DONCASTER REMINISCENCES 245 



the "iron," and if you have a memory these will 

 keep you busy so long as you care to stay, 

 recalling chapters in history, perchance long out 

 of mind till its elbow was jogged in this way. 

 Several times have I lazed away hours visiting 

 old friends' cards — you may almost call them 

 cards — and watching them fight their battles over 

 again. So I have in the Goodwood country, 

 whose villages near the coast are copiously 

 adorned with plates, frequently with colours, too. 

 We do not seem to keep up the custom now. 

 A pretty one it is, though, and a sporting : some- 

 thing in the way of the 'Varsity and other great 

 boat-race winners taking their oars home to hang 

 up and dry, or cutting an old boat up when she 

 really is done with, to make corner cupboards. 

 You would be surprised to find what a great 

 cavernous receptacle a section of an eight does 

 make, and what a useful one, too. 



We scarcely make enough of the semi-senti- 

 mental side of sport and pastime, more especially 

 of horse-racing, as witness the fact that to only a 

 very small percentage of contests does other than 

 a money-prize attach. I can't help believing 

 that the old style of including plate — or, as the 

 irreverent athlete would say, pots — made towards 

 keeping interest in the game alive. Also, it always 

 has been a fancy of mine to treasure and display 

 memorials of achievements in and about training 

 stables. Achievement is quite the word here to 

 convey my meaning. Surely some sort of good 

 would come if, in the lads' big room, records of 

 the stable's best performances were displayed, if 

 only to give the young 'uns a good conceit of them- 

 selves. Personally, I am a firm believer in what 

 the extra-special amateurs, who may be practically 



