:*:* 



HORSE SHOWS, AND MAY-DAY 

 CELEBRATIONS. 



'Twas morn a most auspicious one ; 

 From the golden East, the golden sun 

 Came forth his golden race to run ; 



Through clouds of most splendid tinges, 

 Clouds that lately slept in shade, 

 But now seem'd made of gold brocade, 



With magnificent golden fringes : 

 In short 'twas the year's most golden day, 

 By mortals called the " FIRST OF MAY." 



The defenders of horse racing tell us that the 

 so-called sport was instituted with a view to im- 

 prove the breed of horses ; but granting this to be the 

 case, it could only improve them in one direction that 

 of swiftness. How far the institution has succeeded 

 would be rather difficult to say. But whatever may have 

 been the necessity for fleet horses in those days when 

 the only messengers were the " couriers " and the 

 " carrier pigeons," the necessity for developing swiftness 

 at the expense of other qualities in the horse no longer 

 exist ; for the electric telegraph far out-strips the 

 swiftest pigeon, and the express train can distance com- 

 pletely the fleetest steed. Seeing then that swiftness 

 merely is no longer a desideratum in the horse, and 

 seeing also the evils arising from and associated with the 

 " turf," would it not be better to substitute some more 

 rational mode of encouraging the improvement in the 

 breed of horses in their training and management. 

 With a view to carrying out this idea, the author has had 

 an exhibition of draught-horses every May-day, for 

 several years past ; and speaking from his own experience 



