THE PROGRESS OF THE SPORT. 



53 



while it is still open to argument whether the decay in the art 

 of riding is quite as real as it is alleged to be, and whether, qua 

 riding, jockeys are not now very much what they have been for 

 the last fifty years, with some half-dozen artists at the head of 

 the profession, and perhaps a score of second-class performers, 

 followed longo intervallo by a host of cut-and-thrust stable- 

 boys stuffed into boots and breeches. 



Be this as it may, the * Infant Phenomenon ' is no longer 

 possible, as the Education Act steps in, and 

 must effectually prevent boys under twelve 

 years of age from being engaged in a racing 

 stable ; for one of the most essential 

 conditions of a training establishment 



The infant phenomenon. 



is, that the lads should be kept at home as much as possible. 

 If they had to attend school, they would inevitably be marked 

 down in their goings to and fro, and persecuted for informa- 

 tion by all the touts of the neighbourhood, and dismayed peda- 

 gogues would learn with amazement that in ' Ruff' a fourth ' R ' 

 had been added to the historic trio whch form the basis of 

 our educational curriculum. 



