124 "are you a married man : 



acted as my guide, philosopher and friend, and it was a 

 great blow to me when he left shortly after my advent 

 for Eton, where he distinguished himself later in the 

 school matches at Lords. Another youth at this seminary 

 was a young Redfern, whose father was then on terms 

 of close intimacy with " Skittles," and often brought her 

 out with the hounds. One day they met at Stonton 

 Wyville, and " Skittles " gave Master Jimmy Redfern 

 a real half-sovereign, all for himself. It came as a little 

 golden godsend at the time and was duly * blown ' at the 

 sweet shop. 'Jimmy' got awfully roasted about this gift, 

 as may be imagined. 



" Skittles," distinguished herself by jumping the steeple- 

 chase brook in cold blood at Market Harborough, in 1861, 

 not in i860, as has been so frequently stated. The writer 

 of 'Our Van,' in Baily, devoted some space to the 

 circumstance at the time. Here I must take leave of 

 " Skittles." Take her for all in all, I doubt if we shall 

 ever look upon her like again. I send you a photograph 

 of her taken many years ago. It can hardly fail to 

 interest both the old 'uns who remember her, and the 

 younger generation, many of whom have never heard of 

 her. So I hope you'll think it worthy of re-production 

 in the ' Annals.' I need hardl}; say it is very scarce. 



My father enjoyed nothing more than a ' deal ' with 

 Mr. Arthur Hames, of Leicester. They used to haggle 

 for hours, in the course of which a lot of friendly badinage 

 passed on both sides. One fine day father laid out some 

 thirty odd pounds on an old chestnut horse which he 

 presented to me, and many a 'joy ride ' he gave me with 

 the hounds. True, he roared like a bull, and one could 

 hear him a mile off, but at his own pace, which was not 

 fast, he could go on for ever and a day. He was the 

 finest timber jumper I ever saw, not even excepting that 

 wonderful grey pony on which the Braithwaite brothers 

 from Stackley, performed such prodigies over posts and 

 rails in those days. But wild horses couldn't persuade 



