210 



any pending event — no vulgar clamor — no exhibition of the worst pas- 

 sions of our nature — no blackleg combinations. 



" Sunt haec etiam sua prastnia laudi." 



Our cheerful peasantry, too, in their holiday clothes, look on, and by 

 their countenances attest the enjoyment they are permitted to participate 

 in. In a word, on all sides around, there are the evidences that " those 

 in authority " omit no effort to put " The South Carolina Jockey Cluh^'' 

 upon the most unexce])tionable footing — to make it, if possible, the very 

 first among similar associations in our country, thus maintaining for the 

 Charleston Races their high character abroad and at home, adding more 

 and more, year after year, to their well merited popularity. 



It is incumbent upon the men of the present, generation to follow 

 faithfully in the footsteps of their fathers, so as to hand down unimpaired 

 to their sons, and their sons' sons, who are hereafter to fill their places, 

 when they are no longer on the Turf, but under it, the high character 

 and enjoyments of the good old Club — a rich legacy that has descended 

 to them in trust from an honorable ancestry. 



Not much moi'e can be expected from those who have had their day — 

 " grown aged, used up," and now turned out to grass ; but on the young 

 devolves the duty 



" To attest 

 That those whom tbey call Fathers did beget them, 



To show 

 The mettle of their pasture, and that they 

 Are worth their breeding." 



The writer of this has no fears for the result. He has always thought 

 and seen, through a now somewhat long and not uneventful life, that 



BLOOD W^ILL TELL ! ! 



As you, my younger associates of the Club, sons of the " Rivals 

 of my Watch "* in other days, (now gone for ever,) have been highly 

 bred, early taken in hand, properly bitted, made thoroughly bridle wise, 



* " The Rivals of my Watch." — Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1. 



Shakspeare seems always ready to supply words to express our quaintest thoughts. 

 This phrase (a little poetic liberty being taken with the meaning originally intended) 

 nts in peculiarly well in this place. Shakspeare, throughout his plays, uses Rivals 

 ibr associates, partners and competitors ; and the indoctrinated into the modem 

 system of racing need not be told, that a Watch is a piece of property indispensable 

 to any one having anything to do with the economy of the Turf, to enable him pro- 

 perly to time, and report the performances of the horses — hence, then, the apposite- 

 ness of the quotation: "The Rivals of my Watch." 



