282 MINCR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. 
from it, as an intruder is ejected from your own house. 
“In every crowd there is a thief” is an old proverb that 
holds good with the athletic sports or the cricket match; 
the ball or the rout, or with an asscmblage of any kind. The 
frequenter of the race-course cannot, therefore, look for a 
special immunity from this plague. And I am far from 
wishing to deprive any class, even the great unwashed, of 
its right to witness the national sport, although its numbers 
be often so great as to hinder rather than help the diversion. 
But there is a duty imposed upon the crowd, as there is on 
the individual. It must behave itself, and assert a right to 
its own freedom of action by respecting that of others. But 
when, with horse-play and coarse brutality, it rides rough-shod 
over every one, the panic-stricken public fly, and the result is 
the place is left to the mob and the meeting discredited for 
all future time. It must be admitted that the turf would 
benefit largely were means taken to prevent the recurrence of 
such scenes; or, failing this, to obliterate all such meetings 
from the calendar. 
T think something might be done to get rid of the wretched 
“welsher,” or to minimise the evil he does, by apportioning a 
piece of ground on each race-course close to the grand stand, 
or on the nearest eligible site, for the so-called ready-money 
bettors. It should be enclosed with iron railings, with gates 
for ingress and egress; and into it, all these men should be 
forced to go, and no betting be allowed elsewhere except, of 
course, in the ring proper. This would effectually checkmate 
those who now take money before the race and decamp with 
it. A small fee should be charged for admittance, which the 
frequenters, whether professional, or the public wishing to bet, 
could well afford to pay. In this ring, no money should be 
allowed to be taken before the race, in open transgression and 
