RAMBLES ABOUT NEWMARKET 203 



Others concerned start later than they used be- 

 cause there is less to do. Anyhow, there I was 

 at half-past eight, having helped myself to a quite 

 nice little holiday outing, and unable to make 

 two or three little purchases simply because the 

 sellers were not in sight. A few people were 

 about making for places of business, but in the 

 early afternoon of Wednesday the old ''old" you 

 could fire a cannon-ball down the street without 

 hurting anyone called for your notice. I had 

 hopes that someone had told the inhabitants 

 what fine weather was going on, and they had 

 started off to look at it. No living sign of such 

 alarums and excursions were to be detected in 

 the neighbourhood, however, and one felt almost 

 blamishly selfish in utilising so much enjoyment 

 at your disposal gratis, with scarcely anyone 

 helping himself to the goods provided. It is 

 such waste of good health, at almost any time 

 of year. Take a really cold but fine day at 

 Cesarewitch time, what a morning for outdoor 

 exercise ! With the roads washed clean of dust, 

 and mud also, all the landscape glazed with hoar- 

 frost, a clear sky, and not too thin a pair of 

 breeches, a gouty misanthrope might possess 

 himself of a light heart and go it all the day, 

 merrily o'er the footpath way, also over the stile-a. 

 Tonics, tonics forsooth ! tonics out of chemists' 

 shops ! Throw physic anywhere you like, the 

 stuff you take out of bottles — I know all about 

 that, because I have a mania for tasting anybody's 

 medicine. No matter whether it is for a chinked 

 back or the black plague, I can always do with a 

 taste — and stand on strong exercise a-mornings 

 in wintry autumn, while the air is crisp and makes 

 you want to run instead of fairly heeling it and 



