258 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



curioslty-shop dealers', reproductions of any 

 mortal thing you fancy, of any date you 

 like to mention, produced, like the oil in the 

 widow's cruse, so that everybody can find just 

 one left. From all these I feel inclined to turn 

 nowadays, having pretty well used them up as 

 well as references to Chester in former race times, 

 when the Grosvenor Hotel had a market as big 

 as all our sporting clubs put together, and practi- 

 cally anyone who had sense enough to see that 

 honesty was the best policy could not help 

 making a fortune if his head was screwed on 

 properly. 



Chester in a race week does not alter much. 



You are rushed at not quite so much as formerly 



by the card and newspaper sellers. To make up, 



the young savages who rule over passengers in 



the tramcars are more truculent and brutally 



overbearing than ever. Old furniture increases 



within the city boundaries ; no age nor colour 



barred ; all can be made while you wait. Plate 



of various ancient dates, like hope in the human 



breast, springs eternal in the Chester shops. 



The food store, the fishmongers', fruiterers', etc., 



are, if anything, more attractive than ever ; the 



early arrivals, if possible, fuller up than of yore ; 



the local folk not engaged in getting a bit quite 



up to their best form in looking out of windows 



at the crowd ; tipsters hold possession of street 



corners, as is their custom ; the fair goes as well 



as could be wished, and the walk round the walls 



and the look down on the new spring foliage and 



the fruit-trees' blossom (much more backward 



and therefore fresher than they would be at this 



time in May down south) are as good as ever. 



I should say that more Welsh folk gather on 



