CHESTER AND THE DEE 259 



the Roodee for the Chester Cup than are present 

 at any other one time on a racecourse. A some- 

 what strange similarity between almost-forsaken 

 Derby- Day manners and customs and a certain 

 section of Chester visitors advertises itself still — 

 viz., extravagant get-up by some of the collier 

 companies who make up parties to go to the city 

 by road. An accepted stroke of humour is 

 for men to attire themselves in the other sex's 

 finery, and a good deal of music is brought in ; 

 but as regards that latter, you can bet any odds 

 you like on the Welshmen for harmony on 

 wheels. Nobody needs telling that the Taffies 

 are musical and take a lot of trouble with the 

 art, so that little villages turn out quite good- 

 class choirs. Unless you are versed in their 

 ways, however, you might wonder somewhat to 

 find freights of passengers by long-backed char- 

 a-banc and all manner of carriages, amusing 

 themselves on the way with quite classic pieces. 

 One never gets time enough to *'do" such 

 subjects as the setting out and returning home 

 of a colliery village expedition for the Chester 

 Cup. Someone ought to take the business in 

 hand and follow it right through from the first 

 steps towards assembly, generally at the pub. 

 where the carriage is moored, so to speak, wait- 

 ing for the crew and passengers to go aboard 

 before it can cast off The muster reminds you 

 a bit of the calling out of a pack of beagles 

 quartered among the hunt's own houses, or — the 

 other way about — of a flock of geese marched 

 home from the feeding grounds and dispersing as 

 their own particular domiciles are neared. They 

 come at all hours — say, from the first opening of 

 the inn — and as they filter to that centre, ''take 



