FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



breeder of pedigree-stock, he had a practical 

 acquaintance with their difficulties, and so could 

 make allowances for them. At the same time, 

 he never permitted anyone to play fast and loose 

 with rules and regulations, which, as he would 

 say, "are made to be upheld." Anyone who 

 thought Sir John could be trifled with in this 

 respect soon discovered his mistake, for, however 

 gentle his accents and they were seldom other- 

 wise there was a reserve of quiet force behind 

 them which took some reckoning with. He was 

 always open to argument, but when once he had 

 made up his mind on a point, he knew, as an old 

 soldier, how to stand to his guns. In his depart- 

 ment, he looked after the interests of the exhibitors 

 as well as those of the Society, and, if he found 

 a servant neglecting the stock in his charge, he 

 would give the offender a very bad quarter of an 

 hour. 



From morn till eve, in sunshine or in storm, 

 he was always found at his post in the show yard, 

 intent upon the work of his department. He 

 would thus be on his legs all day this was the 

 case even when he was 83 years of age and the 

 amount of walking and standing about he would 

 undergo without complaining of weariness made 

 many a younger man marvel. If he showed 

 any signs of fatigue at the end of a particularly 

 hard day, he would say, with a confident smile, 

 " A night's rest will soon put that all right." It 

 invariably did, and the next day he was up in 

 the yard betimes, as bright and fresh as the 

 youngest of his colleagues, and with much of 

 the cheerful light-heartedness of a schoolboy out 



150 



