4 HANDICAPPING. 



we accommodate friends with horses, we do cook 'em a 

 bit before we serve 'ern up." 



" Yes, Master Dawson ; and in serving them up, 

 you serve your friends out." 



" Just so, and ' serve them right ; ' if a man will 

 buy a horse, and knows nothing of what he is about, 

 it is a charity to teach him better ; and if we sell one 

 to a man who does know something about it, and he 

 buys a lame one, we have a right to suppose he likes 

 him ; so if he gets what he likes, he has no fault to 

 find at any rate." 



" Saying nothing," said Pettatt, "of feet in hot 

 water for a few hours, eh, master ?" 



" Why, now, that just brings me to the wrinkle I 

 promised you ; the world, do ye see Master Pettatt, 

 is a kind of handicap race, that we all run ; now a 

 handicap is a race where horses ought to be (for they 

 seldom are) weighted according to their qualifications ; 

 so, in the world, we get weighted according to our 

 knowledge of its ways ; and if we are found to be fools 

 (like me, who wants the string), if we don't get our 

 whack of weight it's no matter ; so most brains, least 

 weight, that's the time of day, old friend." 



" Now, Master has brains," continued Dawson, 

 " and principle too, and I will prove it : he sells a 

 friend a half blind horse, he runs his nose into an omni- 

 bus ; what of that, if he had not, the same man would 

 have bought another blind un ; but finding this out, 

 I'll answer for it he always pays particular attention 

 to eyes in future : this is doing him a real service ; is 

 not this principle ? Well, we sell another a horse with 

 a spavin, he gets lame ; lord, how this man will grope 

 about the hocks, when he looks at another ; this is 

 principle again. So if the same man would only buy 



