The Life of a Great Sportsman 



school, but acquitted himself well ever afterwards, for amongst 

 the papers he had carefully preserved, was this card : — 



« Elstree Hill School. 

 " Presented to John Maunsell Richardson in testimony of a 

 well-spent term, Easter 1861. 



" (Signed) TiiOMrsoN Podmore, M.A." 



Mr. Podmore was the immediate successor of Dr. Bernays. 



My being at school in London, and my two brothers at 

 Elstree, only twelve miles from town, our holidays often 

 coincided, and we used to hit off our journeys down from 

 school together whenever possible, meeting at some station 

 en route, and arriving at our home station at the same time. 

 Sometimes my brothers' ponies would be sent to meet them, 

 and they would canter off in the highest spirits from the 

 station, leaving me in my uncomfortable, and as I considered 

 inglorious girl petticoats, to envy them hugely, and longing to 

 have been born a boy. But sometimes we all three drove out 

 together, and the groom who had brought our vehicle would 

 go home with the luggage cart and draught horse, in a more 

 leisurely manner. 



One lovely evening we arrived together at Haborough 

 station from school for our summer holidays. On the way 

 down in the train, for some reason or other, the boys had 

 been on the verge of quarrelling. No real fighting had, 

 however, taken place in the railway carriage, as we had had 

 grown-up companions, to whom we generally made ourselves 

 agreeable, and they were too much of " little gentlemen " to 

 fight in public. 



On our arrival at the station, instead of their two beloved 

 ponies meeting them, and as they had joyfully anticipated, 

 having a good gallop — possibly a jump or two — going home, 



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