246 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



making- a living out of sport by writing about It, 

 condemn so much — viz., getting something to 

 show for your racing. Honour and glory attach- 

 ing to victory ought to be quite sufficient to satisfy 

 the true-hearted sportsmen. I dare say that is 

 so, though I am wrong made enough never to 

 have felt that way myself. My idea is that you 

 can glorify yourself and be quite honourable 

 enough to pass muster, and at the same time 

 derive a lot of pleasure out of possessing prizes 

 you won. Something of the sort comes in about 

 the ancient racing plates I was talking about just 

 now, and I suppose breaks out in another way 

 with the noble red man's collection of scalps, or 

 the tough's notches on his gun, which is nowadays 

 a pistol. Leaving that unpleasantest side of the 

 question, let me repeat faith in any system which 

 keeps alive memories of a stable's or individual's 

 prowess by means of trophies. I do not suggest 

 carrying the idea to the length of hanging Derby 

 winners' and the like's colours in a church, after 

 the fashion of regimental colours or knight's 

 armour, but we might go some distance on that 

 road and be on the right one. 



Now as to the public-house stables and their 

 adornments. Would it be downright stealing if 

 you, being an enthusiast, conveyed some of these 

 plates say, when you came across one, which a 

 great pet of yours wore on the day it did you an 

 extra good turn ? Of course, I am quite aware 

 that stealing is stealing even if you take some- 

 body's champagne, not because you want to drink 

 it, but in order to provide yourself with empty 

 bottles to put into his bed — a trick played on the 

 late Colonel North at one Doncaster meeting ; 

 but as regards these shoes, you would be helping 



