THE PLEASURES OF A RACE-MEETING. 287 



of compassion are well provided for by public institutions, 

 and would not be permitted thus to exhibit themselves in 

 any towai or country village. 



Freed from these blemishes, the amusements offered by the 

 race-course would be both enjoyable and innocent, affording 

 to old and young that recreation which prepares them to 

 encounter with fresh vigour the duties of to-morrow. The 

 drive to and from the course, with all its pleasant surroundings, 

 is a scene which has often been graphically depicted by our 

 sporting writers, and is one, allowably, that can find no 

 equal elsewhere, in which all is good fellowship and innocent 

 merriment and fun. 



When a building is licensed as a theatre, the Lord Cham- 

 berlain satisfies himself that it is so constructed and arranged 

 as to insure the well-being, comfort, and safety of its fre- 

 quenters. But he does not limit himself to these precautions. 

 He proscribes any piece that has an immoral tendency, per- 

 mitting only such to be put upon the stage as cannot offend 

 the most innocent. It is a practice that might be worthily 

 followed by clerks of the course, who should use the powers 

 they possess in the same discreet way. 



The sale of intoxicating drinks on the race-course is another 

 matter to which some restraint should be applied. The 

 legislature has wisely curtailed the hours in which Hquor 

 may be sold in public-houses, and some such prohibition 

 should be extended to the sale of it in the booths on race- 

 courses. The sale might, I think, be safely permitted for a 

 certain period of the day, commencing an hour or two before 

 the first race is run, and extending until two hours after the 

 last race is over, on each day of the meeting. As things are 

 at present, it is the custom for the lower classes to rush off at 

 the conclusion of the day's sport, to the booths, often accom- 



