AND THE PRESENT DAY 11 



quicker, and much more convenient in every way ; 

 the ammunition more easily carried, and there are 

 very few misfires. The gun wants no washing, 

 merely a rag passed through, and it is clean. But 

 I am not going into the subject of guns and all 

 their improvements ; I have merely mentioned 

 these to show the great stride that has been made 

 in the last fifty years in shot guns. 



Steeplechasing and racing I must touch on, and 

 the little I have to say will not be in its favour. 



The hateful passion of betting is slowly but 

 surely ruining the turf ; for there are not the same 

 class of men on it that there were thirty years ago. 



Where do you see fine old sportsmen like the late 

 Sir Gilbert Heathcote ? He raced for the pleasure 

 of racing, and so did many others who never betted 

 a shilling ; but it is all altered now, and not for the 

 better. 



Young men — ay, and old ones too — ruin them- 

 selves by betting ; Government and other clerks 

 squander their salaries away, which might maintain 

 them, and perhaps a mother or a sister who is 

 totally dependent upon them ; the butlers and foot- 

 men pawn the family plate to meet their engage- 

 ments ; and the shop-boy is often detected in flag- 

 rante delicto, with his hands in the till, purloining a 

 half-crown or two to enable him to go with Mary 



