22 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



*^g*enteelly boarded." The economy of a public stable is 

 very similar to that of Mr. Shepherd's. The lads get 

 about the same wages, but seldom with the addition of the 

 suit of clothes ; and some, but not so many as their em- 

 ployers could wish, are bound apprentice for four or five 

 years on first entering. A really clever child, when so 

 articled, may be turned to considerable profit, for there 

 is a continual demand for such light weights, and of 

 coiu'se the master can generally make his own terms as 

 to how they shall share the fees received for riding races 

 for other people. To ''hold his tongue/^ and ^' keep his 

 hands doion^ are the two golden rules of a jockey boy's 

 life, and the height of his ambition to ride in public. 

 Should he be very successful at first, he is apt to lose his 

 head -, and here the indentures do him good service by 

 keeping him in proper control until he has completed his 

 education. Should he then have outgrown the stable in 

 size and weight, he is still qualified to make the best of 

 grooms. To tend on the high-bred horse that is, and not 

 to look after a horse and chaise, clean knives and shoes; 

 dig in the garden, wait at table, and help Mary Anne in 

 her airings with the double-bodied perambulator. Jack 

 Horner's early career has scarcely fitted him for *^a 

 place" like this ; but if you really have need of a 

 groomj the training-stable is as the University for turning 

 out a first-class man. Of late years, private establish- 

 ments have been coming more and more into fashion, and 

 for a gentleman with anything like a stud of his own, 

 there can be no other so satisfactory or legitimate a means 

 of engaging in the sport. Thistley Grove is at this time 

 about the most successful of any stable in the kingdom, 

 either public or private ; and a brother of our Mr. Shep- 

 herd was lately in receipt of the highest salary ever paid to 



