FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



On my gently reproving her for supposing that 

 politics had anything to do with it, my corre- 

 spondent sent me a reply which she regarded as 

 conclusive evidence for the defence. It stated 

 that a lady friend of hers on one occasion was 

 wearing the Liberal colour when she met some- 

 where or another one of the Society's stewards, 

 who said she was wearing " the wrong colour." 

 The lady repudiated the soft impeachment, dis- 

 owned any Liberal sympathies, and avowed that 

 she wore the colour in question simply " because 

 it suited her." This seemed somewhat slender 

 evidence for imputing political animus to a different 

 party altogether. Another letter desired to be 

 informed why some of the principal prizes " were 

 given to Mr. Rothschild, a Jew, instead of to 

 British exhibitors." 



Some exhibitors, with a simplicity worthy of a 

 better cause, will calmly put into writing a pro- 

 posal for the secretary to join them in trans- 

 actions of the shadiest character. A letter before 

 me is a sample of this. It informs me that the 

 writer has a two-year-old filly, " which has done 

 rather bad this winter, but if the entries are very 

 bad in the class I would enter her, but only in 

 case the entries are very, very small. I shall 

 keep this to myself entirely." Doubtless he 

 would, so far as the conditions mentioned are 

 concerned, but a prize at a leading show for a 

 " rather bad " filly in " a very, very small class " 

 would be a better advertisement for the exhibitor 

 than for the Society. 



One gets some distinctly original expressions 

 in letters, and the correspondent who says " I 



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