2o6 Among Men and Horses. 



& 



The Civil and Military Gazette, The Englishman^ The Bombay 

 Gazette, and The Madras Mail. All these journals cater for 

 the decided taste which their readers have for horses and 

 sport. The Asian is not an unworthy Indian Field, and 

 The Indian Planters' Gazette is a bright record of sport 

 and of the doings of Calcutta society, as well as an able 

 mouthpiece of the class which it represents. 



India is a favourite hunting ground for showmen. The 

 Indian public being a small one, luckily does not demand 

 large companies and expensive staging. Being composed 

 chiefly of well-read men and women, it is fastidious ; but if 

 there be merit in a show, it will not object to the perform- 

 ance being short ; for it does not finish its dinner before nine 

 o'clock, and likes to get home by eleven, so as to be up by 

 daybreak for a ride or drive. Among capable showmen, I 

 may mention the names of Tommy Hudson, Frank Lincoln, 

 George Milne and Charlie Harding. The play-going re- 

 quirements of the natives are best met by a circus. Poor 

 Woodyear, who had been doing big business at Hong Kong 

 when we met him there, brought his circus to Calcutta, but 

 died from cholera not long after his arrival. Having been in 

 the show line myself, I went with a heavy heart to the 

 funeral. As the Calcutta people do not trouble themselves 

 much about funerals, only one of them, besides my sub-editor 

 and myself, was present. When the sad-faced procession 

 had formed up on the road in front of the cemetery, the black 

 professional mutes proceeded to take down the coffin from 

 the hearse and to bear it to the grave, while the real mourners 

 unused to the scene and place looked helplessly on. Though 

 a comparative stranger, I thought I might render to the dead, 

 respectful homage which might be acceptable to those that 

 wept for their dear friend and master, and accordingly gave 

 the lead to have the poor fellow carried to his last resting- 

 place on the shoulders of white men. There was not a dry 

 eye among the ladies and gentlemen of the troupe who stood 

 round the grave. I hope, though cannot expect, that I may 



