IV.—" WASTING " AND WALKING 



I have done a great deal of " wasting " in ray 

 time, and I cannot conscientiously say — that is, 

 with my hand upon my heart, like a courtier — 

 that " wasting " has ever done me much good. 

 When a light man strives to become still lighter, 

 as if weight were a positive curse to him, the 

 money earned may go towards buying him a new 

 sort of shroud, not a ticket for soup. Strange 

 stories are told in this connection, and if they are 

 not all strictly true — which is more than we are 

 entitled to expect in this sporting world — some of 

 them are certainly — truish. So much depends on 

 one's audience and on what has been scheduled 

 as their " capacity of swallow." 



A young jockey wasting, for instance, once 

 begged on his knees for a good dinner, and 

 what he promptly received was a good hiding, 

 administered so efficaciously that he lost his 

 appetite for several days. He had no difficulty in 



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