Related article: on account of the length of the stages which they are frequently driven is a disgrace to Stromectol Price the humane character of the British nation and requires the interference of the Legislature. No stage should be allowed to exceed twelve miles in length," an opinion with which most people will agree. No man who is reckless when he has other people*s lives in his hands can be called a good coach- man; yet from a list now before me two pages could be filled with a mere catalogue of capsizes due exclusively to racing and careless- ness within a period of alx>ut three years, and of course there were many more accidents of which nothing was heard. The Rocking- ham and Union coaches running to London were always coming to grief, yet the proprietors seldom changed their coachmen, probably because they were of opinion that they might engage a still worse man. Of course when a man was driving every day for a lifetime he could scarcely help becoming pro- ficient ; yet some men then as at present could never advance be- yond a certain point. From all that one can find out there appear to have been a number of mediocre slovenly workmen driving coaches. It was no uncommon thing to find a man who had a rather stale team buckle his reins to the rail of his box to save him the trouble of holding them, and so long as there was no traffic the horses went along with an occasional reminder from the whip. The names of the really fine coachmen which have come down to us are but a fraction of the men who were at work, and the number of collisions and accidents which took place were something pheno- menal. In the ranks of coach- men, as among artists, doctors, lawyers, equestrians, cricketers, and so forth, comparatively few rose to eminence ; the rank and file appeared to have pottered ^long, just driving well enough to earn their living. W. C. A. B. I90I.] 347 The Lament of an Old Hound. They've left me in kennel for many a morning, Just lately, when drawing the pack for the day, They surely can't think that I'm out of the running, Who've gone twice a week from September to May. Why, it seems only yesterday I can remember, The Squire's eldest son led me out of the ** Show," There were plenty of good 'uns to puzzle the judges, But 'twas I who was chosen — the rest had to go ! After that came a time of enjoyment and sorrow, With an endless amount of both patience Stromectol 3 Mg and care. Shall I ever forget the delight and the rapture, Or the painful results of our chase of a hare ? But truly a short span of life is vouchsafed us, Tliere soon comes an end of the pleasures we've found, Very quickly our youth and maturity leave us, And the puppy grows into the eighth-season hound. Yes, that's what I've come to, I doubt it no longer, Yet it's hard to be parted from comrades I've led ; No more shall I rattle a fox through a covert, I'm only now fit to be knocked on the head. Yes, old age has come on me, no use to resist it, I can't blind my eyes to the reason I'm ** passed," *' It's the pace that kills hounds " too, as well as their masters^ And I'm left far behind when they're racing on fast 1 Don't think that I'm grumbling, or wish for aught better, Though short's been my time where my lot has been cast, I've never been branded a ** babbler " or " skirter," And when my day comes I'll die game at the last. So farewell to those glorious mornings of autumn, When puppies were " entered " and foxes dispersed ; Good-bye to the business-like days of October, When at length they allowed us a ten minutes* " burst " I Good-bye to the opening meet in November, Good-bye to the crowds that collect for the fun ; There are faces among them that crowd on my mem'ry, Who are always in front at the end of a run. No more shall I hear the glad horn of the huntsman Proclaiming a fox gone away from the wood, No more shall I strain to be first at the finish, (Ah, lately they've beaten me, strive how I would!) No more I'll be with them as homeward returning They jog along merrily mile after mile, I'm left with the cripples in idleness mournful, With past recollections long hours to beguile. So once more farewell, for my hunting is over, Go straight to the last then what'er may betide ; Be sure that's the best of advice I can give you, Though I'm only now fit to be cast on one side I 348 (Mat Cricket — ^' Bar One/' In my last article, in February, I said that I would write no more about cricket in Baily '* bar one/' in which I would try and suggest a remedy for the chaos which now exists. Now this is the ** bar one/' and positively the very last. It seems to me that it might be possible to have some place or places where the "tyro" of to- day might learn what the present generation are to a great extent ignorant of, and what his grand- fathers learnt and practised-^ namely, (i) to defend their wicket entirely with the bat, (2) to study and practise absolutely fair bowling, and (3) to throw, catch and cover the ball on open ground without any boundary except perhaps the front of the pavilion, or a roped tent. I learnt all these things as a boy working hard for a place in an eleven, as all boys did before pads were heard of, and after pads were introduced it was thought very low to try and use them to save the wicket ; but in my days the l.b.w. was always reckoned by the line from bowler's hand to wicket. The words from it to the wicket existed in the old Hambledon rules; certainly in 1842 the words were, a ball which was pitched ''straight to the wicket and would have hit it, " and I think some time in the late 'sixties or early 'seventies the words ** from it " were restored — vide ** Lilly white on Bowling," 1842, dedicated to M.C.C., and the books of the M.C.C. as regards changes in the law. Practically until 1878, when the Australians first came over, the bowler had the benefit of his leg break, much against the wishes of the Australians. I feel quite easy in my mind that the veterans of the old school will die hard in defence of fair play and chivalrous cricket, when the storm bursts. In the meantime cannot a school be formed amongst cricketers in or near London, or any large town, where youngsters can come and learn the game, and practise regularly at all points at