XXX WAYFARING NOTIONS 



trying to make an honest living, whether he 

 were waterman, ''player," or ''bookie." For 

 bookmakers especially he never missed saying a 

 good word. He declared and showed solid 

 grounds that, taken as a whole, no business is 

 conducted on such absolutely honourable lines, 

 engagements of the greatest magnitude being 

 faithfully fulfilled with no other obligation or 

 pledge than a pencil dash or two — and that no 

 more charitable folk were to be found anywhere. 

 Indeed he claimed ungrudging beneficence as a 

 virtue of racing people generally, and he knew 

 what he was talking about. I remember that 

 in one day he collected on Lewes Racecourse 

 over a hundred pounds for the local free 

 hospital, an institution in which not one per 

 cent, of the donors could have possessed the 

 slightest personal or local interest. 



For a due appreciation of my father s powers 

 as an all-round athlete, I must quote those who 

 can speak with authority, "An Old Hand" says 

 in the article already quoted : " He was possessed 

 of great physical strength and very exceptional 

 powers of endurance. Circumstances prevented 

 him in early life from taking that position on the 

 path and the river which he could easily have 

 attained had he been able to spare more time, but 

 for all that he proved himself a first-rate oarsman 

 and swimmer, and did some remarkable perform- 



