l6o REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



first year, for twenty consecutive ones, when the kindly face of 

 Mr. John will be absent from a meet which years ago was 

 .dubbed the ( Goodwood J of India. The present ball room, 

 which owes its origin to the sturdy appeal of Teddy Drum- 

 mond, published in the Oriental Sporting Magazine in July 

 1868, will this year not resound to the pretty feet of the sweet 

 little votaries of Terpsichore ; but will stand out in all its bare 

 whiteness of aspect unlighted from within, in the November 

 moonlight. Unhappy Beharee Singh in his dera just opposite 

 will curse the verdict that has deprived him of the numerous 

 pickings that from year to year, he has been in receipt of 

 from this, his El Dorado ; the horse dealers will deeply deplore 

 the absence of Messrs. McLeod, Williams and Abbott, who 

 regularly took good horses from them at good prices, in large 

 numbers, and for whom they religiously reserved their picked 

 stock ; and still more deeply than all will the Joint Secretaries, 

 each in his special groove, say ' Ay de mi.' Unpolished must the 

 dancing floor remain ; unladen the supper tables and no more 

 will the cry of ' Toss, you for a page, Sir ' be heard in the 

 snug little lottery room. Let the curtain fall sadly to slow 

 music for this year only, and taking the words written years 

 .ago by Teddy Drummond, let us say to the racing men, in the 

 interests of the noble sport, which must never die out as long 

 as there are Englishmen in India : 



" 'To the public in general in the interests of the dear old 

 'Sonepore Meet The Goodwood of India the one holiday 

 that all in Behar, both Europeans and Natives, and many in 

 ^Bengal and up-country, look forward to throughout the 

 greater part of the year, as giving us all a brief escape from 

 the collar at a most necessary season after the oven like heat 

 of the hot weather and the steamy heat of the rains have done 

 their best to sap our health and energy. 



U( To one and all; in the recollection of the beautiful groves 

 of mangoe trees ; of the picturesque encampment ; of the 



