TOUTS AND TIPSTERS. 141 



demand, at prices ranging from threepence to a 

 shilling, according to the number of prophecies given 

 or the celebrity of the tipster. ' Paddock wires,' 

 * Special knowledge telegrams,' ' Latest information,' 

 and several other varieties of the modern tipster's art 

 can be obtained at prices suitable even to * leanly 

 furnished purses.' The anxious inquirer after winners 

 can also communicate direct with distant touts by 

 paying for their reply — the payment of a fee being as 

 a matter of course included in the remittance. Tips 

 for the day's races are now often hawked about the 

 streets at the price of a penny or twopence, and, as 

 all who frequent racecourses know, tipsters are rapidly 

 becoming a nuisance, but the work is remunerative. 

 One of the fraternity told the writer at a recent meeting 

 that he could sell every day thirty or forty marked 

 cards to ' the swells ' at a ' bob ' (Is ) each, and eighty, 

 or perliaps a hundred, at sixpence apiece ; ' but then 

 you know, sir, I has all them cards to pay for, and 

 that takes some of the gilding off the cake, I can tell 

 you.' 



