THE GREAT HANDICAP RACE. 10^ 



THE GREAT HANDICAP PtACE. 



(FROM THE FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF A. SOFTUX, ESQ.) 



^' Well^ but that's very odd, Alfred. You say lie could 

 have won the race ; and yet he didn't !'' . 



^^He was 'nobbled/ my dear." 



^'He was w/i«jf ?" 



^' Oh ! — well, / mean ^ roped.' ' ' 



" And what do you mean, then, pray V 



'• Well, confound it ! — I beg your pardon — why, they" 

 made him ^safe,' of course." 



^' There now — you say he luas safe ; and yet why didn't 

 he win ? " 



^' Good g-racious, Mrs. Softun, what an ig-norant girl 

 you must be ! Don't you see they squared him — squared 

 him not to win ; and so, how the deuce could he ?" 



* * * ■* 5iJ 



I didn't go into the Church, after all; for Bessie didn't 

 care much about it : and what with the Doctor's savin as 

 and Mamma's leavings, there was no great occasion for 

 getting *^ japanned ;" and so I left it alone. Turned my 

 bucolics to account in rearing a good shaped Shorthorn 

 or two for Smithfield, and varied their excellence with a 

 few round-sterned Cochin Chinas, of the regular ^' prize- 

 medal" breed. To be sure, when the good Doctor went 

 over the place on his occasional visits to his dear daughter 

 and esteemed son-in-law, he didn't ^'pass " all the stock 



