A
Paper Chase of Hares and Hounds
Frank
Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
November
8, 1879
No more
invigorating and health giving pastime has ever been
introduced in this country than that of which the
Westchester Hare and Hounds Club is now giving weekly
examples.
A
"paper-chase" of "hares" and
"hounds" is an ingenious combination of an
outdoor foot-race and the old boys' game of
"follow your leader." Two members of the
club, selected for their fleetness of foot and their
knowledge of the country, are selected as
"hares." Their dress consists of a black
undershirt and trunks, white tights, and a cricket or
jockey-cap. On the breast of each one's shirt is
embroidered a hare in red worsted. One of them
carries, slung over his shoulder, a bag containing
the "scent," which consists of a large
quantity of little scraps of paper. In Summer the
"scent" is of white paper, and in the
Winter it is either blue or black paper, so as to
show better on the snowy ground. The rest of the
members constitute the pack of "hounds,"
and are dressed in suitable running costume.
At the
beginning of the chase, a start, usually of fifteen
minutes, is given to the "hares," who run
ahead in any direction they may choose - one of them
marking the course while the other scatters the
"scent," dropping little pieces of paper
here and there, just close enough together to be
traced, but not in such quantities as to form a plain
line, which would make it altogether too easy for the
"hounds."
When the
stipulated time has elapsed, the latter start off in
pursuit of the "hares," following the paper
trail up hill and down dale, across roads and ditches
and over fences, twisting and turning as their little
tell-tale guides on the ground mark out their course,
and frequently losing the trail altogether. Then they
deploy irregularly, with their eyes fixed on the
ground, and all industriously search for the last
connection until some one finds it, when, with a loud
cry, they all rush forward again upon the right
track.
At last the
"View holloa" is sounded, and if the
"pussies" can only be kept in sight, it
simply becomes a foot-race - the speed of the
"hares" being pitted against that of the
fastest of the "hounds." But a stern chase
is proverbially a long chase, and, moreover, the
chances are that the hares will again and again get
behind cover, and turn and double on their pursuers,
so that to "first catch your hare" is by no
means so easy as it might seem. When a
"hare" is caught, the one catching him
takes his place has "hare" in the next
chase, and the original puss goes back to the field
among the "hounds".