SECOND MARRIAGE 195 



they would think him ignorant, but might he 

 ask what the " cursus " was. " Oh, Mr. Morley," 

 burst out the engineer, " they do say it was a 

 British racecourse, but I assure you it is entirely 

 out of repair, and not the slightest use to any one 

 now." 



Finally the promoters agreed to divert the 

 line, which really involved no difficulty or expense, 

 and Sir John withdrew his opposition. The Bill, 

 however, was eventually thrown out on other 

 grounds. 



Ever since their institution, the charge had 

 been brought against the " St. Lubbock " holi- 

 days that they seriously increased the national 

 drunkenness. A curious step was taken in order 

 to test the truth of the statement. It was not 

 initiated by Sir John himself, but by a member 

 of the House of Commons who had been a strong 

 supporter of the Bank Holiday Act. He writes 

 to Sir John that he had been having a warm 

 discussion with a friend on the ethical aspect of 

 the Bank Holidays, one of the disputants (the 

 writer of the letter) holding that they encouraged 

 saving habits, and thus temperance, while the 

 other maintained that thousands of unhappy 

 holiday-makers " would spend Easter Monday in 

 never reaching their destinations, and would 

 crowd the Railway termini in a state of drunken- 

 ness." 



Desiring to provide himself, as he says, with a 

 missile to hurl at this position, the writer induced 

 Mr. Fenton, manager of the South Eastern 

 Railway, to arrange a special staff to count up 

 all the persons the worse for drink, on the next 



