target, No. 3 is the captain or scorer,
who has to keep order, instruct the boys how to pull the arrows out of
the ground, and see that the judge comes to measure golds, etc. She is
assisted in adding up and checking the scores at the target by No. 4,
the lieutenant.

The first Grand National Meeting was held in 1844 but no ladies shot,
and it was not until 1849 that the Double National Round was first shot
by ladies, so that it is only possible to compare the shooting
subsequent to this date. On this occasion the highest score (189) was
made by Miss Temple, two years later Miss Villiers making 504 with 108
hits, the second score being only 293. The number of 600 was first
reached by a lady in 1857, when Miss H. Chetwynd made 634, and this
score remained unbeaten till Mrs. Horniblow scored 660, which in its
turn was surpassed two years later by Miss Betham with 693.

It was not until 1870, at Bath, that 700 was attained, that score being
made by Mrs. Horniblow. Mrs. W. Butt added 52 to this record in 1876,
and this remained the top score until 1881, when Miss Legh made 763. The
highest score made by any lady at any Grand National was Mrs. Bowly's
823 in 1894. Miss Legh's 866 at Leamington, in 1895, being the highest
ever made by a lady at a public meeting, though perhaps the same
shooter's score at Bath, in 1881, of 840, was an even better
performance, as no arrow was dropped on either of the first two days,
and only one on the third.

It will thus be seen what a great improvement has taken place in
shooting during the last fifty years.

Beatrice P. M. Walrond.

[Illustration: _Lombards and Co. 13, Pall Mall East._

_MRS. BERENS._]




ARCHERY.--II.


I have been asked to write the practical part of this article, though
why I cannot imagine, for although I can sometimes pull off a good score
with bow and arrow--when the wind does not blow and when my loose is
good--I am of no use whatever with a pen, and never wrote an "article"
on anything in my life. The Badminton book on Archery, with its valuable
teaching, often stands me in good stead when I get into any of the
innumerable tricks which beset the path of the archer, and which well
nigh bring the beginner to _despair_ of ever becoming a steady shot. How
many beginners have I met who have had to learn by bitter experience
that to shoot a good arrow is not so easy as appears at first sight, and
that to make perhaps a very fine score of three hundred and odd, does
not by any means prove that one has conquered all difficulties. There
are so many things to think of at once, and though you may try to do
this conscientiously you will find your performance often terribly
inadequate. But after all the great fascination of archery consists in
the continual battling against faults which creep upon the archer
unawares. This we find to our cost on a windy day, for there is nothing
like wind to prove that we do not get the real power out of bow and
loose.

I always recommend to a beginner an inexpensive lancewood bow weighing
about twenty-four to twenty-six pounds, the cost of which amounts to
about twelve shillings, but when the archeress has practised
sufficiently to understand what she requires and _why_, then I should
advise a yew-backed yew of good quality as giving more cast and
retaining it longer than other kinds. I should perhaps say that by cast
is meant the rapidity and ease with which the arrow is delivered from
the bow. Many shooters prefer to use a self yew bow, but it must be
remembered that this is more delicate and requires to be drawn with
great care. A three piece bow of yew, fustic and hickory, price about
thirty shillings, will do good service, though the cast does not last so
long if one practises constantly, as that of the yew-backed yew. There
are many archers who have ruined their style and shooting with too
heavy a bow, one weighing twenty-seven or twenty-eight pounds can do all
that is necessary for the National Round of sixty and fifty yards if it
is properly handled, and for the six dozen arrows at seventy yards,
called the Hereford Round, I can use one of the same weight. For eighty
yards, however, I prefer a bow of twenty-nine or thirty pounds, still my
advice to all beginners is, "Do not shoot with a bow which is beyond
your control."

Now to choose the bow. The first thing to see to is that the grain of
the wood is straight, even, close, and free from knots or pins, more
especially on the rounded part and within about six inches of each end.
This applies to any sort of bow, but more especially to yew, as crysals
are apt to develop wherever there is a pin. A crysal is a small crack in
the wood, which at first is often difficult to detect, but which is a
serious source of weakness and often ends in the breaking of the bow.
The length of a lady's bow should be from 5 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. 6 in.

[Illustration]

To string the bow, place the lower horn against your right foot, the
"back" or flat part of the bow towards the body, and taking the handle
of the bow in your right hand, place the ball of your left thumb four
inches from the top horn. Then while drawing it to you with the right
hand, press it from you with the left and slip the upper loop of the
string into the nock of the horn. The method of unstringing is precisely
similar, except that the loop is slipped out instead of being passed in.
When the bow is strung, the distance from the inside of the handle
should be five-and-a-half inches to the string, which for one inch above
and five inches below the handle should be neatly whipped with waxed
thread or silk to prevent its being injured, should it strike the
bracer. Then exactly opposite the top of the handle of the bow, the
nocking point must be made, which should be sufficiently tight to retain
the arrow when hanging downwards from the string. When strung the bow
should be held, string uppermost, the lower horn resting on the ground,
and on looking down the string, it should appear to cut the bow in the
centre. In a good bow the centre sixteen inches should be rigid, and
thence the bend should be regular and even. The string should be of the
best hemp whipped with silk, and a nocking point neatly made exactly in
the right spot. It is better looped at each end, as in the event of its
being slack it can then be twisted up in a moment, thus avoiding all
flurry of undoing in the old way of knotting the end. I have already
said that it is better to have a string with loops spliced at each end,
it is as well, however, to say how the loop can be made in a new string.
The knot is a timber hitch, to make which take a turn of the lower end
round the string and twist it three times round the loop. The string is
whipped in the following manner: String the bow and find the exact spot
where the nocking of the arrow will come, then wax the string for an
inch and a half above, and five inches below the spot, and take some
silk or carpet thread, also waxed, and lay half an inch of the thread
along the string beginning at the upper portion. Then wrap the thread
over that part of itself which has been laid down until the waxed
portion is covered. In order to fasten off, take six or seven turns of
the thread over the string in the reverse way, place the end of the
thread against that part of the lapping that was last done, wrap the
reverse turns of the thread over the end of the lapping of the string,
then pull the end through and cut it off. The manner of putting on the
knocking point is the same.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The weight of the arrow is mainly determined by that of the bow. Arrows
are weighed against new silver, and when one talks of a 3/6 arrow, the
allusion is to the weight, not to the price. For a beginner a 3/- or 3/3
arrow is about right for a 26 pounds bow, but all these little points
are for the archer to work out for herself. If the experienced archer
should find that she has to aim considerably below the target, she may
increase the weight of the arrow with advantage, as the heavier the
arrow, the lower will be the trajectory. It is bad economy to have any
but the best arrows, and these should be made according to the archer's
pattern, that is to say, as to the colours on them, and should have her
name and the number painted on each. To prevent the paint from the
target sticking to the arrows, it is well to wipe the ends of the latter
with a little vaseline or sweet oil, and care should be taken to choose
the arrows of as nearly as possible the same weight before shooting, as
whatever they are marked, they are sure to vary slightly. The best
arrows are footed as it is termed, _i.e._, they have a piece of hard
wood dovetailed in at the pile end. The best shaped arrow for a beginner
is the straight one, and care should be taken that it is stiff, and not
weak at the feather end. There are two kinds of feathers, parabolic and
straight, but there is very little difference in their flight. The best
kind of feathers come from the wing of the peacock, turkey's wing
feathers being the next best.

[Illustration]

The other equipment required is an arm guard or bracer with straps, cut
out of one piece of brown leather,--the leather bracers lined with silk
having elastic fastenings are no good--and a belt with a quiver to hold
six arrows, as the first shooter at a target at a big meeting should
always have six arrows to shoot with, to avoid delay in the beginning.
On this belt should hang a tassel for wiping dirty arrows, a pencil and
scoring book, a little bag containing glove, extra string, a piece of
wax and some silk to whip the bow string when necessary. It is also
useful to have a knife, and a pair of scissors.

[Illustration]

As to the question of gloves or tips, I always recommend a kid glove, a
size larger than the ordinary wear, with pieces of smooth leather--not
soft or spongy--neatly sewn on to the three first fingers, care being
taken not to put the leather below the first joint of the finger. Many
people, however, shoot with either knuckle or screw tips, which are
bought ready made of the bow maker. If tips are used they should fit the
fingers accurately, all three being of the same thickness. It is
important to have two gloves or sets of tips for shooting in case of
accident, and they should be exactly alike. Other necessaries are a
waterproof bag for bow, and a wooden box with spaces for arrows.

The usual distances shot by women are sixty and fifty yards, four dozen
arrows at sixty yards and two dozen at fifty yards, being what is called
the National Round. Of late, shooting at seventy yards has been
re-introduced, six dozen arrows at that distance followed by four dozen
at sixty yards and two dozen at fifty yards, being named the Hereford
Round.

The targets are four feet in diameter and are made of twisted bands of
wheat straw fastened together with tar cord, then covered with painted
canvas. There are five concentric rings painted on them, the centre
gold, which scores nine, the red seven, blue five, black three, and
white one, and in scoring, the arrow counts as being in the highest
colour which it touches. The targets are supported by iron or wooden
stands, the centre of the target being four feet from the ground, and
slightly tilted back. They should not be placed at the exact distance it
is intended to shoot at, but from two to four yards further back, a mark
being placed in the ground at the correct distance for the archer to
stand on, and no one should be allowed to stand in front of the targets
except the archer who is actually shooting. It is important that quiet
should be maintained behind the target, and archers, especially at
public meetings, should assist the captain, whose duty it is to see that
order is kept.

The ground should be as level and smooth as possible, and the targets
should be placed exactly opposite each other; if more than one pair are
in use, the ground will require squaring, in order that the pairs may be
exactly opposite each other.

The directions given for the position for shooting hold good at all
distances, and no alteration ought to be made with the exception that
the left hand must be raised higher at the longer distance, greater
elevation being required in order to obtain a sufficiently high flight.
It is a great mistake to draw to a different place on the face, or not
to draw the arrow fully up, at the shorter distance. _Always_ draw the
arrow till the pile reaches the bow and your hand the right place, viz.,
under your right jaw below the axis of vision of the right eye.

Having described most of the details to be attended to, we now come to
the all important subject of how to shoot. I must first of all impress
on all beginners that it is absolutely necessary there should be
nothing on the dress which could by any means catch or interfere with
the string. Nothing is more suitable than a plain tailor-made dress, or
a skirt and blouse, the latter with no frills. The sleeves should be
sufficiently easy to allow the elbow perfect play without being too
large. In putting on the bracer care should be taken to keep the sleeve
smooth, any fulness being drawn to the back of the arm, and the top of
the sleeve pinned back out of the way.

_Standing._ Take up your position on the shooting spot, with feet six or
eight inches apart, standing easily in an upright position, with the
shoulders in a direct line between the targets. Care should be taken
that the knees are perfectly straight, the balance of the body being on
the heels, and the position of the shoulders must be obtained by moving
the feet and not by twisting the body.

_Nocking._ The bow to be held in a perpendicular position, between the
second knuckle of the first finger and the ball of the thumb of the left
hand. The main grasp of the bow should be in the upper part of the hand,
the other fingers being held close to the bow. The test as to whether
you are holding the bow correctly is to drop the left arm by the side,
the wrist being quite straight, and if the string touches the bracer,
the position of the bow in the hand is not correct. The nocking is to be
accomplished by bringing the arrow over the bow, which should be held
directly in front, and fitting it on the nocking place, remembering to
keep the cock feather--_i.e._, the one which is at right angles to the
nock--uppermost, and not to alter the grasp of the bow until after all
three arrows have been shot. Place the three fingers of the right hand
evenly on the string, and do not pinch the arrow with the first finger,
otherwise it will fall off the left hand at the moment of drawing. The
right wrist should be held straight.

[Illustration: _BEFORE THE DRAW._]

_Drawing._ The usual position of archers before they actually begin to
draw, is with the left elbow bent just above the hip, the bow being
perpendicular, but to speak from my own experience, I find it better to
hold the bow easily in the hand with the left elbow straight, though
without stiffness, raising both arms simultaneously on a level with the
point of aim. Then draw in a straight line with the target, till the
pile of the arrow comes on to the bow, and the right hand with the
fingers bent, is held in such a position that the thumb is pressed
against the throat below the jaw and under the axis of vision of the
right eye. The left arm should be straight but not rigid, the final
grasp of the bow being made directly the aim is taken. The head must be
erect, and turned towards the point of aim. The body should be erect and
the weight thrown as much as possible on the heels. A common fault I
have noticed with young archers, is to draw the right hand too high and
rest it outside the jaw instead of underneath it. This should be guarded
against. Bring the pile of the arrow on to the point of aim immediately,
keeping the right elbow up as you do so and the shoulders pressed back.
Every care, too, should be taken that the arrow does not "creep,"
_i.e._, that it is not allowed to slip forward on the bow.

_Aiming._ To aim correctly the archer should see the point of the arrow
covering the point of aim. By "the point of aim" I mean some given spot
on the target or ground, the height of which must be found by each
archer for herself, as it is governed by so many things, such as
difference in sight, height, weight, and cast of bow or arrow, etc.,
etc. If the archer finds that she has persistently to aim to the right
or left of the target, there being no wind, it is a proof that
something in her position, draw, or loose is incorrect, _i.e._ that she
does not stand with shoulders in line with the targets, or that she does
not keep her right hand in the proper position, or again that she does
not loose the arrow evenly from all three fingers at once. I must
caution every young archer against the terrible habit of merely glancing
at the target and then loosing the arrow, without taking proper aim.
Very many archers who have asked my advice on decreasing scores or
inability to hit the target have had really _no clear_ idea of any aim
whatever. They "think they aim at the top of the target," perhaps, but
by a system of catechising I discover that such is actually not the
case, and until a real firm point of aim is found and known to the
archer--though an occasional good score may be fluked--no lasting
progress will be made. Therefore as soon as you have learnt to draw up
properly, make it your next study to find your point of aim, and
remember that this will vary with different bows and according to the
direction of the wind, and also according to whether the atmosphere be
heavy or light.

_Loosing._ Remember that the grip of the left hand on the bow must not
give, nor the tension of the muscles be relaxed, until after the arrow
has left the string. Keep the right hand tight to its place, with the
thumb pressed under the jaw beneath the axis of vision of the right eye,
taking care not to relax the pull on the string until the moment of
release, or the arrow will creep. The release is effected by drawing the
fingers back evenly towards the thumb, and the hand must on no account
leave the face while this is being done, nor must it drop down or follow
the string in ever so slight a degree. The wrist must be straight and
the elbow well up. After the release keep up the bow hand and retain the
right hand in its place till the arrow has reached its destination, then
drop the right hand easily and without hurry, preparatory to nocking the
next arrow. Nothing is more ugly or more likely to unsettle you than any
flurry or undue haste.

It is well to warn beginners that great care must be taken of all the
archer's equipment. If the bow or arrows at any time get wet, they
should be carefully dried and the bow should not be replaced in its
waterproof case for some time. The feathers of the arrows can be
restored after being wet by passing them quickly backwards and forwards
above a jug of boiling water. Neither bow nor arrows should be put near
the fire. They should be kept in a dry even temperature.

It is a good thing if a beginner can find a friend who is able and
willing to correct her and help her to overcome some of the faults into
which she is almost certain to fall. But great care should be taken in
the selection of this coach, and even after the beginner has obtained
some degree of proficiency, she ought to be very careful whose opinion
she takes as to her shooting. I have met many young archers who will ask
anybody at the same target "if they would kindly tell them any faults
they see in their shooting." But such general advice will do little
good, for some people cannot detect a fault when it is there, much less
describe it with any accuracy, and some again imagine faults which do
not actually exist. Too many instructors thus spoil the archer, who will
get hopelessly muddled with all the advice given her, and will often
alter what she should leave alone, and not correct her real faults.

[Illustration: _FULL DRAW._]

The amount of nonsense heard on the archery field on the subject of "why
that arrow did not go in" is to the old hand most entertaining, and to
the young one extremely confusing. But I would give this advice to all
beginners: strive to preserve an even temperament in all conditions of
your shooting. Do not get too jubilant and excited when you make either
a pin hole or three reds or golds at one end, and when it happens, as it
certainly will, that what you believe to be three beautifully shot
arrows fall exactly underneath the centre of the target, do not give way
to any irritation of temper or manner, or your succeeding arrows will be
affected. I know many archers who when they want to compete for any
coveted challenge badge do not put down or add up their score, but I
have always found when I tried this plan that ignorance cannot be kept
up on one's score, as some kind friend will always come up and
congratulate you on a dozen of _eighty_, or condole on one of _thirty_,
and then you get more flustered than if you had known all there was to
know. You should always endeavour to preserve a quite equable
temperament even in great success until the round is over, and not go
chattering all round the target as to what you have done or not done,
for this upsets other competitors at your target, and does you no good.

_To form a Club._ An experienced archer knows well how to get a club
formed if there are enough archers to subscribe to it, but for the
beginner to start one is more difficult. Having first selected a ground,
which should be about 80 yards in length, the width being proportionate
to the number of targets it is intended to put up, and obtained targets
and stands, fix one day and hour in the week for your club meeting, on
which you can all meet and shoot your Club National Round. The
subscription should not be high, and when the members get numerous, an
entrance fee can be charged. Have a little paper pamphlet of rules based
on those of the Grand National, or any well-known club founded on those
principles. As soon as your members make scores of over a hundred,
divide them into classes, and when you get members to join who can make
first rate scores, let your classes be as follows:

         Class I.    Over 300 }  { made on your ground
         Class II.     "  200 }  { or at any Public or
      [7]Class III. Under 200 }  { Club Meeting.

[Footnote 7: These scores might perhaps be slightly lowered for a young
club.]

[Illustration: _BEFORE THE DRAW._]

Have all targets pitched so as to begin your round punctually on your
Club day, and begin by shooting the four dozen at sixty yards. When this
is over, if tea is provided it is a pleasant rest, and then you will
shoot the two dozen at fifty yards. It is a good thing to get some
experienced archers to join a young club, and the system of classes will
prevent their taking the beginners' prizes when the club has got on far
enough to start a prize meeting. Prizes are usually given for best score
in each class, and best gold. When men join the club, they must either
shoot altogether at one target, or they must shoot at eighty yards at
each end before the women shoot at sixty. Admission to a club is
generally made by a proposer and seconder writing the name of a
candidate to the Secretary, and having it entered in the candidates'
book, which is put on the table for two meetings of the club. If a
ballot should be demanded the members will all vote, and one blackball
will exclude. When the club is well on its legs, I am an advocate for
getting up a match with a neighbouring club, and I am also very much in
favour of asking visitors to shoot at the prize meetings--a little prize
for visitors adds to the amusement--it creates interest in the young
club, and often gives the members opportunities of seeing good shooting.

After each weekly club meeting, the scores, hits, and golds of the
members at every distance should be entered in a book kept for that
purpose, and any prize won should be marked against the score.

Cordiality is a great element in a club's success. Let each member then
take an interest in the scores of her fellow competitors and rejoice in
their successes.

With regard to the literature on the subject of archery, the books are
numerous and varied, but for all practical purposes it will be
sufficient for the beginner to consult Butt's Ford, the Badminton
Library Volume of Archery, and No. I. of Encyclopaedia of Sport. I would
recommend to all archers, either beginners or otherwise, to take an
annual copy of the _Archer's Register_, which gives not only the scores
of the Public and Club Meetings in England and abroad, but also contains
many interesting and instructive articles on the subject.

Ellinor F. Berens.

[Illustration: _Lombardi and Co._ _13, Pall Mall East._

_MISS MAY BALFOUR._

(_MRS. TALBOT._)]




SKATING.


I.

I propose in this article simply to give my own personal views on the
subject of skating in general, and to say what I consider to be the best
method of attaining proficiency in the art. As what I have to say will
be rather jottings from my personal experience than anything in the
nature of a formal treatise, I hope I may be excused if my remarks are
of a somewhat scrappy and discursive character.

In England at the present time, the art of skating is passing through a
transition stage, and it is quite possible that what to-day is regarded
as a necessary condition of good skating, will in a few years' time be
discarded as obsolete and old-fashioned. I think it therefore wiser, not
to formulate any theory, or lay down any general rule on the subject,
but to confine myself to giving my readers a few hints gathered from my
own experience, which may prove useful to those who wish to attain a
certain measure of proficiency in the art.

My earliest skating experiences were probably similar to those of most
English people, that is to say, I was limited to the very short periods
of frost that occur in English winters, and I had none of the advantages
of regular instruction from competent teachers which it is easy now for
anybody to get. I learnt to keep my balance, not on ice, but with roller
skates on asphalte, and this was sufficient to enable me to go forward
with a certain amount of ease when I first skated on ice. I remember
vividly the first time I attempted the outside edge. This is a grand
epoch in the life of any skater, and the sensation of accomplishing it
for the first time, however clumsily, is never to be forgotten. I may
say here, that I consider a real mastery of the outside edge the only
foundation for all figure skating, and I believe it would be a mistake
to attempt such accomplishments as going backwards, or turning a three,
without first being fairly steady on the outside edge. Another point
that I early learned to be of great importance, was to approach as near
as possible equality on both legs, to attain which of course it is
necessary to give one's weaker leg--in most cases the left--double
practice.

The next advance I made was to turn a three from the outside edge. For a
long time I practised this on my right leg alone and neglected my left,
which of course was extremely unwise, and resulted in my being much
weaker on that leg than on the other. The ordinary turning of a three is
a comparatively simple matter, but the difficulty lies in being able to
do it to a centre on both feet. Yet this accomplishment is absolutely
essential to anyone who would attempt combined figures. In my opinion
there is more enjoyment to be gained, both for performers and
spectators, from combined figures gracefully and neatly done, than from
far more difficult turns performed alone. I will not go into details as
to particular figures, because they can be learnt so much better from
the innumerable books that have been written on the subject.

Hand-in-hand skating is another most delightful branch of the art, and
has been very strikingly developed in the last few years in England. A
number of new scuds have been elaborated by the ingenuity of experts,
many of which are most fascinating to do, and in many cases they have
the great advantage of being performed either with one or two
companions. The advance in this department of the art is largely due to
the number of covered rinks that have been started lately in England and
France, these being particularly adapted to the practice of this style
of skating.

Another accomplishment, to which the practice of covered rinks is
specially suited is waltzing on skates--which merely consists in a
series of turns of threes, and outside-edge forwards and outside-edge
backwards. The important point to remember about waltzing is, that the
partners must accommodate their steps, and the woman must take care not
to drag. When gracefully and neatly done by two people, well used to
each other, and to the sound of a good band, this sensation surpasses
anything that can be enjoyed in ordinary dancing.

For my own part I have concentrated my energies on combined figures and
hand-in-hand skating, and have never given much attention to the great
variety of difficult turns that are to be done alone, though I do not by
any means wish to depreciate the beauty of these, or the skill needed to
perform them. But, under the conditions that prevail in England, it is
difficult to get enough space in which to practice elaborate figures
alone, so I am inclined to think that my course has been a wise one.

[Illustration: _SKATING IN HOLLAND._

_From an unpublished Drawing by A. Van de Velde, Circa 1650, A.D._

(_By permission of Lawrence B. Phillips, Esq._)]

I mentioned above, that skating in England is in a transition stage, and
by this I mean that the last few years have witnessed the introduction
of what is called the foreign style of skating in England. At the
present time most of our instructors are foreigners, or Englishmen who
have thoroughly imbibed the foreign method, and the result is that
beginners are induced to purchase foreign skates and to base their style
on foreign models. The main difference between the two styles is, that
the Englishman is taught to keep his unemployed leg close to the other
and to be always erect, not to bend his knee, and in general to keep the
body rather stiff and quiet. The foreigner, on the other hand, as might
be expected from his more lively temperament, allows himself much more
freedom in swinging and bending about. He thus gives the impression of
enjoying himself more than the Englishman, and, in consequence, is more
attractive to watch. To my mind, the ideal skater is one who combines
the excellencies of both styles, that is one who, to the firmness and
unobtrusiveness of the Englishman, adds the easy pace and brilliancy of
the foreigner. The followers of both styles have a great deal yet to
learn from each other, and, therefore, the blending of the two methods
in England at the present day, is certain to lead to most beneficial
results.

A few words now on the important subject of skates. Enormous
improvements have been effected in them of late years, but in my opinion
we are still very far from possessing the ideal skate. The main object
of the best English skates (for instance the Mount Charles, or the
Dowler) is to enable the wearer to hold long edges, whereas the foreign
blade is especially adapted to rapid turns. What is wanted is some
invention that would combine in one skate the special merits of both
these kinds, so that the long firm edge and the sharp turn may be
equally possible. At present this is only a dream of the future, and in
the meantime I should be inclined to advise a modified form of the
French skate, as on the whole the best adapted for all purposes. I
should strongly recommend everybody to keep their skates permanently
fixed to one pair of boots. This is a practice however so generally
adopted that it may seem superfluous to mention it. Laced boots should
be worn specially made for skating, with thick soles and high in the
leg, so as to give as much support as possible round the ankle.

[Illustration: _OUR SISTERS IN CANADA._]

In the matter of dress women have a distinct advantage over men. Our
skirt both conceals deficiencies in style, and makes it easier to be
graceful, the man with his closer garb being sadly exposed to the fierce
light of criticism. The only essential for us, is to have a skirt short
and well cut so as not to drag, and with this precaution we can indulge
in as much variety as we choose.

In conclusion let me say, I know of no exercise more exhilarating and
healthful for women than skating in the open air, though, I am bound to
say, this cannot be said of the exercise in covered rinks, as one is
liable to get very hot and then to catch cold. The combination of hot
air above and the cold current rising from the ice, does not tend to
produce a very healthy atmosphere. But as we should not make such rapid
progress, or have the advantage of seeing together so many good skaters
of all nationalities, if we had not the covered rinks, many of us will
not be inclined to complain.

I am afraid my remarks are very disconnected, but the subject is a
difficult one to treat from a general point of view. I shall be
satisfied if what I have said should inspire even one of my readers with
a greater devotion to the beautiful art of skating.

May Balfour.


II.

It is natural that the art of skating should come to us from the North,
for it is in the land of ice and snow that the problem of traversing the
frozen surface of the snow-covered ground and the ice-bound water would
have to be solved. With the Greeks and the Romans indeed, the great
ruling nations of the South, there was no word to designate the
exercise--a conclusive proof that it was unknown to them. But from
Scandinavia we have an old war song which tells of the progress of the
God of Winter over the water, supported on the bones of animals, and
this shows that the skates of those early days were made of bone, though
they were, as might be expected, of most primitive structure. It is
generally agreed that the necessity of crossing the enormous fields of
frozen snow during the long Scandinavian winters led to the fashioning
of snow-shoes, and that from these were made the smaller skates, by the
aid of which the frozen waters could also be crossed, locomotion thus
being made possible.

The early form of the bone skate was brought to England by the Northern
tribes which settled in our midst, though it was to our Dutch
neighbours, at a much later period in our history, that we owed the
introduction of the wooden skate bound with iron, which is the prototype
of our skate of to-day. From the earliest efforts with the primitive
bone skates to the graceful evolutions now possible on a modern Mount
Charles there is a marvellous change, and the art which has a history of
nearly two thousand years behind it, is entitled to a place among the
time-honoured pastimes of the world.

A beginner in this, as in all other pursuits, is met at the outset of
her career, when she is without practical knowledge to guide her in the
choice, by the difficulty of selecting a proper instrument. She must
then trust to others. As the choice however is not large, she can
scarcely do wrong in investing in a Mount Charles, which should be fixed
to a well-fitting-boot with low heels, a fairly thick sole, and laced
upper leathers.

[Illustration: _MOUNT CHARLES._]

But the first efforts will, if she is wise, be made on roller-skates,
for though the tide of fashion has set against this form of skating, and
it is only in far-off Simla and a few scattered places that it still
holds its own, it is unrivalled as a means to the end of skating on ice.
On roller-skates the learner can follow up her study systematically day
after day, independent of weather conditions, and can acquire the two
primary essentials of successful skating, viz., balance and confidence.

When these have been acquired you may then make your first attempt on
ice with every prospect of success. With steady practice you will soon
learn to manage your skates, but never forget during these early days
that you must ever be on your guard against the countless tricks which
beset the beginner at every stage of her progress. Some people will
indeed advise you, when you first put on your skates proper, to walk
about a carpeted room with them, while others will tell you to make your
first efforts on the ice itself. In this you will probably be guided
partly by the age at which you begin the pastime--whether, that is to
say, a fall is a serious matter or one to be disregarded with the
smiling carelessness of youth--and partly by the degree of confidence
you have acquired on the roller-skates.

In any case, when you find yourself on the ice for the first time, you
will endeavour to walk forward on your skates with short and careful
steps. If you have assistance to prevent you from the inevitable tumbles
that will otherwise be your lot, your progress will be safe but slower
than if you take your courage in both hands and carry out unaided the
good old nursery maxim of "try, try, try again," till the delightful
foretaste of success comes to you, in the first quivering glide forward
_without_ a too sudden descent at the end.

Remember, when making these first efforts at walking, that the foot on
which you are resting on the ice should have both the ankle and knee
kept stiff, or you will find your ankle twist sideways. You must also
take care to keep the feet well under you, as until you have found your
balance they will have an inclination to slide apart, and thus render a
fall imminent. After a short experience of this tottering effort after
equilibrium, you will probably almost instinctively begin to slide
forward with both feet, and for the moment you will find sufficient
pleasure in movement of any kind. I have indeed seen quite a rapturous
expression of triumph come over the face of a middle-aged beginner, when
she first managed the smallest of small slides without it ending in a
catastrophe, or in a wild clinging to her guide. The good lady doubtless
saw in the dim future the end in view for which she was willing to
expend so much patient effort, and so shall we, and in a shorter time,
if fewer winters have passed over our heads before we make our first
venture.

A few hours at least should be devoted to this preliminary experience,
and then you will probably be able to try the inside edge forward, which
is the first step to master. With your feet turned at an angle of 45 deg.,
you will press downward with the ball of your left foot, so that you may
have a secure position from which to start, and you will slide forward
with your right foot only on the inside of the skate, balancing
yourself entirely on that foot. You will then bring the left foot
forward from the position it has held with the toe of the skate held
just off the ice behind the right foot, and pressing the inside edge of
the skate under the ball of the right foot into the ice, you will slide
forward with your left, striking out farther and farther as you find you
can keep your balance during the stroke. The position of the body should
be slightly sideways, with the face in the direction of progress.

To perform a half-circle and a circle will then be your aim, until you
can succeed with a perfect figure of 8. By the time you have mastered
this, you will be ready for the turn on both feet and the backward
stroke of the inside edge, after which the forward and backward stroke
of the outside edge will be your study. In all backward movement the
head must be turned in the point of direction, while the weight of the
body is thrown on the back part of the skate, instead of on the front
part as in a forward movement.

As soon as complete mastery of both edges has been gained, and that the
fate of the immortal Winkle may not be yours, you have learnt the art of
stopping, you will find all the simple figures within your powers. Do
not, however, be hurried into trying any combination, however simple,
until you have acquired the art of easy and graceful motion on the
inside and outside edges, both forward and backward.

The Hand-in-hand Figures are much in vogue among women in all countries,
and these are pretty and effective, as well as simple to execute by
anyone who has thoroughly grounded herself in the rudiments of skating.
The more usual way of executing these figures in this country is for the
partners, generally a man and a woman, to stand side by side, joining
their right hands underneath the left, which are also clasped sideways,
though occasionally what is known as the Austrian mode is adopted, viz.,
by the woman standing in front of her partner and bending her hands
under and backward at her side, when they are taken in the clasp of the
man behind.

It is to the daughters of the inventor of the Plimpton roller-skates
that we are indebted for the various fascinating forms of hand-in-hand
skating now in vogue, and for the effective movement known as "a pass,"
we are equally beholden to Miss L. Cheetham, who was, I believe, the
first to put it in practice. For the many varieties of Scuds and Rockers
now constantly to be seen at the much patronised covered rinks,
reference may be made to Mr. Maxwell Witham's book "A System of Figure
Skating," in which are to be found diagrams of some very simple figures
taken originally from the archives of the Oxford Skating Society. These
will be well within the powers of all, and in the case of the stronger
and more enthusiastic women skaters will form a fitting prelude to the
execution of the more elaborate "Club Figures."

In Figure 1, the skaters take up their positions facing one another upon
each side of a square, the start being made by each skater with the
right foot, on a curve of outside edge, continuing this for half a
circle when the left foot will be put down and the stroke taken, either
in the ordinary way or from the cross, and the whole circle of outside
on the left foot skated. This will bring each skater into the original
place of the other and the movement can be repeated.

The figure can also be skated backward, in which case the position for
starting will be with the backs instead of the faces of the skaters
towards each other.

Figure 2 is very similar to the former. The skaters take up their
positions facing one another at four points of the inner circle,
skating off on a curve of outside edge with the right foot and going
round the inner circle. The left foot is thus put down and the stroke
taken in the ordinary way or from the cross, another circle of outside
edge being skated on the left foot. This will bring the skater to the
inner circle again when the movement can be repeated, and the whole
figure can be skated backwards.

A variation of this figure can be made thus: "The skaters only go
three-quarters round the centre circle, so that the outside circle
described always lies immediately behind the one on which each skater
last travelled round. The skaters thus changing their positions has a
pretty effect.

"Arrived at the common circle the movement is repeated, each skater
taking her partner's hand (the four hands being thus crossed) which is
retained until the whole circle, which all have in common, has been
skated, when each again branches off as before described."[8]

[Footnote 8: _A System of Figure Skating_, by T. Maxwell Witham.]

In all skating, neatness, precision, and an easy, upright carriage are
the things to be aimed at, and as you feel yourself getting at home on
your skates, remember it should be your object to disguise your stroke
as far as possible, so that your progress may have the smooth, graceful
ease of apparently unbroken motion.

Shortly, the great points to be attended to when learning are:

1. An upright carriage without stiffness.

2. Straightness of the knee of the employed leg.

3. Approximation of the feet.

4. A slight sideways position of the body, with the face in the
direction of progress.

5. Equality of power on either leg, to attain which extra practice for
the weaker leg--generally the left--will be needed.

When these have been acquired the full delight of the health-giving
exercise of skating will be open to you.

[Illustration: _Lambert, Weston and Son Folkestone._

_MISS STARKIE-BENCE._]




GOLF.


The object of the game of golf is to complete the round of eighteen
holes in as few strokes as possible, starting for each hole from a place
called the teeing ground, and hitting the ball with various clubs till
the green is reached. Upon the green is a flag denoting the spot where a
round hole with a diameter of four and a quarter inches and a depth of
four inches, is cut. Into this hole the player must get the ball in as
few strokes as may be. The distances between the teeing grounds and the
greens vary at every hole. The game when played by two persons is known
as a single, when by four persons, as a foursome.

The scores in medal play are kept upon cards provided for that purpose,
each player noting the other's score, which is then marked down at the
conclusion of each hole, the totals being added together at the end of
the round, when the card must be signed by the scorer and placed in the
score card box. Failing to sign a card entails disqualification. In
match playing, the scores are reckoned by the terms, "the like," "the
odd," "the two more," "one off two," etc., and the hole is won by the
player who has holed in the fewest strokes. Being the person to lead off
at the tee, is styled having the honour, and is a privilege accorded to
either the player who has the least handicap, or to the winner of the
latest match, or again to the winner of the last hole. In foursomes the
strokes are played alternately by the partners, through the green and
from the tee.

The ground played over is known by the name of the links, or the course,
and covers an area generally from two, to three and a half miles for a
full-sized or man's course, and very often much under this distance for
what is known as the ladies' links, whilst the distances between the
holes vary from fifty yards to 480 yards or more. The game is pursued
over obstacles of all sorts, known as hazards and bunkers, till the
green is reached. This is a beautifully kept piece of grassy lawn, some
twenty yards in extent, either undulating, sloping, or sometimes quite
level, in which the holes are cut. The term stance is applied to the
position of the player's feet, when addressing herself to the ball. The
term grip denotes either that part of the handle of the club covered
with leather, which is held in the hands, or the grasping of the club
itself, and the term lie, applies to the situation of the ball, good or
bad. The further technical terms may be found in the Glossary (p. 382)
or in any instruction book on the game, the most highly recommended of
the latter being _The Badminton Library on Golf_, by Mr. Horace
Hutchinson, _The Game of Golf_, by W. Park, jun., or Sir W. C. Sampson's
_The Art of Golf_. But to the early history of our game.

The exact date of the founding of the Royal and Ancient game of Golf is
still a somewhat disputed point. But we read that in Holland and also in
Belgium, about the year 1353, a very popular pastime was then in vogue,
styled Chole, and as far as can be ascertained from old documents,
pictures, and the familiar and curious Dutch tiles of that period, the
mode of play and the weapons used, although rather crude in many
respects, were not at all unlike those of the present day. Some writers
go so far as to tell us that this game rather resembled hockey, and that
the ball used was about the size of an ordinary cricket ball. Others
who have searched even more deeply amongst the archives of the royal and
ancient game, relate that the aim and object used to be to strike the
ball against stone posts, which appears to have corresponded with the
later practice of holing out. Anyway we have it on good authority that
the game was much played during the sixteenth century in Scotland.

In 1608 the Blackheath Club was formed in England, and in 1735 that of
the Edinburgh Burgess Society in the north, although the game had been
extensively played for some time before this. Closely following the
institution of the Edinburgh Burgess Society Club, came those of The
Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1744, St. Andrew's in 1754,
and Mussulburgh in 1774, followed again in the south by Old Manchester
in 1818, and Westward Ho! in 1864, till at the present time there are
links all over Europe, in America, India, Australia, New Zealand, and
even in Egypt. Not content with this, we even have the Royal game on the
West coast of Africa, in that spot of treachery and massacre, Benin. But
of course, to Scotland the gratitude of the world will ever be due for
having really been the home of the game, besides which for grandeur in
natural hazards, and finest of fine turf, the north will ever bear the
palm.

[Illustration: _J. Ross. North Berwick._

_MISS E. C. ORR._

(_Winner of the Championship, 1897._)]

Golf, as far as women are concerned, is indeed both royal and ancient,
for we know that Mary, Queen of Scots, was a great adept and devotee
thereof, but till this century women's doings appear not to have been
much chronicled, although they used to play, and our Scotch sisters have
always been more or less brought up to it. Latterly both the English and
Irish have taken wonderfully to what was at one time styled "That old
man's game," and in so doing have found it not at all a bad pastime,
till now-a-days the lady-golfers make quite a formidable army on the
occasion of the yearly championship, or the other big open meetings.

To arrange for such events, and to give more uniformity in general
matters, the "Ladies' Golf Union" was formed a few years ago. To this
body all troublesome questions are referred by the associated clubs, for
which it acts as legislator in chief. It arranges too the details for
the yearly championship, and has lately started a system for universal
handicapping which is progressing very well. But I shall have occasion
to speak of this useful institution later.

When ladies' courses were first started, they were chiefly conspicuous
for their shortness, and general lack of hazards, it being calculated
that the ordinary wooden putter would be sufficient to see the player
safely over any obstacles encountered during the round. But woman's
ambition was not satisfied, she sighed and fretted for more elbow-room,
longer holes, more difficulties, and last but not least on inland
courses, real sand at the bottom of the bunkers. Till then it had not
entered into the head of man to conceive that any woman was equal to, or
would care for, daily tramps over rough and broken ground, bogs, dykes,
and sand, or that even if she did care, she could ever become proficient
at so sacred a pastime. Was it possible either that a woman's strength
would prove equal to propelling the ball a sufficiently long distance,
to make her in any way a rival to one of the sterner sex? But
nevertheless, even with all these doubts, the men's club were ready to
assist in giving what was asked for, by helping to institute links at
St. Andrew's and Westward Ho! in 1868, Musselburgh and Wimbledon in
1872, Carnoustie in 1873, Pau in 1874, Troon in 1882, Bath in 1883,
Yarmouth in 1885, etc.

Of golf as a game for the health, it must be said that it is suited to
all seasons of the year, and also to the hundred and one changes of
climate which occur in the twelve short months. Through snow we pursue
the game on the frozen and ice covered links, with balls painted red,
again in March gales, we toil round regardless of the flapping skirts
and blow-away hats, but in May days when the weather is lovely, when the
courses and their greens are at their best, then it is that we lay
ourselves out for pure enjoyment, and reap the well-deserved fruits of a
winter of steady practice. So through summer and autumn the game still
retains its fascinations, at least for those who have mastered its inner
mysteries, but for the uninitiated it must indeed be more than a trifle
dull, beside savouring rather of madness to walk miles and miles only to
hit along a little white guttie ball, with instruments of weird and
curious shape.

[Illustration: _Figure 1._

_POSITION FOR DRIVING._]

Although ladies' courses are now vastly superior to what they were a
short while back, there is still room for great improvements in the
matter of scope for brassey and cleek play through the green. The usual
courses consist of a series of holes, generally nine holes--eighteen
being the exception--closely resembling each other, interspersed with
hazards of sorts, but in point of length and play nearly all these holes
are reached by a fair drive, followed by a short iron or approach shot
on the green. This is occasionally varied by a cleek shot from tee to
green, which constitutes the whole and monotonous ring of change that is
to be found, to say nothing of the total banishment of the brassey, one
of the most useful clubs in existence. Excepting, therefore, when women
play over men's courses, or at least over a part of them, they rarely
find themselves called upon to play cleeks, or full iron shots either. A
notable exception to this is the West Lancashire ladies' course, at Hall
Road, near Liverpool. There we find not only eighteen holes most
craftily laid out amidst hazards of all description, which call into
requisition a variety of useful clubs, but the distances between the
greens have been so varied that any monotony is quite impossible. For
whilst at one hole it may require three full shots to reach the green,
very likely the next will be but a cleek shot, and so on. One of the
irresistable influences of the game to a beginner, is undoubtedly that
vexation of spirit caused by some strange mixture of obstinacy and
helplessness, which smarts and rankles bitterly after a morning spent in
trying, to stand in the correct position with your club grasped firmly
in your hands, and after the preliminary waggle, to swing up and down
and hit the ball into space. It looks so easy, ridiculously easy, and as
if it was quite impossible not to hit that little white globe, perched
on its sand tee, but in reality, till the eye and the hand have been
trained to do so, it is one of the most difficult tasks in life, and a
process tending to many abusive speeches! The experience naturally
produces a spirit of dogged determination not to be beaten, wherein lie
the first seeds of interest, and the desire for improvement. The younger
it is possible to begin the game, the better, for at an early age the
muscles are tractable and supple, and the slightest stiffness which
gives a noticable jerkiness to the strokes, is very difficult to
overcome. The strokes should on the contrary be performed, and the arms
and wrists should work, with the smooth evenness of windmill sails. But
speaking of evenness and smoothness of movement, more especially in the
case of a person in the act of driving, brings to mind the late
championship at Gullane, where, for the first time, it became possible
to compare, side by side, the styles of the Scotch and English players.
Between some there was but little difference, excepting that the Scotch
swing was rather short and quick, whilst that of the English was
somewhat longer and slower, but in whatever style our Scotch sisters
played, their whole action was so even and pendulum-like, so entirely
free from any jerk or strain, that it clearly demonstrated their
familiarity with clubs from the days of early childhood.

Of course such familiarity is more than half the battle, making as it
does in after life a vast difference to the skill and style, although in
this as in all else, there are many and notable exceptions amongst those
who have only come across the game when nearing the days of discretion.
The greatest example of this, is our triple champion, Lady Margaret
Hamilton-Russell, nee Scott, whose style has been pronounced perfect by
many competent judges.

Great self-control and good nerve, with a large amount of endurance, are
the requisites of golf, for without wishing to say one word to its
detriment, it cannot be denied that it is a game somewhat conducive to
selfishness, and with a distinctly rousing effect upon the temper. To
those who are adepts at other out of door sports and pastimes, golf
presents one great difficulty, namely, that most of the clubs have to be
gripped firmly by the left hand only, the right hand being used quite
lightly in comparison, simply as a general support and guide to
direction.

Having once decided to become a player, the best course by far is to
arrange for daily lessons from some competent and painstaking
professional, for by this means we start from the very beginning by
being placed in the right positions, and moreover, are taught to use the
right club in the right place, which knowledge will prove of invaluable
assistance in future matches and competitions. No beginner should
however forget to obtain a book of the St. Andrews' rules and to study
it well, for one of the first essentials in a game is to know the rules
thoroughly. By thus starting with lessons from a qualified instructor,
you do away with the risk of having to unlearn most of what has been
already grasped, as is so often the case where your mentor has been some
kind and amiable friend. Once having mastered the rudiments and
mysteries of the game, steady daily practice should be indulged in, if
you would hope in time to figure in the front rank of players.

The driver, iron, mashie and putter are the chief clubs to master
thoroughly, for at any time these will suffice on all courses to play a
good round with, whereas if only one club is taken out at a time to
master, the eye and hand are apt to become wearied by continuous
repetition, whilst the varied strokes necessitated by three or four
clubs, prove both instructive as well as absorbing.

In the choice of clubs arises great difficulty. Patents unlimited are to
be had, each claiming special advantages. For instance, W. Park's
putting cleek, or wry-necked putter as it is often called, and Brougham
or Yeoman's aluminium drivers, so utterly indestructible when playing
off roads or other hard lies. Then there are Taylor's or Teen's mashies,
the former rather short in the head and broad on the face, particularly
useful for the high-pitched approach shots, the latter shaped more like
a spoon, having at the back and in the exact centre, a crescent-shaped
and convex piece of extra steel, so as to concentrate the full force and
weight at the point of impact. But the good old-fashioned clubs can hold
many candles to various latter-day inventions. A very useful driver head
of ordinary beech-wood has within the last three or four years come
from the able hands of J. Ray, of Randalstown, Co. Antrim, called a
"Bap." This is in appearance exactly like a large and rather flat penny
bun attached to the shaft, but its driving powers are tremendous owing
to the amount of wood behind the spot from whence the ball is hit, which
naturally induces a long carry and run, especially in a wind, when it
seems to send a capital long, low straight shot.

[Illustration: _Figure 2._

_GRIP OF HANDS FOR DRIVING._]

It is best to choose the first clubs with the assistance of a
professional, or that of an experienced amateur, who will know at once
what weights are most suited to your powers of wrist and arm. Having
done this, and by a study of the rules prepared yourself for
instruction, you will naturally wish to make your first attempt. On
arriving at the first teeing ground and after mounting your ball on its
sand tee, take up your position with the driver, so that the club head
may be within easy reach of the ball, and without the least straining or
stretching forward to reach it.

[Illustration: _Figure 3._

_WRONG GRIP._]

[Illustration: _Figure 4._

_CLUB HEAD WRONG. HANDS WRONG. RESULT OF A GRIP, AS SHOWN IN FIG. 3._]

[Illustration: _Figure 5._

_"TOE" OF DRIVER POINTING DOWNWARDS. HANDS RIGHT._]

The left foot should be slightly in advance of the right, rather turned
in if anything, and both feet some sixteen inches or thereabouts apart,
the ball, club, and hands being as nearly as possible in direct line
with your waist buckle, perhaps slightly inclined to the left. The hands
then require to grip the club as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the left hand
should hold with a grip of iron, the right much more easily, but still
with a tenacious grasp, turned well over so that the back of the hand is
to the front. Care should be taken that the thumb is not as shown in
Figure 3, for such a grip would cause the head of the club, when at
the top of the swing, to be turned broadway as in Figure 4, instead of
pointing toe downwards as in Figure 5. When off your drive entirely, and
when instead of being able to swing your ball nicely and cleanly away,
you can only keep hitting down on the top of it, called smothering, take
a swing with the club, pausing at the top (that is to say when the club
has reached its usual high curve over the right shoulder, and just
before its descent is commenced) to note the angle of the head. This
will generally be found as in figure 4, whilst the position of the hands
will be as in figure 3. Then alter your grip to as near that of figure 2
as possible, when the angle of the club-head at the top of the swing,
will become as in figure 5. But to continue, being in the correct
position for addressing the ball both as regards distance and grip,
after a short preliminary waggle which will give the needed impetus,
raise the club away to the right, not too quickly, with a scythe-like
sweep, till well over the right shoulder, at the same time lifting the
left heel and turning the body slightly on the toes of the left foot.
Figure 6. The action of the swing should be entirely done from the
shoulder, and not with a twist of the whole body as is often seen.
Descending again and driving away the ball, then continue the swing till
it finishes up quite naturally over the left shoulder, called "the
follow through," Figure 7, thus describing an entire circle round the
body, the _whole_ of which must be as evenly performed, without the
least signs of force or disjointedness, as though it was the revolution
of a wheel. Many players stand to drive with the ball in a line with, or
even outside, their left foot, but having the ball nearer the centre of
the body, as described above, is the more usual position, and one to be
recommended.

[Illustration: _Figure 6._

_GRIP WHEN AT THE TOP OF SWING._]

[Illustration: _Garland. Woking._

_Figure 7._

_FINISH OF SWING._

(_Mrs. M. C. Willock._)]

Brassey shots through the green are played in a similar manner to
drives, the only exception being, that instead of a ball teed on the
sand, it has to be taken off the flat, therefore it becomes necessary to
swing the club head into the ball with a smart click, nicking in between
it and the ground, so as to cause the ball to rise away in its flight
quickly and cleanly, avoiding any taking of turf, or sclaffing as it is
styled, and thereby losing half the propelling force. When to reach the
green two or three full shots are required after the drive, the brassey
is generally taken, or for a medium length shot the cleek, the latter
being used with a full swing, till some eighty or a hundred yards from
the hole, when the lofting iron is called into requisition.

With this latter club, as with the cleek, the grip of both hands must be
very firm, for at the moment of striking the ball with the face of the
club, there is the danger of the sole at that very second taking the
turf, when, unless the club is firmly gripped in both hands, it must
naturally turn somewhat, with the result that the shot will be
hopelessly foozled.

[Illustration: _Figure 8._

_SWINGING UPWARDS FOR A THREE-QUARTER IRON SHOT._]

The position of the feet in iron shots differs from that of driving. For
one thing the right foot should be slightly in advance of the left,
whilst the ball is more opposite the former, and in the second place the
knees must be a little bent, the whole body assuming more of a crouching
stance than when driving. The swing, too, with an iron, is somewhat
different, for even in the full shot it is never of such a length as
that taken with a wooden club. It is more of an up-and-down stroke. In
the three-quarter shot, the arms and not the shoulders are responsible
for the swing, the club going as far back as the length of the arm
comfortably permits (figure 8), whereas, in the half shot, the fore arm
and wrist work only, the arm from the shoulder to the elbow being then
nearly close into the side. The approach shot with the mashie is played
when the green is some fifty yards or more distant, the player desiring
either to run the ball up to the hole along the ground, provided the
intervening space is pretty clear of hazards, or to pitch it up, with
that short "choppy" wrist shot, so that the ball falls without run,
nearly dead. Many players place the right thumb down the shaft of the
club in this stroke, claiming that it is easier thus to gauge the
distance and be more accurate as to direction. But whichever way it is
played, remember that it is the wrists and not the arms that work the
club. This shot is played with the face of the club very much laid back
(figure 9), and a peculiar species of cut from right to left
administered to the ball at the moment of impact. A stroke that can with
difficulty be taught, being more the outcome of instinct after
experience, than of instruction. The hard part of approaching lies in
making the ball fall sufficiently dead, and _not_ to strike it so, that
after pitching, it will run nearly as far off the green on the opposite
side.

The mashie is one of the most useful clubs, for besides being your
"right hand" in approach shots, it is simply indispensable when playing
out of a bad lie, or whenever the ball is snugly reposing in some sand
bunker. To extricate oneself from such a lie, it is necessary first and
foremost that both feet should be _firmly_ planted on the ground, for
every atom of strength must be brought to bear on the right spot, at the
right moment. About two inches behind the ball is the place to let your
club-head delve into the sand, and it is upon _this_ spot that the eye
must be fixed, and _not_ upon the ball, as is otherwise the case. The
force of hitting the club-head into the sand, causes it to shoot up,
bearing the ball high into the air, and over the confronting obstacle.

Whilst speaking of bunkers and difficulties, it is as well to have in
mind the St. Andrew's rule, No. 14, which runs as follows: "When a ball
lies in or touches a hazard, the club shall not touch the ground, nor
shall anything be touched or moved before the player strikes at the
ball, except that the player may place his feet firmly on the ground for
the purpose of addressing the ball, under the penalty of the loss of the
hole, but if in the backward or downward swing, any grass, bent, whin,
or other growing substance, on the side of a bunker, a wall, a paling,
or other immoveable obstacle be touched, no penalty shall be incurred."
In medal competitions the penalty for breach of this rule is
disqualification.

If there should be any doubt as to what is considered a hazard, rule No.
15 is very explicit. "A hazard shall be any bunker of whatever
nature--water, sand, loose earth, mole hills, paths, roads, or railways,
whins, bushes, rushes, rabbit scrapes, fences, ditches, or anything
which is not the ordinary green of the course--except sand blown on to
the grass by wind, or sprinkled on grass for the preservation of the
links--or snow, or ice, or bare patches on the course."

[Illustration: _Figure 9._

_SHORT APPROACH SHOT WITH THUMB DOWN THE SHAFT._]

In _match play_, rule 29 states: "A ball must be played wherever it
lies, or the hole be given up--except as otherwise provided for in the
rules." Whereas in _medal play_, rule 8 reads: "A ball may under a
penalty of two strokes be lifted out of a difficulty of any description,
and be teed behind the same." The niblick, in bunkers where the sand is
at all heavy, is rather a better club to use than the mashie, being so
short, thick, and powerful in the head, therefore capable of delivering
a stronger blow into the sand. A most useful club for bad lies through
the green, is the driving mashie, made much after the order of a cleek,
only being shorter in the face and very solid in the sole, it is able to
hit a long, powerful shot under the most trying conditions in the way of
bad lies.

Having spoken of the many clubs used from the tee till the green is
reached, the putter alone remains for a few words. Till quite recently
this was made of wood only, rather in shape like an elongated
driver-head. In fact these very old clubs, such as were used by
celebrities like Jamie Allan, young Tommy Morris, Mr. George Glennie,
and others, are now worth fabulous sums of money. But of late years,
steel and gun metal have come much more into vogue. Park's patent putter
with the twisted socket or neck, is a universal favourite, the fact of
looking straight down the shaft on to the ball appearing to make the
line of transition somewhat more easy for the eye to take in. The mode
of holding the putter is similar to that of the iron, only that the
thumbs are both placed downwards and the fingers are called more into
play, as shown in Figure 10. The general grip is a trifle looser,
although the right hand requires to be firm. Mr. Horace Hutchinson, in
the _Badminton Book on Golf_, says as follows: "The principal secret of
good putting, as of good driving, is that the club should travel as long
as possible on the line--or a production of it--on which the ball is to
travel.

"Putting is a stroke made almost exclusively with the wrists. The wrists
do not hit the club on to the ball and then check it, but the club is
swung by a movement of the wrists... any checking of the club as it
meets the ball being fatal to consistent good putting.... The hands
should be allowed to fall into a natural position.... The putter should
be held rather short, and preferably with a light grip, and should be
worked backward and forward by the wrists, mainly perhaps the left
wrist.... The left elbow may, if preferred, be a little crooked to the
front: the club head will in this method be swinging somewhat after the
fashion of a pendulum, and if a golfer gets the hanging arrangements of
this pendulum correct, it can not very well swing out of the true line."

[Illustration: _Figure 10._

_PUTTING OFF THE RIGHT FOOT._]

The above describes the stroke exactly. The stance for putting is as
shown in Figure 10, at least that is about the usual position, but many
people putt with the ball about mid-way between the right foot and the
left, in a straight line with the centre of the body (Figure 11). The
crooked left elbow is certainly a great help in keeping the ball on the
right road to the hole, while the right elbow should be resting against
the hip. Iron shots too can be kept from diverging with the vagaries of
the wind during a gale, if the left elbow is well crooked towards the
front, so as to follow through in that position over the line of flight
of the ball. A very similar position to that of playing forward at
cricket.

In golf there is a good deal of etiquette to be observed, but again all
hints will be found in the book of St. Andrew's rules, or in that very
useful compendium _The Golfer's Referee_, which was compiled lately by
the Editor of _The Golfer_, in Edinburgh. It may be as well to mention
that No. 2 of these rules is one to be observed, if not for courtesy's
sake, at least for the sake of danger, a blow from a golf ball being no
light matter. Therefore out of pure humanity it is only right to let the
party in front play their second shots, or get off the green, so that
they may be out of range of those behind. Besides match and medal play,
another species of competition has of late years been started, namely,
"Bogey." This is simply a score fixed for each of the eighteen holes,
the same as the par of the green, the player having to hole out in one
less than the given par, it she would win the hole, or in the like for a
half. At each hole, any strokes taken beyond the number of the fixed
par, count as a loss to the player and as a win to "Bogey." The mode of
marking this on the competition cards being + for a win and O for a
half, and - for a loss.

[Illustration: _Figure 11._

_PUTTING WITH BALL BETWEEN THE FEET._]

One of the greatest features of golf is that although you may only
perhaps be a third-class player, and your opponent a first-class, or as
it is termed, scratch player, yet by the system of handicapping you will
both play on equal terms. In match play the difference between handicaps
is allowed as follows: in singles, three-fourths of the difference
between handicap allowances, in foursomes, three-eighths of the
difference of the aggregate handicap allowance on either side, a half
stroke of over counting as one, but smaller fractions not being
reckoned. Thus if the difference between your own and your opponent's
handicap in a single is 12, you will have to allow her nine strokes, or
a half, viz.: a stroke every other hole, whereas if in a foursome the
difference of handicap between yourself and partner and your opponent
and her partner was likewise 12, you would then only give an allowance
of five strokes. As a rule, clubs have their own special table of holes,
at which the strokes are to be taken in matches.

Nerves undoubtedly play a great part in golf, for the person who can go
on quietly and steadily when her opponent is two up at the turn has an
immense advantage. For as nothing is certain in life, still less is it
so in golf! A topped drive, or a short putt, and the whole luck of the
game may alter. Therefore the player who has perfect control over her
nerves has a decided advantage over one who becomes flustered, and she
will very often come in with a rush and flourish of trumpets at the
last. When playing a tight match never risk going for the hole if a
halved one will answer as well, for there is always the chance in going
for it from some way off of placing the ball out of holeing distance for
the next shot, and so losing the hole altogether.

Much the same in medal play: never risk a very long carry or dangerous
shot if instead, by playing short and then over the difficulty, you can
insure more safety. Medal play is essentially a matter of stolid
steadiness, while match play bristles with excitements from start to
finish, but it is by no means the case that the best match player will
be the best in a medal round, the almost mechanical steadiness of play
required in the latter being often found too irksome and tedious.

Of the faults that a golfer may drift into, slicing, hooking, and
topping are the most common, and these are often too the most difficult
to cure. Slicing is caused by drawing the club across the ball and
towards yourself. This will cause the ball to dive off to the right, and
is either the result of an error in the stance, or the grip of one or
both hands, or possibly because the club is being swung away too
quickly, causing more of a straight up and down stroke than is the case
in the proper and rounded swing. If hooking is the fault, then the ball
will fly off to the left. The reason of this may be either that you are
standing with the ball too much opposite to the left foot, or that you
are hitting it with the club's face turned in, the latter being the
result of faulty gripping. Topping as the name denotes is simply not
getting well down to the ball, and means the ruin of both its shape and
paint! Yet another fault is that of heeling, or hitting the ball off the
neck of the club, this can generally be cured by standing a little
farther away from the ball and letting the arms go out well free of the
body.

One of the most difficult shots you can be called upon to play is when
the ball is in a "cuppy" lie, viz., in a small hole or hollow. The club
then has to be swung _into it_ without taking any of the surrounding
edges, which seems so impossible to accomplish, and yet to get the ball
away any distance, but the more quietly and without pressing you succeed
in doing this, the more chance you will have of a good result. A ball
lying above you, say on the side of a hill, is awkward, as the club
shaft when used in such a position seems so lengthy and unwieldy, but
taking the stroke quietly and again not pressing for an extra long shot
is the best way out of the difficulty. If on the other hand the ball
lies on a slope below you, shorten your grip of the club, for the body
will naturally fall a little forward in the downward swing, owing to the
stance being on the slant. Sometimes the ball may be found lying with a
disused and grass-grown mole-hill, or some such lump immediately in
front. In such a case it would be equally impossible to sweep away the
ball with a full swing, or with a three-quarter one. The club must
therefore be raised just as far backwards as in a half shot, when it
should be smartly brought down, thus hitting the ball and jerking into
the turf, causing it--the ball--to rise over the obstacle. This will cut
a large divot out of the ground, which must be replaced and stamped
down, ever remembering the text, "It is the duty of every golfer to
replace, or to cause to be replaced any turf cut in the act of making a
stroke." Of course care must be used not to break the shaft of the club,
owing to the force with which the head will cut down into the turf.

To keep yourself in good form it is not necessary after the game has
been thoroughly mastered to practise every day. Three or four times a
week will keep both the eye and the hand well up to their work, without
getting either tired or stale. Whenever the chance presents itself of
playing a round with a scratch player, or someone who is really more
skilled than yourself, do so. Such experience will not only serve as a
lesson, but will stimulate the spirit of ambition in no small degree.
Besides, it will be most excellent training and a decided gain in the
way of steadiness, and will also teach you not to get flustered when
confronted by difficulties. Merely to watch your opponent's
self-possession, as she extricates the ball from the heaviest sand,
without the least sign of force or irritability, will be a lesson worthy
of taking to heart. To have made good progress in the game, and to be
able to hold one's own with some of the longer handicap members, perhaps
even to be able to give them a point or two besides a beating, has the
effect of making most people rather proud and pleased with themselves.
Then it is that a sound beating from some good player will do your game
pounds of good and show you how much you still have to learn. If one
were to play golf for ever, yet would the feeling remain that there are
many things to be mastered.

One of the most trying times for the nerves, and in fact for your play
all round is when at some big open meeting, or perhaps even in the
championship, you find yourself drawn to play with or against a
celebrity. Some of the on-lookers may, and probably will, elect to
follow you round just to see your famous partner perform, as well as to
criticise both players. Naturally, this will cause you some
embarrassment, but beside your own feeling on the matter, you have to
consider those of your partner, and the risk that if you play badly you
may very likely put her off too. For in golf the laws of imitation are
very subtle, and nothing is more common than to play down to another
person's standard. However trying it may be, therefore, to have every
shot watched, whether it is a long raking drive, a foozled iron, or some
twelve inch putt that lips the hole instead of going down, do your best
to be steady, even if brilliancy be out of the question, for consistency
can never be very hardly criticised, even when seriously put in the
shade by a superior display of knowledge. Attending open meetings, and
taking part in club matches, will do more for your nerves and be the
means of your gaining greater experience than a hundred rounds on the
quiet home course, with just those players around you to whose
criticisms the ear has become so used, that they cease to make the
slightest impression. At such big gatherings you can see for yourself
the endless varieties of style, grip, stance, and a dozen other details
which will go more towards teaching you how you should or should not do
this, or do that, than many lessons and many chapters on the subject.

To play a tight match in a championship, is generally a doubtful
pleasure. The severe strain of knowing that every stroke should be
soundly good, or at all events useful, the amount of care that must be
taken over the shortest putt, the dogged determination that you _will_
beat your opponent, or if you do not quite succeed in this, that you
will only be beaten by the most narrow margin, and last but not least,
the total obliviousness to the crowd that may be following the match;
all this self-possession cannot be learned in a day or even in a few
months. To attain to such a level is a matter of test and training.
Before any of these big events, it is as well to go and reside for a
time in or near the spot where the meeting is to be held, as you will
thus gain a thorough knowledge of the course, lies, bunkers and greens,
not forgetting that most useful appendage, the caddie. To secure a sharp
boy, who knows every nook and cranny of the links, will often mean half
a stroke a hole to the credit of your match or score.

The most suitable and workmanlike clothes for the game are a simple coat
and skirt of Harris tweed or other strong material, thick boots with a
few nails in the soles to prevent slipping, and a straw sailor hat by
way of head covering. Fly-away and feather-bedecked hats, together with
garden-party dresses, look, and are, terribly out of place on a course,
which in this country, owing to the variable moods of the clerk of the
weather, may not always be without mud! Many players wear red coats with
their club facings and buttons, and these always look smart. Among them,
and one which is quite the neatest of all club uniforms, is that of the
Wimbledon Ladies' Club--a coat, with black collar and cuffs, outlined
with a piping of white, the buttons being of black, with the club
initials in white on them. All clubs that have the privilege of calling
themselves Royal are entitled to facings of Royal blue. The Littlestone
ladies wear rather a smart coat with white facings, round which are the
narrowest of narrow pipings in tri-coloured silk cord, of the club
colours, white, green and salmon pink. Green facings are very popular,
and are used by the St. Anne's Ladies, the Mid-Surrey and many others.
Perhaps the only club with a membership of several hundred, which has no
distinctive coat is Princes, at Mitcham, but the charming mixture of
chocolate and light blue, in the form of hat ribbons and ties worn by
the members, makes rather a welcome change.

Going away to other links to play matches for one's club is by no means
the least of the minor pleasures of being a golfer, for it carries one
to many "lands unknown." The fascinations, too, of a new course are
great and wonderful, especially during the first round when you are
quite ignorant of the pitfalls that await the unwary. There is something
so exhilarating in driving over carries of unknown breadth, and in
taking one's iron to reach a blind, or hidden green, with several sandy
obstacles between you and it.

[Illustration: _MISS PASCOE._

(_Winner of the Championship, 1896._)]

Of the five courses which have now been used for the Ladies Golf Union's
Annual Championship Meeting, that of Gullane, in 1897, was by far the
best and most difficult, Portrush being next in order. But before
entering into further details it may be as well to give just a brief
outline of the said "Ladies' Golf Union" and its origin. Early in 1893,
the idea of such an institution was started, Dr. Laidlow Purves, Miss
Issette Pearson and several Wimbledon members being the moving spirits
in the scheme, ably backed up by such clubs as Ashdown Forest, Barnes,
Eastbourne, East Sheen, Great Harrowden, Great Yarmouth, Lytham and St.
Anne's, Minchinhampton, North Berwick, North Warwickshire, Portrush,
Belfast, St. Andrew's, Southdown and Brighton, and Wimbledon. A large
and influential meeting was held in London during the month of April,
and it was then decided that an annual championship should be held, the
winner of which was to receive a gold medal and be styled Lady Champion
for the year, whilst a magnificent silver trophy was to pass into the
possession of her club for the same period. Strangely enough the Lytham
and St. Anne's Club had already thought of, and in fact advertised, a
splendid L50 silver challenge cup, to be competed for annually over
their links, the winner of which was to be styled champion.

This handsome offer had been made before the golfing world was even
aware that the subject of a Ladies' Union had been mooted. After some
discussion the matter was amicably settled, by the delegate from the St.
Anne's Club and the council, deciding to hold the first Championship
over that course. The subscribers towards the magnificent cup include
the clubs of St. Andrews, St. Anne's, Ashdown Forest, Blackheath,
Cotswold, Royal Belfast, Royal Eastbourne, Southdown and Brighton,
Minchinhampton, and Wimbledon. The 13th of June and three consecutive
days were chosen for the event, and the following circular was issued to
all the ladies' clubs throughout the United Kingdom:

"The Ladies' Golf Union have decided that the Ladies' Golf Championship
Competition, 1893, open to all lady golfers, members of any golf club,
will take place at St. Anne's-on-the-Sea, Lancashire, on Tuesday 13th,
Wednesday 14th, Thursday 15th June, when the trophy, value fifty
guineas, and four medals will be competed for under the following
conditions:

1. Competitors shall enter for the competition through the secretaries
of their respective clubs.

2. The competition shall be played by holes in accordance with the rules
of the Lytham and St. Anne's Golf Club.

3. The draw shall take place on Friday, 9th June, and shall be conducted
as follows:

      Depending on the number of entries, such number of byes
      shall be first drawn as shall after the completion of the
      first round leave four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or
      sixty-four players, and one draw shall decide the order of
      play throughout the competition; those who have drawn byes
      being placed at the head of the list of winners of the
      first round, and taking their place in the second round, in
      the order in which their names then stand.

4. Each game shall consist of a round of eighteen holes.

5. In the event of a tie in any round, competitors shall continue to
play on until one or other shall have gained a hole, when the match
shall be considered won.

6. The winner of the competition shall be the champion lady golfer for
the year, and the trophy shall be held for that year in the club from
which the winner shall have entered.

7. The winner shall receive a gold medal, the second a silver medal, and
the third and and fourth bronze medals.

8. All entries must be subject to the approval of the Lytham and St.
Anne's Golf Club.

9. All disputes shall be settled by the Council of the Lytham and St.
Anne's Golf Club.

10. Entries close Thursday, 8th June, 1893."

Truly perfect weather favoured the meeting, and some thirty-eight
competitors entered, including two members from the Pau club. The
drought that year had been exceptional, but the "green committee,"
headed by Mr. T. H. Miller, had kept the greens verdant, thanks to
constant care and unlimited watering. The course being one of nine
holes, two rounds had to be played. The chief hazards were "cops," or
high turf banks, sand bunkers, and one or two ditches.

At that time, when ladies' golf had not reached its present standard of
excellence, the links appeared sufficiently difficult for a championship
test, but now, when entries number a hundred or so, and players think
nothing of a carry of 140 yards, which will clear the great obstacles
easily, it becomes necessary to have a shortened man's course for such
events. Although at Gullane, in 1897, the full men's links were used,
the round of which is two miles and three quarters, with a few yards
over, at Littlestone, in 1894, the course was not quite two miles and a
half long, whilst Portrush, in 1895, measured only a few yards more than
two miles and a quarter; the Hoylake course, used in 1896, was within a
hundred and ten yards of two miles and three quarters. Great Yarmouth,
which is to be the scene of the present year's--1898--struggle, is some
three miles in extent, but will doubtless be a trifle shortened, if it
be in any way possible.

Harking back to St. Anne's and the first championship, it was a matter
of surprise and pleasure to witness the splendid play of Lady Margaret
Scott, and the ease with which she used her clubs, whether in a good,
bad or indifferent lie. It came in the light of a revelation to the
non-golfing many, who were not used to such a beautiful exhibition, and
were not aware to what pitch of perfection a lady-golfer might rise.
Whilst to the golfing few it was a fine lesson, on the subject of how
the game should and could be played, if it was only properly engrafted
into the player from the beginning, and if proper pains were taken not
to leave the minutest detail unconquered. The only two who approached
Lady Margaret Scott in her easy swing, and the manner in which she
extricated herself from difficulties, were Miss Issette Pearson, the
energetic and hard-working Honorary Secretary of the Golf Union, and
Mrs. Wilson-Hoare, of Westward Ho! The final issue of the great battle
resulted in Lady Margaret becoming champion, a title she held for three
consecutive years, and Miss Pearson being the runner-up. This first
championship was not without its fruits amongst those who witnessed it.
On all sides the tide of ambition ran high to emulate even in a small
degree the splendid example that had been given, which was the talk of
the golfing world. So much so, that by the spring of 1894, there was a
much improved band ready to struggle with each other for the coveted
title at Littlestone, Kent, an off-shoot of that charming and quaint
cinque port town, New Romney, which the continual wash of shingle, and
silt of the sands, has left a mile and a half high and dry inland.

In comparison with St. Anne's, Littlestone was three times more
difficult. Not only was the latter an eighteen hole course, but it
fairly bristled in sand bunkers, canals, rabbit holes, and endless traps
for the incautious. However, everyone had profited by the previous
experience, and the play of most of the competitors called forth
expressions of approval on all sides. The number of entries was
sixty-four, including players from seventeen different clubs. Ireland
was unrepresented this year, although at St. Anne's the previous season
there had been four entries from the Sister Isle. Lady Margaret Scott,
and Miss Pearson, again stood first and second, after a very fine match,
which was watched attentively by a large crowd from all the neighbouring
golfing centres. Following the championship in the Autumn came the
largely-attended and first open meeting of the Ranelagh Club, at Barn
Elms. This was a huge success, thanks to the untiring energies of the
Committee, and Miss Pearson, so much so that another gathering was
organised for the following April--1895--and since then this fixture has
been kindly allowed to become an annual event.

Early in the May of 1895 the enthusiastic army of golfers was under
weigh for the quiet little Irish town of Portrush, the scene of both the
Irish and the English Championships that year, the former preceding the
latter by a few days. The bustle and excitement in the streets of the
little town was great, and outside cars came tearing round the
perilously sharp corners, laden with red-coated golfers either off to
watch the semi-finals of the Irish ladies, or else to sample the truly
grand course on their own account. Every train too brought in fresh
relays of competitors, till the huge Northern Counties Hotel had not a
corner untenanted.

The trophy of the Irish Ladies' Golf Union, which is a remarkably
handsome worked silver bowl, had, after a good fight, together with much
steady play, including some glorious long putts, been won by Miss Cox,
Miss Maclaine being the runner up. An open meeting was held the day
before the Golf Union Championship, where the scratch prize was easily
won, with the fine score of 89, by Miss Sybil Wigham, the first Scotch
representative to attend one of these events. Miss Wigham's style was
grand, being both easy and sure, and she proved herself equal to sending
terrific long balls from any lie. It was much hoped that she and Lady
Margaret might meet in one of the heats, but being unused to play before
so large a crowd, Miss Wigham's nerve rather gave way in her match with
Miss Dod, and she suffered defeat by two up and one to play. Two of the
finest matches of this championship were those between Lady Margaret
Scott and Miss Phillips, in the opening heat, and between Lady Margaret
and Mrs. Ryder-Richardson in the semi-final, wherein the latter player
was four up at the eleventh hole to the champion, who after this
gradually assumed the lead, and won in the end by two up.

[Illustration: _LADY MARGARET HAMILTON-RUSSELL._

(_Winner of the Championship, 1893, 1894, and 1895_)]

Perhaps the marvellous coolness and self-possession of Lady Margaret
were never seen to better advantage than in this match. The course at
Portrush seemed to abound in bunkers at every conceivable and
inconceivable corner. The greens were in excellent condition, and the
whole links sporting as anyone could wish to play over. If anything the
soil was a trifle too sandy, for it was dangerous to take the least
scrap of turf with one's brassey or iron, for fear of a foozle. The end
of the meeting found Lady Margaret for the third time champion, with
Miss Lythgoe, of the St. Anne's Club, as Silver medallist.

The 1896 championship meeting, at Hoylake, was remarkable for the number
of very close matches, many of which were only decided on the
eighteenth, nineteenth, or twentieth greens. Miss Pascoe ultimately
became the winner after many hard tussles, with Miss Lena Thompson, of
Wimbledon, as runner up, Lady Margaret Scott not being among the
eighty-two entrants. It was noticeable what an improvement in all parts
of the game had taken place within the last three years, many of those
who had witnessed the St. Anne's Championship being present, and
stating this as their opinion. In the length of the tee shots and
brassies, in getting out of difficulties, and in putting, the
improvement was everywhere visible. The first visit of the Union to the
home of Golf, viz., Scotland, took place in the middle of May, 1897,
when Gullane, on the East Lothian coast, was the place of Meeting.
Gullane is famed not only for the excellence of its links and the very
superior quality of its turf at the present time, but in early years it
was a great Pictish burial place, and the ruins of an ancient church,
dating from about 1170, still stands in the middle of the village. In
after years it was known as the birthplace of the celebrated racehorse,
_Blair Athol_, as well as of several minor lights of the racing world.
Gullane indeed is a spot of many varied interests.

The links are most sporting, and it is altogether a splendid course for
a big event like the championship. The only regret murmured--and that
but faintly--was that some would have liked more hazards to carry from
the tee, as is the case at North Berwick. However, this want was well
atoned for by the manner in which the greens were guarded, a style of
defence that would do credit to a first-class engineer, and which taxed
the powers of approaching not a little. Especially was this the case at
the twelfth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth holes,
where grief unlimited awaited the topped or foozled ball. Starting with
the record entry of one hundred and two competitors, the whole meeting,
if one excepts the weather, was an unqualified success. For the first
time, the Scotch and English women-players met to do battle for the same
trophy, but it was to be regretted that in so many instances the draw
had coupled two very strong scratch players together, or in the same way
put English players to do battle with each other, when it would have
been both so much more exciting and interesting to have found them
pitted North against South. In the first round two of the best matches
were those between Miss Pascoe--the holder of the cup--and Miss Issette
Pearson, and between Miss N. Graham--the Irish Champion--and Miss
Nevill, the holder of the Midland Counties Championship. Miss Pearson,
who gave one of the finest exhibitions of golf that she has ever shown,
won after a hard fight by four up and three to play. Miss Pascoe too
made some magnificent shots, but she certainly did not display the same
deadly accuracy which characterised her game so much at Hoylake, in the
previous year (1896). However such thorough knowledge of the game was
shown on both sides, that some of the old Scotchmen in the crowd were
heard to exclaim, "Hoot, mon! This is fair golf, and worth coming to
see."

The match between Miss Nevill and Miss N. Graham was even closer, the
latter losing only at the last hole. In the next round the matches of
Miss Maud Aitchison _v._ Miss G. Graham, Miss A. L. Orr _v._ Miss Frith,
and Miss A. Maxwell _v._ Miss M. R. Nimmo, attracted the most attention,
and in each case were won by the first-named player. Round number three
contained many more tight matches, especially those between Miss
Titterton and Miss Maud Aitchison, which was carried to the
twenty-second hole, Miss Titterton winning ultimately. Whilst Mrs.
Edward Smith beat Miss N. Haig, the Yorkshire champion, only at the
twenty-first hole, Miss Bertha Thomson beat Miss Lugton at the
nineteenth green, and Miss Dod only succumbed to Miss Blyth on the last
green. The fourth round was not marked by any special feature, although
all the matches were well contested. But the fifth heat had some grand
fights, notably those of Miss Titterton and Miss Madeline Campbell,
which only finished on the eighteenth green, and Miss Kennedy and Miss
Nevill, which was another display of real golf soundly well played, Miss
Nevill losing by two holes only. The sixth and semi-final round was
indeed exciting, Miss Kennedy playing a magnificent match against Miss
Orr. The play on both sides was bold, free, and accurate, Miss Kennedy's
shots from the tee and through the green were brilliant, especially so
at the sixteenth hole from whence she reached the green in two, a
distance of 314 yards from the tee. It was in putting alone that she
lost to her formidable and well-known North Berwick opponent. Miss E. C.
Orr, who was playing a most beautiful and steady game, downed Miss
Titterton by two up after a fine match. The final between the two Miss
Orr's was a good exhibition of steady golf, but Miss E. C. Orr
out-played her sister somewhat easily, her shots all through being
beautifully judged, especially the full iron shots or half iron
approaches, which never failed to be within a putt of the hole. Indeed
it was in these shots that she obtained such an immense pull over her
opponents throughout the whole of the meeting, and one might with
advantage take a lesson from her in this most useful and necessary
department of the game, for it is undoubtedly in approaching and putting
that so many of us fail. There is nothing very hard in hitting a good
long drive or brassey shot, but when it comes to pitching the ball
_perfectly accurately_ on to the green, so that it may be within a
putt's length of the hole, or at the outside within two such strokes,
then it is that we seem to be "all over the place." Perhaps once or
twice during the round, we may lay an approach or two fairly dead, but
to do this consistently for eighteen holes we cannot, and it was here
that Miss E. C. Orr and several other Scotch ladies, scored heavily.

The competitions that are held at many open meetings for "approach
shots," generally result in anybody but the scratch players being the
winners, and show that this branch of the game is neglected by many good
players. Somehow far less pains are taken about this kind of shot, than
for the drive. Notice before the drive, how the player will fuss about
the height of her tee, the position of her feet, the waggle and swing
of the club, then notice the same player on nearing the hole, when she
takes up her iron or mashie. Just a glance at the hole, then a quick hit
and the ball lights _somewhere_ on the green, perhaps with such a run
that it is nearly as far off on the other side as it was on this side,
before the stroke was played. No pains as to position, stance and angle
of the club-head are taken; an iron shot in the _direction_ of the green
being the stroke played, instead of an approach shot _at the hole_,
which just makes all the difference. Putting, too, is much more natural
to some people than to others, but it is surely within the power of
everyone to improve themselves in this useful science.

It is after closely watching such a display of the game as we saw at the
Championship meeting at Gullane, that one feels how much we might
improve in our game by simply taking a little ordinary and common care.

The lengths of the holes at Gullane were about as follows: 1st, 300
yards; 2nd, 251; 3rd, 211; 4th, 353; 5th, 313; 6th, 252; 7th, 347; 8th,
304; 9th, 249; 10th, 353; 11th, 153; 12th, 355; 13th, 189; 14th, 160;
15th, 244; 16th, 314; 17th, 309; 18th, 306. Lengths that required every
variety of shot, together with uphill and downhill lies innumerable,
but as was mentioned a page or two back, the feature of the course lay
in the grandly-guarded greens, where the consistent approacher had all
the best of the game, and time besides to cogitate on the niblic shots
of her less consistent opponent.

Besides arranging the annual championship, and settling any questions or
difficulties relating to golf, the Ladies' Golf Union undertook to
organize a matter that had for years shown itself in need of revision.
The Union started the "handicapping scheme" among its associated clubs,
in order that in crowded open meetings, the committee chosen to arrange
the handicaps, should have some basis to work upon. It is a delicate
matter to settle the points that one player shall concede to another,
and till then this had been more or less guess-work, excepting for such
little guidance as the local handicaps provided. The scheme is now in
full working order, with a special sub-committee to guard over its
interests, of which Miss Pearson is in command. This committee consists
of four other ladies, to each of whom is portioned out six or eight
clubs, and whose duty it is to work out by averaging the scores
returned, what handicap each member of these several clubs shall
receive, in accordance with the fixed par of the green, also to lower
the various allowances when the players return scores under those from
which they are already handicapped. Once a month the whole of the medal,
or other stroke competition returns are made up, and published in the
golfing papers. To stimulate interest in this scheme the Golf Union
offers a silver medal to every club, to be won by the member returning
the best aggregate of four nett scores under their handicaps during the
year, as well as a gold medal to be competed for annually by the winners
of the silver medals.

The rules for the guidance of those who compete, which will be found on
the notice board in every associated club's golf room, run briefly as
follows:

"1. Any member of a club belonging to the Union, and desirous of having
a handicap for this competition, must have returned two medal scores,
neither of which shall have exceeded the par of the green, as fixed by
the Union by more than twenty-five strokes. A member having a handicap
in one club shall receive the same handicap at all clubs to which she
may belong, when playing for the Union medals, such handicap to be the
lowest she shall receive at any one club.

2. Each Honorary Secretary will receive monthly a form with Members'
Union Handicap, on which she shall enter the medal scores and return the
sheet directly to one of the members of the sub-committee.

3. The par of the green is fixed from details sent by each club to the
Ladies' Golf Union Hon. Secretary, and all competitions for the medals
must be played on the full medal course, but if circumstances such as
ground under repair, etc., prevent this, a note must be made, and the
difference explained when sending in the scores to the sub-committee."

But a most able article on this subject from the pen of Miss Pearson
will be found in volume four of the _Ladies' Golf Union Annual_. A neat
little shilling publication, which not only contains a splendid map of
the Gullane Golf course, but much useful information as to the
associated clubs and their members throughout England.

[Illustration: _Reinhold Thiele and Co._ _Chancery Lane._

_MISS ISSETTE PEARSON._

(_Hon. Secretary Ladies' Golf Union._)]

Golf has done much for many branches of trade, giving them a stimulus in
out of the way corners. The revival of trade, indeed, that marks the
opening of golf links, falls little short of a species of colonizing,
resuscitating as it does decayed towns and villages, in which the game
has fanned the almost extinct embers of industry into a glowing flame.
While the men find work on the course, the boys have employment as
caddies, or the sharper ones get a berth in the club maker's shop,
whilst the players who come and go every day in the year, cause the
hearts of the local butchers, bakers, and grocers to rejoice. In Kent
alone, such old places as Sandwich, Deal, New Romney and Rye, some of
them famous in the by-gone days of the Cinque Ports splendour, owe a
great deal in these bad times to the royal and ancient game. The
membership of their respective golf clubs, number about as follows:
Sandwich, 650; Deal, between 300 and 500; Littlestone, 500; and Rye,
270; and some of these players at least, must visit one or other of the
courses, and spend a certain amount of money in the place. New hotels
and houses become necessities in the neighbourhood, and the old inns,
too, have to look to their laurels that they keep up to date, and are
well stocked with food, for the golfer's appetite is not renowned by
reason of its smallness.

In the "upkeep" of the links there are many and heavy expenses to be
taken into account by the authorities, but clubs can generally amply
recoup not only by subscriptions and entrance fees, but by that certain
source of revenue, the green fees of visitors, provided of course the
links are fairly sporting and well kept. Taken all round, the number of
green keepers and men employed on the various courses throughout the
country, would alone make a respectable-sized army. Then the industries
in club and ball-making should be considered, and the thousands and
thousands of dozens of the latter that are sold annually. In a recent
number of _Golf_ it was stated that some five hundred tons of
gutta-percha are, within twelve months, converted into balls alone! To
quote the paragraph on the subject: "The material is sold at four
shillings and sixpence or five shillings per pound, but adding the cost
entailed in producing good well-seasoned balls from the raw material, we
find that there is an outlay approximately of L500,000 a year with
manufacture and sale of golf balls. A fact like this tells not only a
vivid story of the growth and popularity of the game, but of the
commercial importance of the golf-ball trade."

Of course balls are at their best from six to nine months after being
finished, but for a year or more they do not deteriorate to any great
extent. The weight usually played with, is 27 or 27-1/2 drams. Of
different kinds there are no end, some people pinning their faith to
"Melforts," others to "Woodley Flyers," and so on, but very satisfactory
makes are the "Black A.1.," the "Silvertown," or the "Eureka." Recently
the "Agrippa" balls have been highly spoken of, and it is undeniable
that even a gale of wind does not very perceptibly upset their flight,
it they are struck true.

Having now touched on most of the subjects to do with the technical part
of the game, it may be of interest to add a few more words on links and
players generally, but before doing so, let it be said again, that golf
is not a game that can be grasped or learned in a week, or yet in a
year, but it requires steady perseverance for a very long period. If at
any time you are off the game thoroughly, it is much better to go to a
good professional, who will quickly put you on the right road again. In
so doing you will avoid any chance of picking up bad habits, in your
efforts to make the ball speed on its journey as it should.

[Illustration: _Brown, Barkes, and Bell. Liverpool._

_MISS EMMA KENNEDY._

(_Bronze Medallist, 1897._)]

Of Ladies' courses, that of the West Lancashire will take a great deal
of beating, for reasons that have been already stated. A course of
eighteen holes, heaps of elbow room, and with a large and splendidly
planned club house, in which a daily bill of fare is always to be
found--the last, by the way, not met with every day in a ladies' club
house--there is little left to desire. To Mrs. Alsop and her able
committee the visitors at the last open meeting, which was held just
before the Hoylake ladies' championship in 1896, were greatly indebted.
Not a hitch occurred in the starting of any of the seventy-eight
competitors. It was on this course too that the Southern ladies, when on
their Northern tour, in September of 1895, sustained their first and
only defeat. The West Lancashire Club can boast of one of the strongest
match teams that it is possible to place in the field, seeing that it
contains the names of Miss Kennedy--holder of the record with a score of
77--Mrs. Ryder-Richardson, Miss Young, Miss Carr--a bronze medallist of
the first championship--Miss Welch, Mrs. Fowler, and other scratch
players. The next eighteen hole course is just south of London, at
Mitcham, viz., that of the Princes Ladies', one of the most delightful
spots near London possible to find one's self detrained for a day's
golf. The holes on these links vary in length from a full mashie shot to
a distance that will require two or three strokes to reach the green.
The chief hazards are dykes, gorse bushes, rushes, railways and turf
bunkers, the trenches of which appear to be amply filled with sand. The
putting greens are very good, especially the last seven holes, the other
eleven being still rather in their infancy, as they were only opened in
May, 1897. The eighteen hole record of 83, is held by Miss Phillips. A
very attractive object of competition at this club, is the monthly
medal, a unique little gold charm mounted as a brooch. Twice a year, in
May and November, the club holds most successful open meetings. Indeed
for the last Spring event, that of 1897, the record entry of 106 was
received, and at the forthcoming Spring meeting, a challenge cup is
advertised to be competed for annually by representatives of all
counties in Great Britain and Ireland, one year's residential
qualification being necessary. For this event any number of players are
permitted to enter for each county, and the cup is to be held for a year
by the county returning the four best medal rounds for thirty-six
holes. Miss Langley is the untiring secretary and prime mover in all
matters connected with the welfare of the club. In fact it is mainly due
to her unrelaxed exertions, that the new piece of ground for the eleven
holes was obtained, and worked into the excellent state that it now is.

Still another course of eighteen holes is that of the County Down Club
in Ireland, where play is over part of the famous Newcastle links, some
three miles round. The "Bogey" and scratch score of these links is 100,
and this has only been approached by Miss Maclaine, who has completed
the course in 102. The hazards are principally of the lofty sand hill
order. 465 yards is the length of the longest hole, 448, 367, 325, to 93
yards, being about the lengths of the others. The greens are
magnificent, and the turf is of the proverbial billiard cloth
smoothness. Miss N. Graham, the champion of Ireland, hails from this
club, which may justly be proud of such an able representative. A little
further north, is the course of the Royal Portrush Ladies', another
sporting eighteen holes. This club is presided over by Mrs. J. M.
McCalmont, and contains among its members Miss Cox, the ex-Irish
champion.

[Illustration: _Hembry. Belfast._

_MISS N. GRAHAM._

(_Irish Champion, 1896 and 1897._)]

Crossing over to Scotland, we find only putting courses at St. Andrews
and at Carnoustie. But at Troon, Musselburgh, North Berwick, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen, Machrihanish (eighteen holes), Prestwich, St. Nicholas,
Dumfries, Elie and Earlsferry, Bridge of Weir, and Ranfurly, etc., etc.,
there are some fine links with perfect greens and most trying hazards.
Returning once more to the South country, we have a splendid long
eighteen-hole course at Woking, where one gets every variety of hazard
and lie imaginable. The Wimbledon Ladies' course too is most trying,
thanks (!) to the conservators of the common, who have caused tarred
circles to be daubed outside all the gorse bushes, so that when the
player finds herself within one of these charmed rings, she is bound to
drop and lose a stroke. Flints too are rather prevalent, causing havoc
to one's iron clubs. The eighteen, and nine-hole records of the green
are both held by Miss Pearson, the former with 68, the latter in 31, the
holes varying in length between 100 to 190 yards.

For links that are of a lawn-like smoothness, excepting for the bunkers,
Eltham has no rival, and some pretty iron shots are to be had there. At
Eastbourne the holes differ in length from two hundred and twenty, to
one hundred and fifteen yards, and the hazards consist of turf bunkers
and hurdles. The record, held by Miss M. E. Phillips, is 69. One of the
nicest short inland courses on the South coast is that of the Brighton
and Hove Ladies' at the Dyke, the record for which is 73. Gorse bushes
are the principal hazards, but it is a course where good play is always
soundly rewarded. Being on down turf, the greens are always excellent,
though perhaps a trifle small. Not many miles away from the latter
course is that of Ashdown Forest, a very tricky green abounding in
heather. In fact, when on the long course, what with the fir trees
scattered here and there, the burns and the heather stretching for miles
on every side, you can imagine yourself anywhere but in the heart of
Sussex. Seaford is another very short ladies' course, which is yet
splendid practice for iron and mashie shots. Miss Gilroy holds the
record with 62. The long course there is very taking, especially for
anyone who drives a long raking ball both off the tee and through the
green. A very successful open meeting was by kind permission of the
gentlemen's committee held over the latter course in September, 1897,
there being forty-two entries.

Of all courses though, where accurate iron and mashie shots tell, the
Hoylake Ladies' links at the Dale, take any amount of beating. With
holes varying in length from 60 to 166 yards, it is the most delightful
practice course for short shots that can be well imagined. Mrs. Ryder
Richardson holds the record with 63. The Hastings and the Bexhill ladies
both play over part of the gentlemen's courses, there being plenty of
scope for brassey and cleek shots through the green. Chorley Wood,
Richmond, Barham Downs, Folkestone, Lelant, Cheltenham, Chester,
Malvern, and Rhyl are all courses of some length, and in playing over
which most of one's clubs are called into use.

Of links abroad, there are some eleven clubs in Australia, eleven in New
Zealand, including four ladies' clubs, five in the Straits Settlements,
twenty-four in India, twenty-one in Canada, four in the West Indies, one
hundred and fourteen in the United States, where the game may be fairly
said to have "caught on," and fifteen clubs in South Africa, besides
links at Malta, in Egypt, Cyprus, Algeria, Arabia, Ceylon, China,
Tasmania, Mauritius, Canary Islands, and nearer home in Belgium,
Holland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, and last but not least
France, where we find fourteen clubs, most of them largely patronized by
the leading players from Scotland, England and Ireland during the winter
months. Of all the colonies, New Zealand and Australia are said to be
the keenest over golf, so far as ladies are concerned, and in both these
countries they have even instituted an annual Ladies' Championship, thus
following the lead of the mother country. As to the American ladies,
they are intensely keen over the game and spare no pains to become
proficient in it, their annual woman's championship being a very large
gathering. This tournament is played upon the lines of the men's amateur
championship, but only the eight lowest scores qualify in the medal
round, and the final round, as in this country, is only eighteen holes,
the thirty-six hole test being considered too tedious for a woman.
Between thirty and forty players usually enter; Miss Hayt, Mrs. Turnure,
Mrs. Shippen, Miss F. C. Griscon, and Miss Sands appear to be some who
play from scratch, and before long we shall hope to welcome some of
these cousins from over the "Herring Pond" to one of our annual
championships.

Recently, in America, a golf school has been started, in a large and
well-lighted drill hall, where the game can be taught by the hour. The
windows in the hall are protected by netting, and on the floor is a
large square of rubber, from off which drives, brasseys, and iron shots
can be practised. Many other clever devices for learning the game and
gaining accuracy are also in force in this school.

Local championships are now established in some of our counties, those
of Yorkshire and the Midlands being the biggest events. A real golf
treat on the south coast is a day at Sandwich or Deal, preferably the
former, the St. Andrews of the south, where the carries are indeed as
big as one could wish for, especially at the third hole, or "Unknown
Sahara," as the huge sandy desert of a bunker confronting the tee is
called. Again at the sixth hole, or "The Maiden," as its world-renowned
name is, a gigantic bunker some forty feet high, which grows on its
steep side a prolific crop of rough bent rushy grass, gives full scope
to your powers be they what they may. "Hades," too, is a hole that
requires a very well hit ball to carry the surrounding troubles, and
numbers nine, fourteen, and seventeen are all holes where long drivers
get a tremendous advantage. At the same time, one finds at Sandwich a
line marked out by blue guide flags, in the following of which the
rather shorter driver will not be so severely punished. The total length
of the course is some six thousand odd yards, the longest hole being
about four hundred and eighty yards, and the shortest about one hundred
and eighty yards. The Gentleman's Amateur Championship was held over
this course in 1896, when Mr. Tait won, after some splendid fights with
Mr. C. Hutchings, Mr. J. E. Laidley, Mr. J. Ball, junior, Mr. Horace
Hutchinson, and finally with Mr. H. Hilton. Amongst the lady-players
there are many dozen who might well claim notice, but space being
limited it is only possible to refer to a few of the best known, Lady
Margaret Hamilton-Russell, Miss Pascoe, Miss E. C. Orr, and Miss Issette
Pearson have already been mentioned. But to give the honour to Scotland,
at Prestwich Miss Sybil Whigham reigns supreme, with her splendid long
raking drives and iron shots. This player takes a full easy swing, using
her shoulders well, and turning but very slightly upon the left toe in
driving. In the matter of getting out of bunkers, she is especially
adept. From Dumfries hails Miss A. Maxwell, another grand player, but
one who has the half swing only, with a peculiar action of the left foot
at the moment of driving. Mrs. Murray, of the Torwoodlee club, was one
of the best "all-round" players in the recent Gullane Championship, her
approaching and putting being nothing short of grand. Miss Blanche
Anderson and Miss Madeline Campbell of North Berwick, are both shining
lights in that club which is so rich in golfing talent, Miss Campbell's
handling of her clubs being specially taking. But turning more
Southwards, at Windermere, Miss Bownass, with her fine drives and
approach shots, can hold her own on that very undulating course. Twice
she has accomplished the rather difficult eighteen holes in eighty-nine
strokes. In Lancashire, we find Mrs. Ryder Richardson, whose play is too
well known to need a description. Besides taking endless prizes in the
North, including the Isle of Man, Mrs. Richardson performed a marvellous
feat at Ranelagh, in April of 1897, by doing that somewhat tricky course
in seventy-nine strokes, the record for a woman. In North Wales, Miss
Kennedy keeps up the golf reputation, but her recent doings at Gullane
have already been discussed. In Worcestershire, Miss Nevill and Miss E.
Nevill carry all before them. Both splendid drivers, they play a very
bold game all through, besides which bunkers and other difficulties hold
few terrors for them. At Cheltenham, on the Cleeve Hill Common, Mrs.
Aylmer and Miss Johnson are formidable opponents. At Westward Ho! we
find Mrs. Wilson-Hoare, whose game is as well known as it is admired.
She has a fine workmanlike swing, both in driving and brassey shots, and
very few can touch her in extricating herself from a difficult lie. On
links not far from London, we find such players as Miss Phillips, Miss
K. Walker, Mrs. Worssam, Mrs. Willock, Miss Lena Thomson[9] and many
others, who are looked upon in the light of towers of strength in club
matches, or team competitions.

[Footnote 9: Holder of the Championship, 1898.]

But here a word on _Esprit-de-corps_, that most essential qualification
of all games, without which no sport can be worthily pursued. In these
days of endless clubs, each containing many of the same members, the
want is felt of some species of rule, or at least an understanding, on
the subject of the same member--whose name may be on the books of
several clubs--playing for or against such clubs promiscuously. If there
be real _esprit-de-corps_, there can be but little doubt which club
really claims one's sympathy and interest, when the inter-club match
season is in full swing.

[Illustration: _Reinhold Thiele and Co. Chancery Lane._

_RANELAGH GROUP, APRIL, 1897._]

Yet another matter, is a word on the penalty stroke, namely, on dropping
the ball, as put forth in rule 39:

"In all cases where a ball is to be dropped, the party doing so shall
front the hole to which he is playing, standing behind the hazard and
dropping the ball behind him from his head."

So many women throw the ball over the head, or else stand partly round
and drop it with a kind of jerk over the shoulder, turning the head at
the same time, so as to watch the place where it is desired the ball
should alight. Instead of doing this, you should step back a few paces
in the exact line in which the ball entered the hazard, then stand
erect, raise the hand over the head and drop the ball simply behind you.
Of the Stymie, let it be said, that as it always has been a freak of the
game, so let it continue to be. A stymie, is when the opponent's ball is
on the line of your own putt. But though much is talked of its
abolition, yet as it has always been a case of "fortune's fickle smile
upon the player," why not let it remain so?

Having gone somewhat lightly through the various parts of the game of
golf, it may not be amiss to close with a few remarks taken from an
early volume of the _Golf Annual_, and occurring in an article written
by Mr. John Thomson, which sets forth the advantages of the game in no
mean manner. "Good games should benefit both mind and body, and no game
can stand this test better than golf. To the mind it shows the need of
caution, courage, coolness, and many other good qualities. Above all it
teaches one to keep the temper under due control in all circumstances
and situations. Our royal game brings out the strength and weakness of
character both in yourself and others, and gives an excellent chance to
study human nature. Some folks think they can know a man from his face,
his mode of hand-shaking, or other such things, but if you wish to look
a fellow through and through, play two or three stiff matches of golf
with him. As to the healthy nature of the game, it is surely needless to
say a word."

Here the writer quotes a favourable passage from Burton's _Anatomy of
Melancholy_, closing his remarks with the words, "All round we may thus
say our game promotes that greatest of all blessings, sound mind and
sound body."

A. W. M. Starkie-Bence.

[Illustration: _Lombardi and Co. 13, Pall Mall East._

_MRS. SPONG._]




CROQUET.


In Dr. Prior's "Notes on Croquet," published in 1872, the origin of the
game is traced to Pele Mele, or Pall Mall, a game played with mallet and
balls as long ago as 1661, and written of by the celebrated Mr. Pepys in
his diary about that time. Pall mall was played with long handled
mallets, with small balls, on gravel, and with long swinging strokes,
and appears to have much more resembled golf than croquet; but Dr. Prior
writes of a modified form of the game which only occupied a narrow but
smooth space of ground, and in which two small arches and one iron peg
were employed, while the strokes were made with a spoon-headed mallet,
resembling the mace used at billiards.

A hundred years later, a game bearing the name croquet was played by the
peasants of Brittany, a rough pastime, detailed accounts of which may be
read in Mr. A. Lillie's work on croquet published last year, or in Dr.
Prior's earlier book. The game, as first known in this country, seems to
have come from Ireland somewhere about 1857, when it was brought out by
Mr. Jaques as a social garden game; a trivial enough pastime from which
gradually developed the more interesting game of the present day. It was
to Mr. Walter Jones Whitmore that the first start of really scientific
croquet is due, and he it was who organised the first tournament in
1867, held at Evesham, when Mr. Whitmore became the champion.
In the following year, a much larger tournament was held at
Moreton-in-the-Marsh, when the Championship fell to the late Mr. W. H.
Peel, whose interest in the game never flagged, and to whose untiring
exertions much of the success of the present revival is due. He founded
the present All-England Croquet Association, two years ago, (1896), and
became its honorary secretary, his sadly sudden death last October
leaving a blank hard to fill.

In 1868, Mr. Whitmore got up the All-England Croquet Club, and from this
point the tactics of the game became its prominent feature. With the
expulsion of tight croquet (viz., when two balls were together, placing
your foot on your own ball to keep it in position, and hitting it so as
to send the other ball away), and the introduction of the dead boundary,
croquet became a game more of the head than the hands, the various
positions in a game requiring perfectly different treatment according to
the capabilities of the antagonists. At this time, too, a code of laws
was drawn up by Mr. Whitmore and a few leading spirits, which in some
respects differed materially from the rules of to-day, notably in that
requiring the side stroke.

From 1869, the date of the first Open Tournament, held on the
All-England Club grounds, at Wimbledon, till 1882, yearly matches were
played there for the Championship and Challenge Cup, and for some years
there was also a Ladies' Championship contest, but either the extreme
narrowness of the hoops, the large size of the grounds, or the necessity
for constant practice, so reduced the number of competitors that these
matches were abandoned, and even the Gentlemen's Championship for three
or four years practically dwindled down to a match between two players
(Mr. Bonham Carter and Mr. Spong), till in 1882, the Cup having been
finally won by the latter, croquet became a thing of the past at
Wimbledon. The club grounds were then handed over to lawn-tennis players
until 1896, when a small body of enthusiastic croquet players started
the game afresh, and in a few weeks several old players rallied round
them, and one or two small but successful meetings were held.

In the interval, croquet had not altogether died out. At Brentwood, a
small club had held its meetings for some time, and at Maidstone, a
yearly tournament had taken place since 1894, while players were to be
found in the remote village of Budleigh Salterton, and in the far west
of Somersetshire, Dr. Prior kept up a perfect lawn, on which in former
years most of the well-known players had tried their skill.

To make a croquet lawn as perfect as possible, it should be absolutely
level, of fine hill turf, not mossy or intersected with plantains, and
if possible there should be a layer of cinders or other Ballast a few
inches below the surface, as this serves to drain it more quickly and
also prevents worms from working through.

[Illustration]

The measurements now required are 35 by 28 yards, though until last year
40 by 30 yards was considered a match ground. The boundaries should be
marked by a chalk line, and at each corner a white spot should be made
exactly one yard from each boundary, to mark the position for replacing
a corner ball, a matter of much importance in every game. The six hoop
setting, with 4-inch hoops and two stout pegs is universally adopted.
The hoops are of round iron half an inch thick, square topped, and
painted white, No. 1 being generally a light blue to shew the
starting-point. They should be long enough to be driven quite nine
inches into the ground, and stand the same distance above it, and they
are generally painted black in the lower half to show when properly
driven in. Of the pegs, one should be plain white, the other (the
winning peg) painted with the four colours, blue, red, black, yellow, in
order, and both should have small crossbars inserted on which to place
the clips. It is essential that the balls should be in these plain
colours, and it would be well if the vendors of croquet implements would
avoid the striped balls, so bewildering in sequence, and so much more
difficult to aim at. Every so-called set should be provided with four
iron clips, painted to match the balls, which are used to indicate the
position of the game, and are placed on the top of the hoops in the
first half, and on the sides in the return journey.

In the matter of mallets every licence is given, each player using the
kind he likes best. The weight of these varies from 2-1/3 to 3-1/2 lbs.,
and the length of the head and shape is a matter of individual fancy.
Many well-known players keep a variety of mallets and sometimes change
the weapon frequently in a game; but for my own part I believe in
getting accustomed to one mallet and sticking to it. The shapes are some
of them most peculiar, and one of the old players for years used a
mallet head like a thick solid block with square ends, while a player
recently appeared with a mallet head of extraordinary length, and
somewhat resembling the bottom of a rocking-chair. Some mallets are
sliced at the bottom, with the idea that by this means the ball is hit
more directly in the centre, and is not so liable to be topped. Some
again have a flat brass plate attached at the bottom for extra weight,
while one lady plays with a beautiful ivory mallet, long in the head
but of smaller diameter than the usual box-wood ones. Heads of lignum
vitae are also used, and many players have india-rubber 1/4-inch thick
affixed to one end, by which means two balls can be rolled together a
distance of nearly thirty yards without any undue effort. This is a
great boon to lady players, as without the india-rubber a very powerful
following stroke is required, a hard hit only separating the balls, the
hinder or playing ball rarely reaching half the distance.

The manner of equalising in a competition is by handicapping the strong
players, who give bisques, viz., one or more extra turns in each game,
which may be taken at any time in continuation of a break, but not more
than one bisque in the same turn.

The manner of holding the mallet and striking varies in the hands of
different players, Mr. C. E. Willis the present Champion at Wimbledon
and at Maidstone being the finest example of a side stroke player, as
set forth by Mr. Whitmore and and Mr. Peel, while Mr. Bonham Carter, Mr.
Spong, Capt. Drummond and many others consider the aim much more certain
with the forward position, a kind of pendulum stroke in which the weight
of the mallet tells more than any force used. Some of the most
successful of the lady players, too, use this method of striking,
notably Miss Maud Drummond (winner of the Ladies' Gold Medal in 1896,
and of the Wimbledon Championship Badge in 1897) and Miss Elphinstone
Stone (present holder of the Maidstone Ladies' Cup), but Miss de Winton
(Gold Medallist, 1897) and Mrs. Wood adhere to the older side stroke.

Since the early days of Croquet, when six or eight players engaged in
one game on a small lawn, with hoops often wide enough for a child to
crawl through, and sometimes a cage and bell occupying the centre of the
ground, the game has changed almost beyond recognition. Then "tactics"
were unknown, everybody's idea being to go into position for the hoop
their ball was to pass through, and by tight croquet to send off every
adversary to the greatest possible distance. Players thus disposed of
were often required to shoot back from a ground occupied by a second set
of players, and a good long shot won more applause than anything else in
the game; but with the introduction of the dead boundary, the game
changed entirely. Rules were made, more than 4 balls were never employed
in a game, and the terms "roquet," "dead ball," "live ball," "pioneer,"
"break," "rush," &c., soon became familiar words, a complete list of
these, with detailed instructions for playing the game in a scientific
manner, are so admirably set forth in Mr. Lillie's book, published last
year, that intending players will do well to study it, but the meaning
of a few of the terms may not be out of place here.

A "roquet" is made when the playing ball strikes another ball; after a
"roquet," croquet must be taken by placing the two balls together, and
either striking your own ball so that it goes to some required point,
only moving the other ball a little, which is called taking two off; or
by sending each ball in a different direction (a splitting stroke); or
again by rolling the two balls together. In taking croquet, if either
ball touches the boundary line it is considered dead, and the turn
ceases. The "live ball" is the next to play, and the "dead ball" is the
name given to the adversary's ball which has just played. A ball is
considered "in play," when in its turn it has made a point and has still
to continue its turn, but is "in hand" after making a "roquet" until
"croquet" is taken. The "rush" is a roquet sending the ball hit in some
desired direction. Thus in taking croquet, it is often advisable to get
near another ball on some particular side, to "rush" it into position
for a hoop, etc. The rush is one of the most telling strokes in a game,
but requires some practice, as the ball must be struck low, with the
mallet held freely and pointed rather in an upward direction. A ball hit
at all on the top is apt to jump, and indeed a leapfrog stroke which
will clear another ball and sometimes a hoop, is often successfully
carried out by the best players, when their ball is blocked from the
desired object. To "wire" is to place the balls in such a position that
they are screened from the next player's shot, by one or more hoops.
Making a "point" is the hoop or peg made in order. The "pioneer" is the
ball sent on to the hoop next but one in order, to assist the playing
ball at that point. "Break" is the name given to a succession of points
made in the same turn. A "rover" is a ball which has passed through all
the hoops, and only has to touch the winning peg. To "finesse" is to
play into a corner so that the dead ball shall not be easily available
to assist in the adversary's game, and that the friendly ball may join
it when it's turn arrives. This is only done when the opponents' two
balls are together. "Counter finesse" is for the adversary next playing
to send his partner's ball to join the dead ball in the corner, thus
preventing the others getting together. To "peel" to put another ball
through its hoop by croquet. This stroke is named after the late Mr. W.
H. Peel, who was particularly successful with it, and only last autumn
at a handicap meeting on the Wimbledon grounds he won a game in which he
"peeled" his partner's ball through the four last hoops.

The option of beginning in a match falls to the winner of the toss, who
always elects to do so, and by that means usually secures the first
break. In a partner match, however, the winner of the toss often puts in
the other side first, as it is an advantage for the captain to play
immediately before his strongest opponent. In starting the ball is
placed one foot from the first hoop, in position for making that point.
It has been suggested that a change in this rule would be of advantage.
For instance, if each ball started from a spot in the centre of the
ground, it would make a greater variety in the opening tactics.

[Illustration]

One of the advantages of croquet is its suitability to players of all
ages and to those not in robust health, as, unlike golf, it requires no
great physical strength. People who would not be able to walk miles
across the rough ground of the links, exhilarating as this is to the
strong, can yet enjoy the more gentle exercise on a level lawn. It is a
well-known fact in the croquet world that many of its players attribute
their improved health to the hours they have spent on the croquet
lawn--the late Rev. Mark Pattison, of Oxford, being one of these, and
the Rev. D. J. Heath another.

There is a charm, too, in the equal terms on which men and women players
can meet. I do not say but what men as a rule are the better
players--their constant practise at aiming at billiards and other games
giving them more accuracy of aim--but setting this aside, there seems no
reason why women should not play equally well with practice. Where they
often fail doubtless is in attempting too much. Not content with
leaving the dead ball with their partner's ball, and laying its break by
sending off the next player and going to act pioneer at the partner's
hoop, it is said of women especially, that they often try a difficult
hoop with the live ball, break down and thus let the other side in,
which with the more cautious plan would have been avoided. Again,
croquet is a game in which success is by no means a matter of mechanical
skill alone, for in croquet, as in chess, the player must look ahead not
only for one move but must count on the probability of the adversary's
success or failure, judging by the power already exhibited, and by the
state of the ground, etc. Thus it is often good policy if the opponents'
balls are together in a corner on a fast dry lawn, not to risk a long
"take off" with a probability of going over the boundary in an endeavour
to separate them, but for the player to roll his own and partner's ball
into another corner (if possible across the ground) leaving a rush for
the partner's ball towards the adversaries, or to its own hoop, thus
necessitating the opponent trying the difficult take off with hoops in
the way, and the possibility of going over the boundary or catching in a
wire, etc. I think, too, there is less of the element of "luck" in
croquet than in many games, though of course we are all apt to cavil at
our bad fortune now and then.

The present condition of croquet may be considered as encouraging. Its
popularity has revived very rapidly, though it is only from the Southern
and one or two of the Midland Counties that we have as yet met players
of any prominence. In Scotland, it is true, there has long been a
championship meeting held at Moffat, where Mr. and Mrs. Macfie, of
Borthwick Hall, Midlothian, are among its most liberal supporters. We
have had one or two Irish players at the recent Wimbledon meetings, and
I hear that in County Down the game is much played. Croquet lawns are,
indeed, set out at the fashionable Social Clubs of Hurlingham and
Ranelagh, but alas, the game and its requirements are little understood
there. A well-organised tournament on the picturesque grounds of the
latter club, at Barn Elms, in the height of the season, might do much to
spread its popularity, for the large tournament at Eastbourne last
autumn, showed a marked increase in spectators, who displayed some
knowledge of the tactics of the game, and the keenest interest in the
contests. Another interesting feature of each season would be
inter-county matches. Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Sussex,
Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Bucks., &c., all furnish
some strong players, and representative fours might be selected, and
gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles might be
arranged, as well as, of course, single matches. Monthly Club Handicaps,
too, we hope to see at Wimbledon, and there are rumours of an
International Tournament with a strong contingent of American players,
with whom the game is popular, though it is hardly played on the same
lines as in England.

[Illustration]

It is contended against croquet that the games are too long, and
certainly, with some overcautious players, a close match becomes a very
tedious thing. To obviate this difficulty, in all handicap matches in
the big tournaments last year, time games were resorted to, an
hour-and-a-half being generally the allowance for each single match,
and two hours for doubles, ample time to finish a game in most
instances, though, if not finished, the side ahead wins, and if points,
are even when time is called, the first roquet afterwards constitutes a
victory. This gives scope for some amusing strategy, when the contest is
a very close one.

Reducing the size of the lawns has undoubtedly made the game easier and
more equal, for the weaker players can now get a ball from end to end,
which many women were formerly unable to do, while the opportunities of
wiring one's adversary are more frequent. The main point resolves
itself, not so entirely into a matter of skill, as in rightly estimating
one's own strength and one's adversary's knowledge of the game. In
handicap play this is specially needful, and it is only by match
practice it can be gained. In double handicaps it is usual for the pairs
to be drawn, the captain from one of the first four classes, and the
partner from a lower class, and nothing gives an intelligent beginner a
better insight into "tactics" than being guided by a really good
partner. Mr. Bonham Carter is an ideal captain, never leaving his
partner a difficult stroke, and never making a long break himself with
the partner's ball behind, thus being able to help the weaker player,
who is not discouraged with the idea that it is her ball which is the
laggard. It is only by match practice that this knowledge is gained, and
to play in a good tournament handicap is excellent training.

As a garden-party game, Mr. Lillie, in his book, suggests some amusing
innovations, but croquet proper, as the rules now stand, is something
better than a garden-party game, and stands among out-door amusements as
chess and billiards do among in-door games.

Gertrude Spong.




APPENDICES.




APPENDIX A.

RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF,

AS REVISED AND ADOPTED BY THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GOLF CLUB, ST. ANDREWS.


1. The Game of Golf is played by two or more sides, each playing its own
ball. A side may consist of one or more persons.

2. The game consists in each side playing a ball from a tee into a hole
by successive strokes, and the hole is won by the side holing its ball
in the fewest strokes, except as otherwise provided for in the rules. If
two sides hole out in the same number of strokes, the hole is halved.

3. The teeing-ground shall be indicated by two marks placed in a line at
right angles to the course, and the player shall not tee in front of,
nor on either side of, these marks, nor more than two club-lengths
behind them. A ball played from outside the limits of the teeing-ground,
as thus defined, may be recalled by the opposite side.

The hole shall be 4-1/4 inches in diameter, and at least four inches
deep.

4. The ball must be fairly struck at, and not pushed, scraped, or
spooned, under penalty of the loss of the hole. Any movement of the club
which is intended to strike the ball is a stroke.

5. The game commences by each side playing a ball from the first
teeing-ground. In a match with two or more on a side, the partners shall
strike off alternately from the tee, and shall strike alternately during
the play of the hole.

The players who are to strike against each other shall be named at
starting, and shall continue in the same order during the match.

The player who shall play first on each side shall be named by his own
side.

In case of failure to agree, it shall be settled by lot or toss which
side shall have the option of leading.

6. If a player shall play when his partner should have done so, his side
shall lose the hole, except in the case of the tee shot, when the shot
may be recalled at the option of the opponents.

7. The side winning a hole shall lead in starting for the next hole, and
may recall the opponent's stroke should he play out of order. This
privilege is called the "honour." On starting for a new match, the
winner of the long match in the previous round is entitled to the
"honour." Should the first match have been halved, the winner of the
last hole gained is entitled to the "honour."

8. One round of the links--generally 18 holes--is a match, unless
otherwise agreed upon. The match is won by the side which gets more
holes ahead than there remain holes to be played, or by the side winning
the last hole when the match was all even at the second last hole. If
both sides have won the same number, it is a halved match.

9. After the balls are struck from the tee, the ball farthest from the
hole to which the parties are playing shall be played first, except as
otherwise provided for in the rules. Should the wrong side play first,
the opponent may recall the stroke before his side has played.

10. Unless with the opponent's consent, a ball struck from the tee shall
not be changed, touched, or moved before the hole is played out, under
the penalty of one stroke, except as otherwise provided for in the
rules.

11. In playing through the green, all _loose_ impediments, within a
club-length of a ball which is not lying in or touching a hazard, may be
removed, but loose impediments which are more than a club-length from
the ball shall not be removed, under the penalty of one stroke.

12. Before striking at the ball, the player shall not move, bend, or
break anything fixed or growing near the ball, except in the act of
placing his feet on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball,
and in soleing his club to address the ball, under the penalty of the
loss of the hole, except as provided for in Rule 18.

13. A ball stuck fast in wet ground or sand may be taken out and
replaced loosely in the hole which it has made.

14. When a ball lies in or touches a hazard, the club shall not touch
the ground, nor shall anything be touched or moved before the player
strikes at the ball, except that the player may place his feet firmly
on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball, under the penalty
of the loss of the hole.

At the General Meeting of the Royal and Ancient, held in the spring of
1895, the following addition was made to Rule 14:--"But if, in the
backward or downward swing, any grass, bent, whin, or other growing
substance, or the side of a bunker, a wall, a paling, or other immovable
obstacle be touched, no penalty shall be incurred."

15. A "hazard" shall be any bunker of whatever nature--water, sand,
loose earth, mole-hills, paths, roads or railways, whins, bushes,
rushes, rabbit scrapes, fences, ditches, or anything which is not the
ordinary green of the course, except sand blown on to the grass by wind,
or sprinkled on grass for the preservation of the links, or snow or ice,
or bare patches on the course.

16. A player or a player's caddie shall not press down or remove any
irregularities of surface near the ball, except at the teeing-ground,
under the penalty of the loss of the hole.

17. If any vessel, wheel-barrow, tool, roller, grass-cutter, box, or
other similar obstruction has been placed upon the course, such
obstruction may be removed. A ball lying on or touching such
obstruction, or on clothes, or nets, or on ground under repair or
temporarily covered up or opened, may be lifted and dropped at the
nearest point of the course, but a ball lifted in a hazard shall be
dropped in the hazard. A ball lying in a golf hole or flag hole may be
lifted and dropped not more than a club-length behind such hole.

18. When a ball is completely covered with fog, bent, whins, etc., only
so much thereof shall be set aside as that the player shall have a view
of his ball before he plays, whether in a line with the hole or
otherwise.

19. When a ball is to be dropped, the player shall drop it. He shall
front the hole, stand erect behind the hazard, keep the spot from which
the ball was lifted (or, in the case of running water, the spot at which
it entered) in a line between him and the hole, and drop the ball behind
him from his head, standing as far behind the hazard as he may please.

20. When the balls in play lie within six inches of each other, measured
from their nearest points, the ball nearer the hole shall be lifted
until the other is played, and shall then be replaced as nearly as
possible in its original position. Should the ball farther from the hole
be accidentally moved in so doing, it shall be replaced. Should the lie
of the lifted ball be altered by the opponent in playing, it may be
placed in a lie near to, and as nearly as possible similar to that from
which it was lifted.

21. If the ball lie or be lost in water, the player may drop a ball,
under the penalty of one stroke.

22. Whatever happens by accident to a ball _in motion_, such as its
being deflected or stopped by any agency outside the match, or by the
fore-caddie, is a "rub of the green," and the ball shall be played from
where it lies. Should a ball lodge in anything moving, such ball, or, if
it cannot be recovered, another ball, shall be dropped as nearly as
possible at the spot where the object was when the ball lodged in it.
But if a ball _at rest_ be displaced by any agency outside the match,
the player shall drop it or another ball as nearly as possible at the
spot where it lay. On the putting-green the ball may be replaced by
hand.

23. If the player's ball strike, or be accidentally moved by, an
opponent or an opponent's caddie or clubs, the opponent loses the hole.

24. If the player's ball strike, or be stopped by, himself or partner,
or either of their caddies or clubs, or if, while in the act of playing,
the player strike the ball twice, his side loses the hole.

25. If the player, when not making a stroke, or his partner or either of
their caddies touch their side's ball, except at the tee, so as to move
it, or by touching anything cause it to move, the penalty is one stroke.

26. A ball is considered to have been moved if it leave its original
position in the least degree and stop in another; but if a player touch
his ball and thereby cause it to oscillate, without causing it to leave
its original position, it is not moved in the sense of Rule 25.

27. A player's side loses a stroke if he play the opponent's ball,
unless (l) the opponent then play the player's ball, whereby the penalty
is cancelled, and the hole must be played out with the balls thus
exchanged; or (2) the mistake occur through wrong information given by
the opponent, in which case the mistake, if discovered before the
opponent has played, must be rectified by placing a ball as nearly as
possible where the opponent's ball lay.

If it be discovered before either side has struck off at the tee that
one side has played out the previous hole with the ball of a party not
engaged in the match, that side loses that hole.

28. If a ball be lost, the player's side loses the hole. A ball shall be
held as lost if it be not found within five minutes after the search is
begun.

29. A ball must be played wherever it lies, or the hole be given up,
except as otherwise provided for in the rules.

30. The term "putting-green" shall mean the ground within 20 yards of
the hole, excepting hazards.

31. All loose impediments may be removed from the putting-green, except
the opponent's ball when at a greater distance from the player's than
six inches.

32. In a match of three or more sides, a ball in any degree lying
between the player and the hole must be lifted, or, if on the
putting-green, holed out.

33. When the ball is on the putting-green, no mark shall be placed, nor
line drawn as a guide. The line to the hole may be pointed out, but the
person doing so may not touch the ground with the hand or club.

The player may have his own or his partner's caddie to stand at the
hole, but none of the players or their caddies may move so as to shield
the ball from, or expose it to, the wind.

The penalty for any breach of this rule is the loss of the hole.

34. The player or his caddie may remove (but not press down) sand,
earth, worm casts, or snow lying around the hole or on the line of his
putt. This shall be done by brushing lightly with the hand only across
the putt and not along it. Dung may be removed to a side by an iron
club, but the club must not be laid with more than its own weight upon
the ground. The putting line must not be touched by club, hand, or foot,
except as above authorised, or immediately in front of the ball in the
act of addressing it, under the penalty of the loss of the hole.

35. Either side is entitled to have the flag-stick removed when
approaching the hole. If the ball rest against the flag-stick when in
the hole, the player shall be entitled to remove the stick, and if the
ball fall in, it shall be considered as holed out in the previous
stroke.

36. A player shall not play until the opponent's ball shall have ceased
to roll, under the penalty of one stroke. Should the player's ball knock
in the opponent's ball, the latter shall be counted as holed out in the
previous stroke. If in playing the player's ball displace the opponent's
ball, the opponent shall have the option of replacing it.

37. A player shall not ask for advice, nor be knowingly advised about
the game by word, look, or gesture from any one except his own caddie,
or his partner or partner's caddie, under the penalty of the loss of the
hole.

38. If a ball split into separate pieces, another ball may be put down
where the largest portion lies, or, if two pieces are apparently of
equal size, it may be put where either piece lies, at the option of the
player. If a ball crack or become unplayable, the player may change it,
on intimating to his opponent his intention to do so.

39. A penalty stroke shall not be counted the stroke of a player, and
shall not affect the rotation of play.

40. Should any dispute arise on any point, the players have the right of
determining the party or parties to whom the dispute shall be referred;
but, should they not agree, either party may refer it to the Green
Committee of the green where the dispute occurs, and their decision
shall be final. Should the dispute not be covered by the Rules of Golf,
the arbiters must decide it by equity.


SPECIAL RULES FOR MEDAL PLAY.

1. In Club competitions, the competitor doing the stipulated course in
fewest strokes shall be the winner.

2. If the lowest score be made by two or more competitors, the ties
shall be decided by another round, to be played on the same or any other
day, as the Captain, or, in his absence, the Secretary shall direct.

3. New holes shall be made for the Medal Round, and thereafter no member
shall play any stroke on a putting-green before competing.

4. The score shall be kept by a special marker, or by the competitors
noting each other's scores. The scores marked shall be checked at the
finish of each hole. On completion of the course, the score of the
player shall be signed by the person keeping the score and handed to the
Secretary.

5. If a ball be lost, the player shall return as nearly as possible to
the spot where the ball was struck, tee another ball, and lose a stroke.
If the lost ball be found before he has struck the other ball, the first
shall continue in play.

6. If the player's ball strike himself, or his clubs, or caddie, or if,
in the act of playing, the player strike the ball twice, the penalty
shall be one stroke.

7. If a competitor's ball strike the other player, or his clubs, or
caddie, it is a "rub of the green," and the ball shall be played from
where it lies.

8. A ball may, under a penalty of two strokes, be lifted out of a
difficulty of any description, and be teed behind same.

9. All balls shall be holed out, and when play is on the putting-green,
the flag shall be removed, and the competitor whose ball is nearest the
hole shall have the option of holing out first, or of lifting his ball,
if it be in such a position that it might, if left, give an advantage to
the other competitor. Throughout the green a competitor can have the
other competitor's ball lifted, if he find that it interferes with his
stroke.

10. A competitor may not play with a professional, and he may not
receive advice from any one but his caddie. A fore-caddie may be
employed.

11. Competitors may not discontinue play because of bad weather.

12. The penalty for a breach of any rule shall be disqualification.

13. Any dispute regarding the play shall be determined by the Green
Committee.

14. The ordinary Rules of Golf, so far as they are not at variance with
the special rules, shall apply to medal play.


GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THE GAME OF GOLF.

_Addressing the Ball_: When the player puts himself in position to
strike the ball.

_Approach_: When the player is sufficiently near the hole to be able to
drive the ball to the putting-green his stroke is called the "approach
shot."

_Baff_: To strike the ground with the "sole" of the club-head in
playing. This sends ball high in air and causes it to fall "dead."

_Baffy_: A wooden club much lofted in the face.

_Bent_: Rough, coarse grass on seaside greens.

_Bogey_, _Colonel_: A score, usually par play, fixed for each hole.

_Bone_: A piece of ram's horn or other substance inserted in the sole of
the club to prevent it from splitting.

_Borrow_: When the player, on a sloping putting-green, plays the ball up
the slope a little way.

_Bottom_: Putting back-spin on a ball.

_Brassey_: A wooden club with a brass sole.

_Break-club_: An obstacle lying near a ball of such a nature as might
injure the club when played.

_Bulger_: A wooden club with a convex face.

_Bunker_: A sand-pit.

_Bye_: Any hole or holes that remain to be played after the match is
finished.

_Caddie_: A person who carries the golfer's clubs.

_Carry_: The distance the ball is driven before it touches the ground.

_Cleek_: Iron-headed club used for driving.

_Club_: The implement with which the ball is struck. The heads are of
various kinds--wood, aluminium, wood with a brass sole, and iron, steel,
or gun-metal.

_Course_: That portion of the links on which the game ought to be
played.

_Cup_: A small hole in the course, frequently one made by the stroke of
some previous player.

_Dead_: A ball is said to be "dead" when it lies so near the hole that
the "putt" is a _dead_ certainty. A ball is said to fall "dead" when it
does not run after alighting.

_Divot_: A piece of turf cut out by club. Replace carefully.

_Dormy_: A player is said to be "dormy" when he is as many holes ahead
as there remain holes to play.

_Draw_: To drive widely to the left hand. (Synonymous with "hook,"
"screw" and "pull.")

_Driver or Play-Club_: A wooden-headed club with a full-length shaft,
and with which the ball can be driven the farthest distance.

_Duff_: To hit the ground behind a ball.

_Face_: First, the slope of a bunker or hillock; second, the part of the
club-head which strikes the ball.

_Flat_: A club is said to be "flat" when its head is at a very obtuse
angle to the shaft.

_Fog_: Moss, rank grass.

_Foozle_: A bungling stroke.

_Fore!_ The warning cry to any person in the way of the stroke.
(Contracted from "before.")

_Fore-Caddie_: A caddie employed to go in advance of the players and
locate the balls.

_Foursome_: A match in which four persons play: two on each side.

_Gobble_: A rapid, straight "putt" into the hole, such that, had the
ball not gone in, it would have gone some distance beyond.

_Grassed_: This is said of a wooden club whose face is slightly
"spooned" or sloped backward.

_Green_: First the whole links; second, the putting-green around the
different holes.

_Grip_: First, the part of the handle covered with leather by which the
club is grasped; second, the grasp itself.

_Gutty_: A gutta-percha golf ball.

_Half-one_: A handicap of a stroke deducted every _second_ hole.

_Half-shot_: Less than a full or a three-quarter shot.

_Halved_: A hole is said to be "halved" when each side takes the same
number of strokes. A "halved match" is a "drawn game"--that is, the
players have proved to be equal.

_Hanging ball_: A "hanging" ball is one which lies on a downward slope
in the direction in which the hole lies.

_Hazard_: A general term for bunkers, long grass, roads, water, sand,
whin, mole-hill, or other bad ground. (Rule 15).

_Head_: A head is the _lowest_ part of a club and possesses, among other
mysterious characteristics, a _sole_, a _heel_, a _toe_ or _nose_, a
_neck_, and a _face_!

_Heel_: First, the part of the head nearest the shaft; second, to hit
from this part, thus sending the ball to the right hand.

_Hole_: First, the hole lined with iron; second, the whole space between
any teeing-ground and the hole in connection therewith.

_Honour_: The right to play off first from the tee.

_Hook_: See "Draw." A hooked club has the face lying in to the ball.

_Horn_: See "Bone."

_Hose_: The socket of iron-headed clubs into which the shaft is fitted.

_Iron_: A club with an iron head, more or less laid back to loft a ball.

_Jerk_: In "Jerking," the club should strike with a quick cut behind the
ball.

_Lie_: First, the inclination of a club when held on the ground in a
natural position for striking; second, the situation of a ball, good or
bad.

_Lift_: To take a ball out of a hazard and drop it behind or tee it.

_Like_: See under "Odds."

_Like-as-we-lie_: When both sides have played the same number of
strokes.

_Links_: The ground on which golf is played.

_Loft_: To send the ball into the air.

_Long odds_: When a player has to play a stroke more than his adversary,
who is much farther on--that is, nearer the hole.

_Long game_: Driving from the tee and playing through the green.

_Mashie_: An iron club with a deep, short blade.

_Match_: First, the sides playing against each other: second, the game
itself. Match play reckoning the score by holes.

_Medal play_: Reckoning the score by strokes.

_Miss the globe_: To fail to strike the ball is counted a stroke.

_Neck_: The bent part of the head where it joins the shaft.

_Niblick_: A small narrow-headed heavy iron club, used when the ball has
a bad lie.

_Nose_: The point or front portion of the club head.

_Odds_: First, means the handicap given by a strong player to a weaker
in a single match, consisting of either one, two, three, or more holes
to start with, or one stroke per hole, or every alternate hole, or at
every third hole, etc.; second, to have played "the odds" is to have
played one stroke more than your adversary.

_One-off-two, one-off-three, etc._: When your opponent has played two
strokes more your next stroke is one-off-two, and so on.

_Play-club_: See "Driver."

_Press_: To strive to hit the ball harder than usual.

_Putt_: To play close to the hole. (Pronounce _u_ as in _but_.)

_Putter_: An upright, stiff-shafted, wooden, iron, or gun-metal headed
club, used when the ball is on the putting-green.

_Putting-green_: The prepared ground round the holes.

_Rind_: A strip of cloth under the leather to thicken the grip.

_Rub of the green_: A favourable or unfavourable knock to the ball.
(Rule 22.)

_Run_: Running the ball along the ground instead of lofting it; and also
the run of a drive is the distance the ball runs after reaching the
ground.

_Scare_: The narrow part of the club head by which it is glued to the
shaft, and which is spliced over.

_Screw_: See "Draw."

_Sclaff_: Hitting the ground behind the ball first, thus not getting a
clean stroke.

_Scruff_: Slightly razing the grass in striking.

_Set_: A full complement of clubs.

_Shaft_: The stick or handle of the club.

_Slice_: To draw the face of the club across the ball, sending it with a
curve towards the right.

_Socket_: That part of the head of iron clubs into which the shaft is
fitted.

_Sole_: The flat bottom of the club head.

_Spoons_: Wooden-headed clubs of three lengths--long, middle, and short:
the head is scooped or grassed so as to loft the ball.

_Spring_: The degree of suppleness in the shaft.

_Square_: When the game stands level, neither party being any holes
ahead.

_Stance_: The position of the player's feet when addressing himself to
the ball.

_Steal_: To hole a long unlikely "putt" from a distance, not by a
"gobble," but by a stroke which just succeeds in getting the ball as far
as the hole.

_Stroke_: Any movement of the club which is intended to strike the
ball.

_Stymie_: When your opponent's ball lies in the line of your "putt";
from an old Scotch word, meaning "obscuring."

_Swing_: The sweep of the club in driving.

_Tee_: The pinch of sand on which the ball is placed at the
teeing-ground.

_Teeing-ground_: A space marked out within the limits of which the
ground must be teed.

_Third_: A handicap of a stroke deducted every _third_ hole.

_Toe_: Another name for the nose of the club.

_Top_: To top the ball is to hit it above the centre.

_Two-more, three-more, etc._: See under "Odds."

_Upright_: A club is said to be "upright" when its head is not at a very
obtuse angle to the shaft.

_Whins_, furze, or gorse.

_Whipping_: The pitched twine uniting the head and handle.

_Wrist-shot_: Less than a half-shot, generally played with an iron
club--the old saying was "played from the knee."




APPENDIX B

THE ALL-ENGLAND CROQUET LAWS.

1897.


1. _Mallets._--There shall be no restriction as to the number, weight,
size, shape, or material of the mallets; nor as to the part of the
handle held. The ball must only be struck with either end of the head of
the mallet.

2. _Size of Balls._--The balls used in match play shall be three and
five-eighth inches in diameter, of even weight, each ball weighing not
less than thirteen and three-quarter oz. or more than fourteen and a
quarter oz.

3. _Choice of Lead and of Balls._--It shall be decided by lot which side
shall have choice of lead and of balls. In a succession of games the
choice of lead shall be alternate, the sides keeping the same balls.

4. _Commencement of Game._--In commencing, each ball shall be placed on
the starting spot. The striker's ball, when so placed and struck is at
once in play, and can roquet any other ball in play or be roqueted
whether it has made the first hoop or not.

5. _Stroke, when taken._--A stroke is considered to be taken if a ball
be moved in the act of striking; but should a player, in taking aim,
move his own or any other ball accidentally, it must be replaced to the
satisfaction of the umpire or the adversary, and the stroke be then
taken. If a ball be moved in taking aim, and then struck without being
replaced, the stroke is foul (see Law 25).

6. _Hoop, when run._--A ball has run its hoop when, having passed
through from the playing side and ceased to roll, it cannot be touched
by a straight-edge placed against the wires on the side from which it
was played, after the hoop has been placed upright.

7. _Ball driven partly through Hoop._--A ball driven partly through its
hoop from the non-playing side cannot run the hoop at its next stroke,
if it can be touched by a straight-edge placed against the wires on the
non-playing side.

8. _Points counted to Non-Strikers Ball._--A ball driven through its
hoop, or against the turning peg, by any stroke not foul, of its own
side, or by any stroke of the adverse side, scores the point so made.

9. _Points made for Adversary's Ball._--If a point be made for an
adversary's ball, the striker must inform his adversary of it. Should
the striker neglect to do so, and the adversary make the point again, he
may continue his turn as though he had played for his right point.

10. _The Turn._--A player, when his turn comes round, may roquet each
ball once before making a point, and may do this again after each point
made. The player continues his turn so long as he makes a point or a
roquet.

11. _Croquet imperative after Roquet._--A player who roquets a ball must
take croquet, and in so doing must move perceptibly both balls (_vide_
Law 27 (_h_) (_i_)).

In taking croquet, the striker is not allowed to place his foot on the
ball.

12. _Ball in Hand after Roquet._--No point or roquet can be made by a
ball which is in hand. If a ball in hand displace any other balls, they
must remain where they are driven. Any point made in consequence of such
displacement counts, notwithstanding that the ball displacing them is in
hand.

13. _Balls roqueted simultaneously._--When a player roquets two balls
simultaneously, he may choose from which of them he will take croquet;
another roquet will be required before he can take croquet from the
other ball.

14. _Balls found touching._--If at the commencement of a turn the
striker's ball be found touching another, roquet is deemed to be made,
and croquet must be taken at once, but if it be found touching two balls
the striker can take croquet of which ball he chooses. But another
roquet will be required before he can take croquet from one of the other
balls.

15. _Roquet and Hoop made by same Stroke._--Should a ball, in making its
hoop, roquet another that lies beyond the hoop, and then pass through,
the hoop counts as well as the roquet. A ball is deemed to be beyond the
hoop if it lies so that it cannot be touched by a straight-edge placed
against the wires on the playing side. Should any part of the ball that
is roqueted be lying on the playing side of the hoop, the roquet counts,
but not the hoop.

16. A rover can be pegged out by any stroke (not foul) of another rover,
whether of the same or the adverse side. Players can, however, mutually
agree before the commencement of the game that rovers shall not be
pegged out by adverse rovers.

17. _Rover pegged out by Roquet._--A player (rover) who pegs out a rover
by a roquet loses the remainder of his turn because a rover when pegged
out is out of the game and croquet cannot be taken from it. The law does
not apply when there is no pegging out.

18. _Balls sent off the Ground._--A ball sent off the ground must at
once be replaced three feet within the boundary, measured from the spot
where it went off, and at right angles to the boundary. If this spot be
already occupied, the ball last sent off is to be placed in contact with
the other, but no ball is to be placed less or more than three feet from
the boundary, the player merely having option whether he place the
second ball going off at the same spot to the right or left of the first
ball. If a third ball go off on the same spot it must be placed touching
the first ball.

19. _Ball sent off near Corner._ A ball sent off within three feet of a
corner is to be replaced three feet from both boundaries. If more than
one ball be sent off within three feet of any corner, the ball last sent
off is to be placed in contact with the ball occupying the corner spot,
and three feet from one of the boundaries at the option of the player.
When a player roquets one of the corner balls he is entitled to place
the balls in any order, provided one is on the corner spot, and the
others touch it or some other corner ball; but he must take croquet off
the ball he has roqueted.

If a player's ball be in a corner with two or more other balls the
player is at liberty to choose off which ball he will take croquet, and
previous to his doing so he may alter the position of the other balls to
his liking, provided one is on the corner spot and the others touching
it or some other corner ball.

20. _Ball touching Boundary._--If the boundary be marked by a line on
the turf, a ball touching the line is deemed to be off the ground. If
the boundary be raised, a ball touching the boundary is similarly deemed
to be off the ground.

21. _Ball sent off and returning to Ground._--If a ball be sent off the
ground, and return to it, the ball must be similarly replaced, measuring
from the point of first contact with the boundary.

22. _Ball sent within three feet of Boundary._--A ball sent within three
feet of the boundary, but not off the ground, is to be replaced as
though it had been sent off; except in the case of the striker's ball,
when the striker has the option of replacing his ball, or of playing
from where it lies.

23. _Boundary interfering with Stroke._--If it be found that the height
of the boundary interferes with the stroke, the striker, with the
sanction of the umpire or the adversary, may bring in the balls a longer
distance than three feet, so as to allow a free swing of the mallet.
Balls so brought in must be moved in the line of aim, and placed at the
same relative distance.

24. _Dead Boundary._--If, in taking croquet, the striker send his own
ball, or the ball croqueted, off the ground, he loses the remainder of
his turn, unless (_a_) with the playing ball he make a roquet, or (_b_)
the croqueted ball be caused to make a point in order (the striker's
ball not passing the boundary).

25. _Balls touched by Adversary._--Should a ball when rolling, except it
be in hand, be touched, diverted from its course, or stopped by an
adversary, the striker may elect whether he will take the stroke again,
or whether the ball shall remain where it stopped, or be placed where in
the judgment of the umpire or the striker it would have rolled to.

26. _Balls diverted or stopped by Umpire._--Should a ball be diverted
from its course or stopped by an umpire, he is to place it where he
considers it would have rolled to.

27. _Foul Strokes._--If a player make a foul stroke he loses the
remainder of his turn, and any point or roquet made by such stroke does
not count. Balls moved by a foul stroke are to remain where they lie, or
be replaced at the option of the adversary. If the foul be made when
taking croquet, and the adversary elect to have the balls replaced, they
must be replaced in contact as they stood when the croquet was taken.
The following are foul strokes:

      (_a_) To strike with the mallet another ball instead of or
      besides one's own, in making the stroke.

      (_b_) To spoon--_i.e._, to push a ball without an audible
      knock.

      (_c_) To strike a ball twice distinctly in the same stroke
      (except in the case of rolling two balls together if only
      one player use india-rubber).

      (_d_) To touch, stop, or divert the course of a ball when
      in play and rolling, whether this be done by the striker or
      his partner.

      (_e_) To allow a ball to touch the mallet [or any part of
      the player's person] in rebounding from a peg or wire.

      (_f_) To move a ball which lies close to a peg or wire by
      striking the peg or wire [_i.e._, to touch with the mallet
      a wire or peg in making the stroke].

      (_g_) To press a ball round a peg or wire (crushing
      stroke).

      (_h_) To play a stroke after roquet without taking croquet.

      (_i_) To fail to move both balls in taking croquet.

      (_k_) To croquet a ball which the striker is not entitled
      to croquet.

      (_l_) To knock a wire of the hoop out of the ground when
      making a stroke.

      (_m_) To move a ball in the act of taking aim without
      replacing it to the satisfaction of the umpire or the
      adversary before striking it.

      (_n_) To hit a ball with any part of the mallet other than
      one of the ends of the head (_vide_ Law 1).

      (_o_) To improperly handle or touch a ball with foot or
      mallet (_vide_ Laws 5, 34).

28. _Playing out of Turn or with the Wrong Ball._--If a player play out
of turn or with the wrong ball, no point made after the mistake can be
scored unless as specified below. The balls shall be replaced by the
umpire, or to the satisfaction of the adversary, where they were
immediately before the mistake was made, and the player shall recommence
or continue his turn as the case may be. But if the adverse side play
without the mistake being discovered the turn shall hold good, and any
point or points made properly (_i.e._, in order for the ball he is
playing with) during the turn shall be scored. In the case when the
error is not discovered the adversary cannot be penalised for playing
with either ball (of his own side), provided that he can prove that a
mistake was made in the turn immediately preceding.

29. _Playing for Wrong Point._--If a player make a wrong point it does
not count, and, therefore (unless he have, by the same stroke, taken
croquet, or made a roquet), all subsequent strokes are in error, the
remainder of the turn is lost, and any point or roquet made after the
mistake. The balls remain where they lie when the penalty is claimed, or
are replaced as they were immediately before the last stroke was made,
at the option of the adversary.

30. _Information as to Score._--Every player is entitled to be informed
which is the next point of any ball.

31. _State of Game, if disputed._--When clips are used, their position,
in case of dispute, shall be conclusive as to the position of the balls
in the game.

32. _Wires knocked out of Ground._--Should a player, in trying to run
his hoop, knock a wire of that hoop out of the ground with his ball, the
hoop does not count. The ball must be replaced, and the stroke taken
again.

33. _Pegs or Hoops not upright._--Any player may set upright a peg or
hoop, except the one next in order; and that must not be altered except
by the umpire.

34. _Ball lying in a Hole or on Bad Ground._--A ball lying in a hole or
on bad ground may only be moved with the sanction of the umpire or with
the consent of the adversary. The ball must be put back, _i.e._, away
from the object aimed at, so as not to alter the line of aim.

35. _Umpires._--The duties of an umpire are:

      (_a_) To decide any questions that may arise during the
      game, if appealed to.

      (_b_) To keep the score, and if asked by a player to
      disclose the state of the game.

      (_c_) To move the clips or to see that they are properly
      moved.

      (_d_) To replace balls sent off the ground or to see that
      they are properly replaced.

      (_e_) To adjust hoops or pegs or to see that they are
      properly adjusted (_vide_ Law 33).

      (_f_) To inform the striker when he is about to play or has
      played out of turn, or with the wrong ball, or when he has
      made a wrong point.

      With the exception of the instances named in clause (_f_),
      an umpire shall not draw attention to, or give his opinion
      on, any mistake made unless appealed to by one of the
      players. The decision of an umpire on a question of fact
      shall be final, but on a question of law, if required by a
      player, he must appeal to the referee.

36. _Absence of Umpire._--When no umpire is present permission to move a
ball or to set up a peg or hoop, or any other indulgence for which an
umpire would be appealed to, must be asked of the other side.


PRIZE MEETINGS, HANDICAPS, ETC.

A committee must be appointed and a referee. They will issue a programme
announcing the details of the matches, size of grounds, width of hoops,
amount due for entry, date of the draw, hour of the match play.


ENTRIES.

No entry shall be valid unless the entrance money is paid by such date
as the committee appoint.


THE DRAW.

This is now conducted as in lawn tennis, the byes being got rid of in
the first round.

If the number of players should be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or any higher power
of 2, there are no byes. If on the other hand the number of players is
not a power of 2 (let us say 19) matters are arranged after this
fashion. The names of the players are drawn out of a hat and written
down in order. To ascertain how many of these shall be byes subtract the
number of players from the next highest power of 2 (19 from 32), which
gives us 13. Of these, half go to the top of the list, the other half
with the odd one to the bottom.

            Winners.  Winners.  Winners.
             First     Second    Third     Semi-finals.       Finals.
             Round.    Round.    Round.

      A bye    A  \
                   >     B  \
      B bye    B  /          \
                              >    C   \
      C bye    C  \          /          \
                   >     C  /            \
      D bye    D  /                       \
                                           \
      E bye    E  \                         >   C  \
                   >     F  \              /        \
      F bye    F  /          \            /          \
                              \          /            \
      G   \                    >   G    /              \
           >   G  \           /                         \
      H   /        \         /                           \
                    >    G  /                             \
      I   \        /                                       \
           >   J  /                                         \
      J   /                                                  \
                                                              >  S
      K   \                                                  /
           >   K  \                                         /
      L   /        \                                       /
                    >    K  \                             /
      M bye    M   /         \                           /
                              >    O   \                /
      N bye    N  \          /          \              /
                   >     O  /            \            /
      O bye    O  /                       \          /
                                           >    S   /
      P bye    P  \                       /
                   >     Q  \            /
      Q bye    Q  /          \          /
                              >    S   /
      R bye    R  \          /
                   >     S  /
      S bye    S  /


This leaves six players, G, H, I, J, K and L, to play the matches of the
first round. Let us suppose that G, J and K win. Sixteen players now are
left in. Consequently there will be no more byes. The players are paired
in order through the line for the remaining rounds.


HANDICAPS.

For handicaps the players are divided into classes by the referee, class
1 giving one bisque to class 2, two bisques to class 3, and so on. In
partner handicaps the bisques of the partners are added together and
then divided by two. Thus if Miss A. (class 6) and Mr. G. (class 2),
eight bisques in all, play Miss B. (class 7) and Mr. F. (class 4),
eleven bisques in all, the weaker side gets one and a half bisques, the
half being always changed to a whole one. These may be taken by either
partner.


TIME HANDICAPS.

These are often a necessity at croquet meetings. The All-England Club
laid down that there should be not more than eight players for singles
and sixteen for double matches. One third of the time should be allotted
to each game. If a game be unfinished the side ahead in points wins, a
player being allowed to finish his break and take a bisque if one
remains. If the points are equal the first roquet decides the contest.

In time handicaps the side which receives more than one bisque can only
take half its bisques, until both balls have passed the turning peg.




INDEX.


A.

A good bag of Tarpon, 175

_A Matched Pair_: Story of wedding breakfast and accident to M.F.H. in, 5

Aberdeen, ladies' golf links at, 341

ALDENHAM RESTLESS.
  Descendants winners at Peterborough Show, 84
  Winning Champion Cup, 1893, 84

All-England Croquet Association, 358

All-England Croquet Club, 358

Allgood Kennels, 90

Archer's Register, 232

ARCHERY, by Miss Walrond, 187
  Bow, lineage of, 187
  Eastern ladies' exploits, 187
  Improvement in, 204
  Revival of, 200
  Royal amusement, 193

ARCHERY (practical) by Mrs. Berens, 207
  Aiming, 221
  Arm guard, 213
  Arrow, weight of, 212
  Before the draw, 218, 219, 229
  Beginners, advice to, 208
  Books recommended, 232
  Bows recommended, 208
  Club National Round, 228
  Club Prize Meeting, 231
  Coach desirable for beginners, 224
  Distances shot by women, 215
  Drawing, 218
  Dress suitable for, 217
  Equipment needs care, 223
  Full Draw, 225
  Gloves or tips, 214
  Hereford Round, 215
  Loosing, 222
  Nocking, 217
  Standing, 217
  String recommended, 210
  Stringing bow, 209
  Targets, 215
  To form a club, 227
  Weekly Club Meeting, 231

Archery Dresses (about 1832), 201

Archery Societies, 196-200

_Art of Golf_, Sir W. C. Sampson, 261

_Art of Shooting_, by C. Lancaster, 152

Ascham, Roger, treatise on Archery, 193

Association of Masters of Harriers and Beagles, 101

Australia, Golf Clubs, Ladies' Championship, 343

Austria, hare drive in, 121


B.

_BADMINTON LIBRARY._
  Archery, 207
  Golf, 261
  Quoted on Shooting, 116

Balfour, Miss May, Article on Skating, 235
  Portrait, 234

Banks, Miss, on Archery, 199

Banks, Sir Joseph, 199

Barham Downs, ladies' golf course, 343

Beagle Stud-book, 96

BEAGLES.
  Breeding, 96, 97
  For rabbit-shooting, 140
  Hunting with, 92, 95
  Kennelling and feeding, 99

Bentley Harriers, 61
  Account of, 85

Berens, Mrs., Article on Archery, 207
  Portrait, 206

Berkeley, Lady, using longbow, 195

Betham, Miss, archery score, 204

_Book of Archery_, Hansard, quoted on Persian ladies' archery, 189

Bowby, Mrs., archery score, 204

Bownass, Miss, golfing at Windermere, 347

Brentwood Croquet Club, 360

Brighton and Hove ladies' golf course, 342

Briscoe, Mrs., whipping in hounds, 61

Bronwydd Beagles, account of, by Miss Lloyd, 105

Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club, 360

Burn, Mrs., Fox Hunting, 13
  Portrait, 12

Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, quoted, 352

"Bush Farm," Meath, fences, 20

Butt, Mrs. W., archery score, 204

Butterflies at Captiva Island, 173

Buxom (hound) account of, 86

Buxom, Bentley Harrier, 67


C.

Caledon Beagle Kennels, 96

Campbell, Lady Ileene, hunting Lord Huntingdon's pack, 61

Canada, golf clubs in, 343

Captiva Island (Gulf of Mexico).
  Account of, 171
  Tarpon, fishing at, 170
  Vegetation, 173

Carnoustie, ladies' putting course at, 341

Carter, Bonham, croquet playing, 372

Cartridges recommended for women, 111

Cheape, Mrs., and her Peterborough winners, Bracelet, Waterwitch,
Verity, Woodbine, Generous, Worry, 87

Cheape, Mrs., buying harriers, 85

Cheape, Mrs., Wellfield Beagles and Bentley Harriers, 60

Cheetham. Miss L., skating "a pass", 252

Cheltenham, ladies' golf course, 343

Cheltenham, lady golfers at, 348

Chester, ladies' golf course, 343

Chetwynd, Miss H., archery score, 204

Chole, game of, 261

Chorley Wood, ladies' golf course, 343

Clay Bird shooting competition, 130

Clay Pigeon Trap, 113

Clorinda, Moorish Queen, skilful with bow, 188

Clumber Spaniel, 97

Comet (property of Lady Gerard), 37

County Down ladies' golf links, 338

Cox, Miss, ex-Irish Golf Champion, 338

CROQUET, All-England Laws. Appendix B., 391
  Article on, by Mrs. Spong, 357
  Advantages of, 368
  Balls, 361
  Beginning, option of, 367
  Bisques, 363
  Championships, 370
  Clips, 362
  Clubs, 360
  Handicapping bisques, 363
  Hoops, 361
  Lawn measurements, 360
  Lawns at Hurlingham and Ranelagh, 370
  Lawns, size reduced, 372
  Mallets, 362; manner of holding, 363
  Origin of game, 357
  Pegs, 361
  Qualities necessary for good player, 369
  Revival of, 370
  "Roquet", 365
  Terms employed in, 365
  Tight croquet, expulsion of, 358
  Time games, 371
  Tournaments, 358

Crusades, women prominent in sport during, 6

Crystal Palace Archery Meeting, 200

Cub-hunting at Brigstock, 15


D.

Dahlia (hound), 86

Davies, George (Whip), 106

Deal Golf Club, 331

Desmond, Lady, skill with bow, 194

"Dinah," retriever, 146, 148

_Dog breaking, secret of_, 149

DOG BREEDING, by Hutchinson recommended, 152

Dogs and dog-breaking, utilising land for, 145

Driving popular with shooters and owners of moors, 131

Dulcimer, pure harrier, 89; account of, 90

Dumfries, ladies' golf links at, 341


E.

Eastbourne Ladies' Golf Course, 341

Edinburgh, ladies' golf links at, 341

EDITOR (FRANCES E. SLAUGHTER).
  Englishwomen and Sport, 1
  Hare-hunting, 59
  Portrait, 1

Elie and Earlsferry, ladies' golf links at, 341

Eltham Ladies' Golf Course, 341

Englishwomen and Sport, by the Editor, 1


F.

"Fallible," beagle bitch, 99

FISHING FOR TARPON, by Mrs. Murphy-Grimshaw, 157
  Bait used, 162
  Bottom-fishing, 178
  Catching first tarpon, 163
  Clothes required for, 160
  First tarpon stuffed and set up, 184
  Fishing at Captiva, 176-77, 179
  Florida, arrival in, 160
  Playing a tarpon, 164;
    excitement of, 165
  Rod suitable for, 162
  Season for, 164

Flat-coated Retriever, Champion Darenth, 143

Folkestone Ladies' Golf Course, 343

Fort Myers, on Caloosakatchie River, 181, 183
  Fishing for tarpon at, 158

FOX-HUNTING, by Mrs. Burn.
  "Alone with the hounds," pleasure of being, 31
  Beauty and fit surroundings, 14
  Champion and Wilton's Safety Stirrup, 36
  Country in the shires, 19
  Driving to and from hunting, 52
  Falls, 35
  Gates, opening, 32, 33
  Gruel for horse, directions for making, 51
  "Hands" cannot be taught, 25
  Hunting in provinces advantage over shires, 16
  Huntsmen, way to be made for, 32
  Ideal hunter, 50
  Mounting, 41
  Need for pilot, 44
  People hunting like a flock of sheep, 31
  Quick eye to hounds, 43
  Quietness necessary, 24, 47
  Riding a refuser, 48
  Riding sane horses, 47
  Riding slow, 35
  Riding to hounds, advice on, 22
  Safety habits, 39
  "Seeds" "Young Grass", 34
  Spurs, 40
  Stirrup foot, position of, 29
  Tired horse, jumping a, 50
  Women in hunting field, why unpopular, 30
  Women riding without third pommel, 26

France, golf clubs in, 344


G.

Gadfly (hound), 86

Gainer (hound), account of, 86

_Game of Golf_, by W. Park, junr., 261

Gentil on Amazoni in retinue of Indian Prince, 190

Gifford, Lady
  And her Harriers, 58
  Beagles-harriers, 89, 90
  Carrying horn with harriers, 61
  Cure for distemper, 92
  Interest in Kennel Management, 90
  On hounds' food, 91

_Golf Annual_, Article by John Thomson in, 352

GOLF, by Miss Starkie-Bence, 259
  Approach Shot, 284
  "Approach Shots," Competitions for, 324
  Balls, different kinds, 333
  "Bap", 275
  "Bogey" Competition, 297
  Books recommended, 261
  Brassey, 283
  Bunkers, 260
  Cleek, 283
  Clubs, 262
  Clubs, choice of (instruments), 274
  "Cuppy" lie, 300
  Dress suitable for, 304
  Driver, 274, 279
  Dropping the ball, Rule on, 351
  _Esprit-de-Corps_, 351
  Etiquette to be observed, 294
  Failing to sign card, 260
  Faults--Slicing, Hooking, Topping, 299
  Foresome, 259
  Founding of, 261
  Green, 260
  Grip 261;
    wrong grip, 276
  Grip of hands for driving, 275
  Grip when at top of swing, 280
  Handicapping, 297
  "Handicapping Scheme" 326;
    Rules, 327
  Hazard, St. Andrew's Rules 14, 288;
    15, 288
  Hazards, 260
  Iron 274;
    lofting iron, 283
  Iron shots, 284
  Ladies' Courses, 266, 267
  Lessons from professional desirable, 273
  Lie, 261
  Links, size of, 260
  Links, "upkeep" of, 332
  Mashie, 274, 287
  Medal play, 298
  Object of game, 259
  Position for driving, 269, 276
  Practice required for, 271, 301
  Putter, 274, 291
  Putting, 293, 295
  Scores in Match playing, 260
  Scores in Medal play, 259
  Scotch and English players, Styles of, 272
  Short Approach Shot with thumb down the shaft, 289
  Suited to all seasons, 267
  "Smothering", 279
  Stance, 260
  Stimulus to trade given by, 328
  Stymie, 351
  Swing 280;
    Finish of, 281
  Swinging upwards for three-quarter iron shot, 285
  Glossary of Technical Terms, 384
  Golf Links abroad, 343

_Golf_ quoted on gutta-percha used for balls, 332

Golf Rules, Appendix A, 377

Golf School in America, 344

_Golfer's Referee_, 292

Gone to Ground (Portraits of four B.O.H. Prize-winners), 53

Graham, Miss N., Golf Champion of Ireland, 338
  Portrait, 339

Grand National Archery Meeting, 200, 203

Grand Northern Archery Meeting, 200

Grand Western Archery Meeting, 200

Great Yarmouth Golf Links, 313

Greeks and Romans no word for Skating, 246

Grey, Lord de, 109

Grouper, red and black, 177

Grouse Shooting, 131
  Best Method, 133

Gullane, Ladies' Golf Union Championship Meeting at, 306, 320

Gullane Links, lengths between holes at, 325

Guns suitable for women, 110, 111, 127


H.

Hamilton-Russell, Lady Margaret (_nee_ Scott)
  Golfing, 272, 313
  Portrait, 317

Hare Drive in Austria, 121

HARE-HUNTING, by the Editor, 59
  Cleanliness absolutely necessary in kennels, 74
  Dwarf foxhounds, 69
  Feeding hounds, 74
  Harrier, advantage of pure, 66
  Harriers, faults of, 71, 72
  Hounds, drafting, 77
  Hounds, kind of, 66
  Hounds, signalling, 71
  Hounds, signs of health in, 77
  Hounds, standard for, 70
  Lady M. H.'s Pack, story of, 65
  Quietness necessary for, 59, 61, 66
  Stud-book harrier, 69
  Training hounds, 72
  Viewing the hare, 62
  Whippers-in, 78

Harrier and Beagle Show, Peterborough, 105

Hastings and Bexhill Ladies' Golf Course, 343

Hawking, women proficient in, 3

Hertfordshire Society of Archers, 197

Himalayan pheasants, 132

_History of the Cid_, by Dr. Southey, quoted on "Star of the Archers", 188

Horniblow, Mrs., Archery score, 204

Hoylake Golf Links, 311

Hoylake Ladies' Golf Links, 343

Huntingdon, Load, harriers in Iceland, 61

Hutchinson, General, system of breaking pointers and setters, 151

Hutchinson, Horace, Golf, Badminton Library, 261

Hutchinson Horace, on putting, 292


I.

India, golf clubs in, 343

Irish Ladies' Golf Union, meeting at Portrush, 315

Irish Setters, Champions Shandon II. and Geraldine, 126

Irishman on gun, 110


J.

Jacksonville, Florida, 183

Jaques bringing out Croquet, 358

Jew-fish, 177


K.

"KATE COVENTRY," heroine, giving up hunting when she marries, 4

Kennedy, Miss Emma:
  Golfing in North Wales, 347
  Portrait, 335

Kildare, Countess of, shooting deer, 194

King-fish, 177


L.

Ladies' Golf Union, 265
  "Handicapping Scheme," 326;
    Rules, 327
  Outline of, 307

_Ladies' Golf Union Annual_, Miss Pearson's article in, 328

Ladies' Golf Union Championship Meetings, 306
  Great Yarmouth, 313
  Gullane, 306, 320
  Hoylake, 312, 319, 334
  Littlestone, 312, 314
  Lytham and St. Anne's, 309, 311
  Portrush, 306, 312, 315

Lancer (Irish horse), 27

Leake, Sir F., extract from letter to Lord Shrewsbury, 195

Leamington and Midland Counties Archery Meeting, 200

Legh, Miss, archery score, 204

Leicestershire, account of blank day in, 23

Lelant, ladies' golf course, 343

Lillie, A., work on croquet, 355;
  suggestions in, 373

Littlestone Golf Club, 331

Littlestone Golf Links, 312

Lloyd, Miss, of Bronwydd:
  Account of Bronwydd Beagles, 105
  Whipping-in beagles, 61, 106

Lloyd, Sir Marteine:
  And some of the Bronwydd Beagles, 104
  Beagle kennels, 96
  Beagles, 61
  Bronwydd Beagles, 101, 145

Lloyd, Sir Thomas, started Bronwydd Beagles, 105

Lowther, Hon. Mrs. Lancelot, Portrait, 108

Lowther, Hon. Mrs. Lancelot, Shooting, 109

Lytham and St. Anne's Golf Club, 309

Ladies' Union, meeting at, 310


M.

M. F. H. advice to young lady, 13

Machrihanish, ladies' golf links at, 341

Maidstone Croquet Club, 360

Malvern, ladies' golf course, 343

Mandeville, A., K.H. and Second Whip to Mrs. Pryse-Rice, 85

Mary, Queen of Scots, adept in golf, 265

Maxwell, Miss A., golfing at Dumfries, 347

Meath, hunting in, 20, 21

Melville, Whyte, heroines in hunting field, 4

Meriden, archery assemblies at, 196

Midlands Golf Championship, 345

Mitcham, Princes Ladies' Golf Links, 334
  Meetings, 337

Moffatt, Croquet Championship Meeting at, 370

Monmouth, Robert Cary, Earl of, extract from Memories of, 194

Montecute, Lord, entertaining Queen Elizabeth at Cowdray, 194

Murphy-Grimshaw, Mrs.:
  Fishing for Tarpon, 157
  Portrait, 156;
    on board the tarpon boat, 167

Murray, Mrs., golfing at Gullane, 347

Mussellburgh, ladies' golf links at, 341


N.

Nevill, Misses, golfing, 348

New Zealand golf links in--ladies' championships, 343

Newcastle, Duchess of, hunting harriers, 61

Nicholas', Sir H., _Household Expenses of Henry VIII._, entries from, 193

_Nicol's Progress_ quoted, 194

North Berwick Ladies' Golf Club, 347

North Berwick, ladies' golf links at, 341

Norwich, deer parks owned by See, 2


O.

Orr, Miss E. C., Portrait, 263

Our Sisters in Canada, 243


P.

Park, W., junr., _Game of Golf_, 261

Paris, Comtesse de, giving up Woodnorton harriers, 80

_Partridge_, Fur and Feather series recommended, 152

Partridge Shooting, 121, 134
  Driving, 134
  Over dogs, 134, 138
  Walking up, 137

Partridge, work by Stuart Wortley on, 137

Pascoe, Miss, Portrait, 307

Pearson, Miss Issette,
  Article in _Ladies' Golf Union Annual_, 328
  Golfing, 306, 313
  Portrait, 329
  Records at Wimbledon, 341

Peel, W. H., founded All-England Croquet Association, 358

Pelicans, 159

Persian ladies amusing themselves with Archery, 189

Pheasant Shooting, 138

_Pheasants_, by Tegetmeier recommended, 152

Pointer on Partridge, 119

Portrush Golf Links, 312

Portrush, Irish Ladies' Golf Union Championship Meeting, 315

Prestwich, ladies' golf links at, 341

Prior, Dr., Notes on Croquet, 357

Pritchard, Professor, cure for distemper, 92

Pryse-Rice, Mrs.
  Account of harriers, 80
  And her harriers, 81
  Kennels, Aldenham Bitches, 93
  Kennels (Woodmorton, _Charity_ and _Wilful_), 63
  M. H., 61
  On hares killed, 85
  On infusion of foxhound blood into harrier kennel, 85
  Runs of hounds, 83

Pryse, Vaughan, hunting harriers for forty seasons, 80

Punta Gorda 183;
  deserted by tarpon, 158

Purves, Dr. Laidlow, 306


Q.

Queen Anne, lover of the chase, 8

Queen Elizabeth, an ardent sportswoman, 7

Queen Elizabeth at Cowdray, skill with bow, 194

Queen Victoria, benefactor of women, 9

Queen Victoria riding after hounds, 8


R.

Rabbit difficult to shoot, 130

Rabbit Shooting, 140

Ranelagh Club, Ladies' Golf Meeting at, 315

Ranelagh Ladies' Golfing group, 1897, 349

Ranfurly, ladies' golf links at, 341

Retriever breaking, rules for, 150

Rhyl, ladies' golf course, 343

Richardson, Mrs. Ryder, golfing, 347

Richmond ladies' golf course, 343

Rifle for small game, 116

Rigby, second for Championship cup in 1897, 84

Romans and Greeks no word for skating, 246

Rook shooting, 117

Royal British Bowmen, 196

Royal Portrush Ladies' Golf Links, 338

Royal Rock Beagles, started by Colonel Anstruther Thomson, 105

Royal Toxophilite Archery Society, 196

_Rural Sports_, by Daniel, recommended, 152

Rye Golf Club, 331


S.

St. Andrew's, ladies' putting course at, 341

St. Nicholas, ladies' golf links at, 341

Salisbury, Lady, hunting fox over Hertfordshire, 59

Salisbury, Lady, supporting archery, 196

Sandwich Golf Club, 331

Sandwich Golf Course, 345
  Gentlemen's Amateur Championship at, 346

Lady golf players at, 346

Sampson, Sir W. C., _Art of Golf_, 261

Scotch ladies' golf links, 341

Scotland, hunting in, 21

Scott, Sir Walter, excuses Di Vernon for sporting tastes, 4

Sea trout, 177

Serrell, Miss, on Colleen, 45

Shooters, cautions to young, 152

SHOOTING
  Article on, by the Hon. Mrs. Lancelot-Lowther, 109
  _Badmington Library_ on, 115
  Beginners, advice to, 112
  Books recommended, 152
  Dress suitable for, 123
  Etiquette to be observed, 112
  Judging distances, 129
  Measuring distances, 115
  Practice recommended, 128
  Qualities necessary for, 127

Shrewsbury, Lady, adept with bow, 195

SKATES, 242
  Bone, 246-47
  Mount Charles, 247
  Primitive, 246
  Roller-Skates, 248

SKATING
  "A pass", 252
  Beginning, 249
  Club Figures, 253
  Dress suitable for, 245
  Equality on both legs, 236
  Exhilarating and healthful exercise, 245
  Foreign style introduced in England, 241
  Half-circle and circle, 251
  Hand-in-hand skating, 237, 252
  Ideal Skater, 241
  In Holland, 239
  Introduced from North, 246
  Mastery of both edges, 251
  Outside edge, 236
  Points to be attended to, 255
  Rockers, 252
  Scuds, 252
  Transition stage in England, 235, 241
  Turning a three, 237
  Waltzing on skates, 238

South Africa, golf clubs in, 343

Spaniels for rabbit shooting, 141

Spicer, Captain, of Spye Park, harriers sold to Mrs. Cheape, 85

Spong, Mrs., article on croquet, 357
  Portrait, 356

Sport for upper classes in middle ages, 1

Sporting dogs, grooming, 151

Starkie-Bence, Miss, article on golf, 259
  Portrait, 258

Straits' Settlements, golf links in, 343

Stuart-Wortley, work on partridge, 137

Surtees, his hunting women, 4

_System of Figure Skating_, by Maxwell Witham, 253


T.

Tarpon boats, 159;
  at Captiva, 174

Tarpon fishing (see Fishing for Tarpon).

Temple, Miss, archery score, 203

Thomson, Colonel Anstruther, started Royal Rock Beagles, 105

Thomson, John, article on _Golf Annual_, 352

Trollope, sport no place in life of his heroines, 4

Troon, ladies' golf links at, 341

Tudor, Margaret, journey to Scotland, 190


U.

United States, golf clubs in, 343

Usbec Tartary, incident during plundering of village in, 187


V.

Verity (hound), 86

Vernon, Di, excused for sport-loving tastes, 4

Villiers, Miss, archery score, 203


W.

Walrond, Miss, article on archery, 187
  Portrait, 186

Walsingham, Lord, 109

Walters, John, huntsman, 106

Warlike (hound), 86

Waterwitch (hound), 86

Wellfield (hound), account of, 86

Wellfield Beagles, 60

Welsh hares, speed of, 79

West Indies, golf clubs in, 343

West Lancashire ladies' golf links, 268, 334
  Match team, 334

Whigham, Miss Sybil, golfing at Prestwick, 346

Whitmore, Walter Jones, started scientific croquet, 358

Wilson-Hoare, Mrs., golfing, 313, 348

Wilton, Elizabeth, Countess of, on Willoughby, 17

Wimbledon ladies' golf club uniform, 303

Wimbledon ladies' golf course, 341

Witham, Maxwell, _System of Figure Skating_, 253

Woking, ladies' golf links at, 341

Women.
  At shooting parties, 118
  Middle ages, hunting in, 2
  Position in world of sport, 1
  Proficient in art of falconry, 3

Woodbine, Wellfield, Buxom, Bentley Harriers, 75

Woodmen of Arden, 196


Y.

Yonge, John, Somerset Herald, 190

Yorkshire golf championship, 345
&/

       *       *       *       *       *

BIRMINGHAM:
PRINTED AT THE GUILD PRESS, 45, GREAT CHARLES STREET





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