38 



DRIVING AS I FOUND IT. 



tandem." I do not doubt for a moment that they were 

 in working condition, many of them having worked long 

 enough to become a bit "shovey'' in front (bent in their 

 forelegs). Such horses Avere entirely unsuitable for the 

 purposes for which they were intended, and ought to 

 have been in the hands of peddlers or runners of junk 

 carts. 



6uch pitfalls for the unAvary buyer are, of dourse, un- 

 known in dealing with a firm like Messrs. Tattersall, of 

 London. That great house, which for a century and a 

 half has maintained its pre-eminence, and has achieved a 

 financial success and stability of the highest, has rigidly 

 observed the rule never to buy at its own sales for re- 

 sale, and never to allow a bid by an owner or on his part, 

 ,excei3t in the case of an entry with a reserve i^rice. At 

 the top of each regular weekly catalogue of Messrs. 

 Tattersall the following notice appears: "The OT\Tier re- 

 serves the right to bid through his agent, the auctioneer, 

 as often as he sees fit." The plain English of this is that 

 there may be reserv e prices, up to which point the animal 

 will be protected by the auctioneer, and the object is to 

 prevent the appearance of active bidding when it does 

 not exist, and thus to guard the public from a deception 

 that might unfairly be practiced ui:>on it. 



But when it is announced at Tattersall's that an ani- 

 mal is offered without reserve, every one is assured of an 



