76 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



As to the cry, which has been already referred 

 to, of " down with sport," it is most unjust, and 

 is probably seen to be so, even by the more 

 ignorant of those to whom it was first addressed. 

 " Down with sport," would mean the loss of daily 

 bread to thousands who are employed in stables 

 and in agriculture. Training stables cannot be 

 built without masons, carpenters, and other work- 

 men. Horse clothes employ our weavers, and 

 harness-making gives remunerative employment 

 to hundreds. The farrier in his forge feels all 

 the better for there being lo.ooo race-horses in 

 the country, helpers in stables do not go without 

 clothes, and racing grooms and jockeys will 

 annually require, at least, 15,000 suits. Horses 

 are fed on the best of oats and hay, and to 

 provide this forage, two or three thousand 

 persons will contribute a share of their labour. 

 Important race meetings attract myriads of spec- 

 tators, and so our railways flourish, and our 

 hotel-keepers and their servants thrive. Over 

 one million sterling is earned every year by 

 servants and others who are dependent on the 

 great national pastime of horse-racing. I am 

 taking, in the foregoing remarks, sport as I find 

 it. Some people will say that the oats eaten by 

 horses would be better if given to men as food ; 

 but that mode of argument can be made to go in 

 a circle. Men must have recreation, and nothing 

 will prevent them picking out the pastime they 

 like best. So much for the cry of " down with 

 ^port." 



