AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 445 



of purpose. If John Osborne had been of roguish pro- 

 pensities, it is not indulging in hyperbole to assume 

 that he might have been in his declining years 

 immensely wealthy. His career is a story of hard, 

 plodding, good, honest work. He did not become one 

 of the nouveau riche and build palatial mansions, nor 

 lord his masters, reducing them to bankruptcy while 

 he amassed wealth from their cupidity. What riches 

 he may possess— and they are not great as wealth counts 

 m these days of bubble companies with aristocratic 

 directors " standing in "—have been earned by honest 

 industry from " early morn to dewy eve." He treated 

 Fortune's buffets and rewards with philosophic thanks, 

 never being elated in the hour of triumph, nor unduly 

 depressed in the hour of defeat; though, when Fortune 

 wooed him, there was the Osborne " smile " diffusing 

 on his face, indicating a pardonable inward, if not 

 expressed, satisfaction. In his social, domestic, marital, 

 and paternal aspect he has maintained a character 

 marked by purity, faithfulness, and devotion of the 

 highest order ; a spirit of manly independence, of self- 

 respect, of honesty which disarm criticism, the whole 

 combining to make him stand out as a model, whether 

 considered in the aspect of a jockey, an owner, a trainer, 

 a father, a husband, or a man. 



Tom Connor, now training at Thorngill, relates a 

 story about Osborne's kindness of heart. Some few 

 years ago they drove away from the racecourse in a cab 

 to the railway station. Just as they started a " loafer " 

 presented himself at the cab door. John gave money 

 to ahnost every one that asked him in those days, and 

 as usual he was "tapped" by the "loafer" on this 

 occasion. "Well," said Connor, "how you can throw 

 your money away on a dirty beggar hke that I cannot 



