442 ashgill; or, the life 



men, nor boys eat the bread of idleness, for they are 

 working on an average from twelve to fourteen hours 

 a day. Even now, in his sixty-eighth year, John 

 Osborne is the hardest worker at Brecongill. He is out 

 on horseback with his team every day, and what is more, 

 rides as keenly as ever in "trials." One might be 

 inclined to think that advancing years and the 

 easy competency which a life of industry has realised 

 would lead him to ease the pace a bit. But such is not 

 the case. He takes his strong pedestrian exercise as of 

 old, walking from eight to ten miles a day, and some- 

 tunes more, bearing himself with that elasticity of step, 

 good pace, and action which have characterised his 

 physical life for sixty years. Herein lies the secret 

 of his sound constitution, his vitahty, and his health- 

 following the golden rules of daily exercise which 

 strengthens the body, clears the mind, and keeps 

 down that curse of luxurious hving — an undue increase 

 of our abdominal " corporation." If in no other respect, 

 our hero's devotion to early rising and to a proper 

 amount of healthy physical exercise, teaches a lesson 

 that ought to be borne in mind by rich and poor, that 

 temperance and a due observance of the laws of health 

 will stave off many of the " ills which flesh is heir to," 

 and lead to a vigorous and honoured old age. As Sir 

 Tatton Sykes was wont to say, " Keep your head cool 

 with temperance, and your feet warm with exercise." 



It is here worthy of note that during his prolonged 

 activity as a jockey, John Osborne never won a Royal 

 Hunt Cup, Stewards' Cup, nor the Stakes at Goodwood. 

 Failure also marked his attempts in the Cesarewitch 

 and the Cambridgeshire, though very near winning the 

 latter on Bendigo, who was beaten in a desperate finish 

 by Mr. Robert Vyner's Gloriation. That was a great 



