LUCKY RACING DAYS 



than we had agreed on, and had one thousand francs 

 each way on the last winner, Magistral ; but he had not 

 had more than five hundred each way on the thirty- 

 two-to-one chance. It was his one and only visit to 

 a French race-course that year. 



During those mercantile tours little parties would be 

 arranged for on the train nearly every Friday, and a 

 week-end has frequently been spoilt by a rough time 

 during the few hours. Card-playing was an almost 

 necessary diversion, as there are evenings in some 

 places which would become otherwise almost unbear- 

 able. Nowadays, of course, what with picture palaces 

 and variety shows everywhere, there is more to do, but 

 how is it that provincial towns are so unutterably dull 

 in the evening to a visitor? Cafe life for all classes 

 would make our country so much more tolerable, 

 with cards and dominoes played everywhere. Quite 

 recently I saw two Frenchmen playing cards very 

 quietly, annoying nobody, in a corner of the Savoy 

 smoking-room. I watched for the moment they 

 should be stopped. It came; but how barbarous the 

 restrictions of the law can be! 



Frequently during the last seventeen or eighteen 

 years I have looked into Drew's shop in Piccadilly 

 Circus, or Finnigan's, and seen the development of 

 designs which were originally mine. The Germans 

 have monopolised a certain class of trade ; they have 

 copied and improved in their o^\^l inimitable way. 

 There was always a chance for the Vienna manu- 

 facturers; but they are not sufficiently enterprising, 

 and either pay more wages or want bigger profits than 

 the Offenbach people. I went to Vienna once or twice 

 a year and bought a quantity of things, but although 

 we sold them they were fire dear. Still, they are fine 

 artists in the work. There is a great deal of comfort 



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