272 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. 



or St. Leger, it may be— until the eve of running. For by 

 means of a clo.sely kept arcanum you may win one of these 

 and secure a well deserved fortune. 



I have myself used the cards and found them to answer the 

 end intended admirably. This, and this only to my mind, 

 is the way secrets can be kept. In large stables, where 

 thirty or forty yearlings are annually added to the "string" — 

 what an inestimable boon it would be to owners and trainers 

 to have the knowledge of the merits of their horses to them- 

 selves ; defying the touts at exercise, and the boys in the 

 stable ! 



So much then for stable secrets. It may now be well 

 to turn our attention to the other mere boys whose employ- 

 ment as jockeys has been shown to be so hurtful, and to 

 examine the reforms that may be beneficially introduced in 

 their case. 



It requires no philosopher to tell us that a boy of 7 stone 

 must be preferable in the saddle to one of half the weight ; 

 for he possesses as much knowledge and infinitely more 

 strength than the little urchin who, after ruining his em- 

 ployers and all connected with him, retires from the scene, 

 to be replaced by others as useless and audacious as himself, 

 if they do not succeed in surpassing their predecessor in 

 these qualities. 



These self-styled jockeys, who are physically debarred from 

 riding properly (I will not say, with skill, for the term is absurd 

 when applied to children) start as masters of the art without a 

 rudimentary knowledge of it. Often they are unable to sit 

 on their horses, whilst they are seldom able to guide, and 

 never to assist, them. Many frightful accidents prove this ; 

 the fearful one in the Metropolitan Stakes at Epsom when 

 a boy not only lost his own life, but endangered the lives 



