AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 15 



the world's battle, follow in quick succession. No 

 ostentatious ceremony is displayed, for the host, if any- 

 thing, is direct and. brief of speech. Hospitality of 

 the best is tendered, "Master John" taking the seat 

 of honour at the head of the table, and with the 

 " guid wife " and the family assembled in the well- 

 furnished dining-room, whose sideboard and walls bear 

 many emblems of famous victories, the tout ensemble 

 embodies a well-ordered family circle. A God-fearing 

 man can the " unco guid " believe it compatible with a 

 horse-trainer or a jockey to hold a reverence of his 

 Creator ? the host earnestly says " grace " before 

 partaking of the repast. This little act gives an insight 

 into one of the traits of his character from which has 

 sprung, no doubt, that sense of high rectitude and due 

 proportion of conduct to all men that have gained him, 

 after years of trial, the enviable epithet of " Honest 

 John," a tribute which no man in the same profession 

 ever better deserved. 



There are household gods at Brecongill. Let one 

 intrude upon the privacy of the sequestered Yorkshire 

 home and begin with the objects in the drawing-room 

 and on its walls. First and foremost on the crowded 

 sideboard is the Manor Cup, a magnificent design in 

 silver, won by Pity the Blind, so named through having 

 lost an eye, as far back as 1849. Then the eye lights 

 on the Newcastle Cup, won by Romping Girl in 1867 ; 

 also a magnificent bowl, presented to " Mr. John " by 

 Mr. Robertson Gladstone in 1889 to commemorate the 

 victory of Redsand in the 1000 stake at Manchester. 

 The walls are profusely adorned with paintings and 

 steel plates of celebrities. Mr. George Payne has a 

 prominent place; portraits of "Parson" King, Dr. 

 Trotter, a patron of the old stable; a photograph of 



