282 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. 



from it, as an intruder is ejected from your own house. 

 "In every crowd there is a thief" is an old proverb that 

 holds good with the athletic sports or the cricket match ; 

 the ball or the rout, or with an assemblage of any kind. The 

 frequenter of the race-course cannot, therefore, look for a 

 special immunity from this plague. And I am far from 

 wishing to deprive any class, even the great unwashed, of 

 its right to witness the national sport, although its numbers 

 be often so great as to hinder rather than help the diversion. 

 But there is a duty imposed upon the crowd, as there is on 

 the individual. It must behave itself, and assert a right to 

 its own freedom of action by respecting that of others. But 

 when, with horse-play and coarse brutality, it rides rough-shod 

 over every one, the panic-stricken public fly, and the result is 

 the place is left to the mob and the meeting discredited for 

 all future time. It must be admitted that the turf would 

 benefit largely were means taken to prevent the recurrence of 

 such scenes ; or, failing this, to obliterate all such meetings 

 from the calendar. 



I think something might be done to get rid of the wretched 

 " welsher," or to minimise the evil he does, by apportioning a 

 piece of ground on each race-course close to the grand stand, 

 or on the nearest eligible site, for the so-called ready-money 

 bettors. It should be inclosed with iron railings, with gates 

 for ingress and egress ; and into it all these men should be 

 forced to go, and no betting be allowed elsewhere except, of 

 course, in the ring proper. This would effectually checkmate 

 those who now take money before the race and decamp with 

 it. A small fee should be charged for admittance, which the 

 frequenters, whether professional or the public, wishing to bet, 

 could well afford to pay. In this ring, no money should be 

 allowed to be taken before the race, in open transgression and 



