THE PLEASURES OF A RACE-MEETING. 287 
of compassion are well provided for by public institutions, 
and would not be permitted thus to exhibit themselves in 
any town or country village. 
Freed from these blemishes, the amusements offered by the 
race-course would be both enjoyable and innocent, affording 
to old and young that recreation which prepares them to 
encounter with fresh vigour the duties of to-morrow. The 
drive to and from the course, with all its pleasant surroundings, 
is a scene which has often been graphically depicted by our 
sporting writers, and is one, allowably, that can find no 
equal elsewhere, in which all is good fellowship and innocent 
merriment and fun. 
When a building is licensed as a theatre, the Lord Cham- 
berlajn satisfies himself that it is so constructed and arranged 
as to insure the well-being, comfort, and safety of its fre- 
quenters. But he does not limit himself to these precautions. 
He proscribes any piece that has an immoral tendency, per- 
mitting only such to be put upon the stage as cannot offend 
the most innocent. It is a practice that might be worthily 
followed in turf matters by clerks of the course, who should 
use the powers they possess in the same discreet way. 
The sale of intoxicating drinks on the race-course is another 
matter to which some restraint should be applied. The 
legislature has wisely curtailed the hours in which liquor 
may be sold in public-houses, and some such prohibition 
should be extended to the sale of it in the booths on race- 
courses. The sale might, I think, be safely permitted for a 
certain period of the day, commencing an hour or two before 
the first race is run, and extending until two hours after the 
last race is over, on each day of the meeting. As things are 
at present, it is the custom for the lower classes to rush off at 
the conclusion of the day’s sport, to the booths, often accom- 
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