BETTING AND "THE RING" 207 



me to amend the description ; but if you choose to 

 take a short price, that is your affair; and you are 

 practically certain to be paid, for the ring consists 

 of a body of, for the most part, well-to-do men who 

 are scrupulously honest in their dealings, regard their 

 bets as commercial transactions, courteously discharge 

 their debts when they lose, and, on occasions, are 

 extremely lenient to their debtors. Bookmakers are 

 not seldom much maligned by their censors, clergy- 

 men, head-masters, and other well - meaning but 

 ignorant critics, of whom I desire to speak with all 

 possible respect, but who certainly evolve from their 

 own imagination the class of person they condemn. 

 I am far from advising any one to bet, for to do so 

 habitually is inevitably to lose in the long run. Year 

 by year one sees backers go under, while bookmakers 

 continue to prosper. Usually these men start life in 

 very humble circumstances ; but in spite of their ex- 

 ceedingly heavy expenses, railway journeys often at 

 specially high fares, residence at the best hotels when 

 race prices are charged, carriage hire, admission to 

 enclosures, and other daily disbursements, they live 

 luxuriously and make fortunes. Obviously their 

 wealth comes, in larger or smaller sums, out of 

 the pockets of backers ; and the fact is full of 

 sio-nificance. 



There are several traps always open for the 

 backers of horses. One of these, and perhaps the 

 most dangerous, is "betting to get home." Men 



