Chapter C: E. Curtis (4)

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DIARY FOR JUNE, 1906. │ ├──────┬─────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Day of│ Day │ OCCURRENCES. │ │Month.│ of │ │ │ │Week.│ │ ├──────┼─────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 1│ F │Epsom Races. The Oaks. │ │ 2│ S │Kempton Park Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 3│ =S= │=Whit Sunday.= │ │ 4│ M │Hurst Park, Redcar, Wolverhampton, Hooton Park and │ │ │ │ Hexham Races. │ │ 5│ TU │Hurst Park, Redcar and Wolverhampton Races. At Lord’s, │ │ │ │ Middlesex v. Somerset. │ │ 6│ W │Birmingham Races. │ │ 7│ TH │Manchester Races. │ │ 8│ F │Manchester and Brighton Races. │ │ 9│ S │Manchester and Brighton Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 10│ =S= │=Trinity Sunday.= │ │ 11│ M │Lincoln Races. At Lord’s, Middlesex v. Notts. At Oval, │ │ │ │ Surrey v. Sussex. │ │ 12│ TU │Lincoln and Lingfield Races. │ │ 13│ W │Lingfield and Beverley Races. │ │ 14│ TH │Beverley and Lewes Races. At Lord’s, Middlesex v. Yorks.│ │ │ │ At Oval, Surrey v. Kent. │ │ 15│ F │Lewes Races. │ │ 16│ S │Hurst Park Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 17│ =S= │=First Sunday after Trinity.= │ │ 18│ M │At Lord’s, Middlesex v. West Indians. │ │ 19│ TU │Ascot Races. │ │ 20│ W │Ascot Royal Hunt Cup. │ │ 21│ TH │Ascot Gold Cup. At Lord’s, M.C.C. & Ground v. │ │ │ │ Worcestershire. At Oval, Surrey v. Oxford University. │ │ 22│ F │Ascot Races. │ │ 23│ S │Windsor Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 24│ =S= │=Second Sunday after Trinity.= │ │ 25│ M │At Lord’s, M.C.C. & Ground v. Cambridge University. At │ │ │ │ Oval, Surrey v. West Indians. │ │ 26│ TU │Gatwick and Newcastle Races. │ │ 27│ W │Gatwick and Newcastle Races. Royal Agricultural │ │ │ │ Society’s Show at Derby (4 days). │ │ 28│ TH │Newcastle and Folkestone Races. At Lord’s, M.C.C. and │ │ │ │ Ground v. Oxford University. │ │ 29│ F │Sandown Park and Birmingham Races. │ │ 30│ S │Sandown Park and Birmingham Races. │ └──────┴─────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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]

BAILY’S MAGAZINE
OF
SPORTS AND PASTIMES
NO. 556. JUNE, 1906. VOL. LXXXV.

CONTENTS.

PAGE Sporting Diary for the Month v. Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H. 427 Sport at Westminster 429 Education at the Public Schools 433 Successful Steeplechase Sires (Illustrated) 437 The Billiard-Cue (Illustrated) 442 A Country Fair (Illustrated) 443 The Judging of Polo Ponies 447 Sport and Animal Life at the Royal Academy 449 Notes and Sport of a Dry-fly Purist 452 Hound Sales, Past and Present 456 The Olympic Games 462 A Clever Shot (Illustrated) 465 Cricket Notions 467 The Salmon’s Visual Apparatus (Illustrated) 469 A Hundred Years Ago 477 The Sportsman’s Library (Illustrated) 478 George H. Hirst 485 “Our Van”:— Racing (Illustrated) 487 Polo 493 Golf 495 The Hunt Secretaries Association 496 Ascetic 496 Field Trials of Pointers and Setters in Shropshire 496 Theatrical Notes 497 Sporting Intelligence 500

WITH ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF VISCOUNT HELMSLEY, M.F.H.

Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H.

Charles William Reginald Duncombe, Viscount Helmsley, was born on May 8th, 1879, in London. In due course he went to Eton, where he found his most congenial occupation on the river; he was one of the crew of the “Dreadnought,” a “lower” boat, and would probably have made his mark as an oarsman had health permitted; but, under medical advice, he was obliged to give up rowing. From Eton he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he found time to officiate as whipper-in to the draghounds one season, and where he played a good deal of polo; he was a member of the University team for the two seasons 1900 and 1901. Indulgence in sport did not prevent his distinguishing himself in the schools, as witness his Honours degree in History before leaving.

After leaving Oxford he made a tour round the world, visiting India, Burmah, Ceylon, China, and Japan, and returning home through Canada. While in India he was fortunate enough to enjoy some tiger-shooting as the guest of the Maharajah of Kuch Behar, the keenest among native princes where big game is concerned.

On his return home Lord Helmsley made his entry into public life as Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Selborne, acting in that capacity from 1902 to 1904. He found time to hunt a good deal during this period, running down for week ends from London to Melton, whence he hunted about two days a week. He had been entered to hounds, when only six years old, with the Sinnington, and remembers being “blooded” by old Jack Parker, who for many years carried the horn, and was a famous character in Yorkshire. He was always devoted to hunting and had his full share of “spills” when, as a boy, he went out with hounds in the holidays; but tosses notwithstanding, he saw some great sport with the South Durham from Wynyard, and the Sinnington.

On Mr. Penn Sherbrooke’s resignation of the mastership of the Sinnington in 1904, Lord Helmsley was asked to succeed that gentleman. There were obvious and excellent reasons for his appointment; not only was the Viscount known as a keen sportsman, with a sound knowledge of foxhunting, but the Sinnington country includes the greater part of the large estates of the Earl of Feversham, whose grandson and heir Lord Helmsley is. Practically all the family property is hunted by the Sinnington, with the exception of part of the woodland districts which are within the borders of two neighbouring hunts—the Bilsdale and the Farndale. His family connection with the country, therefore, with his sporting qualifications, clearly indicated Lord Helmsley as the right man for the office; and the two seasons of his mastership have been conspicuously successful. The farmers in the Sinnington country are very keen about hunting, and they, the majority of them tenants of the Earl of Feversham, compose the field to a great extent. A good many of the Sinnington farmers are horse breeders; and still more of them make a business of buying young ones and making them for sale. Thus possessing a practical interest in sport to add to their natural appreciation of it they are to a man good fox-preservers and warm supporters of the Hunt.

The Sinnington consists of hill and vale country, and the former, locally called the “high” country, has been the scene of some very good runs during the past season. During the last fortnight they had an excellent day; two runs each of an hour, finishing with a kill in the open. Another run from Muscoates up to Rievaulx earlier in the season is also to be remembered. The Master was not out on the former day, being, unfortunately, detained by his recently adopted Parliamentary duties.

Lord Helmsley is very fond of shooting; he prefers grouse-driving to any other form of sport with the gun, and after that, walking up partridges. He is also a stalker.

He is not a great fisherman, but sometimes throws a fly on the Rye, which trout-stream runs through Duncombe Park. He has not played much polo since he left Oxford, having had many demands upon his time; and an occasional game is all he has been able to play during the last three seasons.

Lord Helmsley takes a great interest in every department of horse breeding, more especially in the breeding of hunters and polo ponies; he is greatly interested in the work of the Polo and Riding Pony Society. He represents the Thirsk and Malton Division of Yorkshire in the Conservative interest, having been elected at the General Election of 1906.

Sport at Westminster.

“When George the Third was King” used to be a favourite expression amongst my elders when I was a boy, as denoting the many wonderful events which occurred during the first twenty years of the last century, and which terminated that long and glorious reign. Since then the Victorian Era has come and gone, eclipsing in every way the glories of its longest predecessor, and handing down to this twentieth century a record which, as regards sport alone, is vastly in advance of all others, so much so that although we of the elder generation naturally are wont to enlarge occasionally on the greatness of the past, it has to be admitted in our candid moments that our ideas and ideals have been swept away, and can never again be used, except as ancient milestones on the road to Parnassus.

It would seem, however, that thus early in our twentieth century it is destined that a halt should be cried. The why and the wherefore of which it is not befitting that your pages should discuss, except in its one aspect, that of sport, yet, in truth, even sport cannot wholly be dissevered from the growth of democracy, which, for good or evil, has come like a March wind, untempered by sunshine, obliterating bright prospects of spring and summer happiness, foreboding a season of disappointment.

We many of us remember when on the last Tuesday in May, the Prime Minister rising in his place in Parliament moved the adjournment of the House of Commons over the Derby day, and the motion was agreed to _nem. con._ Our annual classic race at Epsom was a recognised holiday for our legislators. Lord Palmerston was never happier than when, as Premier, he was shaking off the cobwebs of office on this occasion; his horses more than once being competitors in the great race, and once he was second for it. Lord Derby also led his faithful Commons to Epsom, and almost carried off the Blue Ribband. Lord Beaconsfield, when Mr. Disraeli, followed the same practice, and I think it was Mr. Gladstone who first encountered dissentients to this motion. At first the minority of “noes” was an insignificant one, yet it grew, and Gladstone himself not being a sportsman, he soon gave way, and joined the “noes.” Thus the House of Commons has long come to disregard the call of “off to the Derby!” and who in the present Parliament would be bold enough to even raise the question?

In France the President of the Republic leads the way in pompous style to see the great Prix de Paris contested, and most popularly is he welcomed there by citizens of all classes. Why have we as a national community fallen away from a traditional custom?

More Parliamentary days are wasted in almost useless discussion than were wont to be claimed and given to this one day of distinguished sport. Our Gracious King is always present, the noblest patron of all. He must feel the enforced absence of his elected legislators. Painful as it is to admit the fact, we are now, nationally, handed over to people who not only decry sport, but rejoice in its possible overthrow. Some call them “faddists,” but they are worse, they are, many of them, at heart socialists—social democrats, whose aim and object it is to crush or set at naught the pleasures of those whom they are pleased to think are the class that stand between them and the enjoyment of advantages which all should enjoy alike, whether they have legitimately become entitled to them or not.

I am not going to dissect this problem any deeper. It is far too nasty a job for any one except a professional politician to attempt, but in order to prove our case let us see what are the component parts of the present House of Commons as regards sport.

There is only one member of the Cabinet who is a member of the Jockey Club—the Earl of Crewe—as against four in the last ministry.

There is only one Member of Parliament who is also a member of the Jockey Club, and he is Mr. C. D. Rose, representing the Newmarket Division.

There are only eleven Members of Parliament, as far as I can ascertain, who are owners of racehorses, and they are Colonel Hall Walker, Lord Dalmeny, Sir S. Scott, Mr. F. Lambton, Sir J. Jardine, Mr. G. H. Faber, Mr. C. D. Rose, Mr. Bottomley, Mr. E. Lamb, Mr. J. W. Phillips and Mr. John Barker. Hunting testifies to its popularity in spite of the change of opinions which have come over us. There are four M.F.H., in the assembly—Mr. Lane Fox, Lord Helmsley, Mr. Pike Pease and Mr. D. Davies—and four ex-M.F.H., in Lord Valentia, Colonel Legge, Mr. Rowland Hunt, and Mr. Vaughan Davies, backed up by at least a dozen well-known hunting men, such as Lord Castlereagh, Sir P. Muntz, Messrs. Mildmay, Tomkinson, Brocklehurst and Butcher, Sir Clement Hill, Mr. Long and Mr. Meysey Thompson; and, _en passant_, we can congratulate ourselves on the fact that in the hunting field all political opinions are forgotten, and that, although hunting M.P.’s so often vote in opposite lobbies they are none the less of one opinion as regards hunting.

Cricket seems poorly represented, although we find a Hornby or a Cobbold on the roll. For fishermen we will not answer, and of golfers there are galore—every man that has arms and legs in these days essays golf. It is alluring and easy until you try to excel in it—then follows disappointment. Probably I am old-fashioned, but I hang lovingly to the test of a public school education when seeking for reliable men, whatever be their walk in life. In classing them, this standard, to my thinking, comes before that of the Universities. Taking this test, I find Eton men in the House number 73, Harrow 21, Rugby 18, Cheltenham 9, Marlborough 7, Winchester 6, Charterhouse 4, Shrewsbury, Wellington and Repton, 2 each. Allowing for a few more men that claim their place as public school men at the smaller schools, we may take it that less than 200 of the total 670 members are public school men. This is not the worst point of our analysis in seeking for the germs of sport in our present House of Commons, for there are sixteen members who claim to be _self-taught_. In their case they must have either been beyond the age of boyhood before compulsory school education became law, or the school attendance officers must have, in their cases, neglected their duties—and yet these men, whose names it will serve no good purpose to give in these pages, have no mean influence in the Council of the Empire to-day.

If we made a comparison on the same lines between the Parliament of 1900 and the present one of 1906, I fear that our figures would tell of a disastrous change in the whilom aristocracy of the House of Commons. It has been called a billycock House, but, forsooth, it is only by its actions that we must judge it; and let us hope that its bark will be worse than its bite when the realm of sport is on the tapis. If only the present Parliament would approach legislation on sport without malice, we are far from thinking that they may not be benefactors to its true interests, and they may dare to attack abuses which our friends would let severely alone. For instance, why should they not put down their foot on spurious sports, if it so pleases them? So many self-styled sportsmen are trying to spoil sport by artificial means—hunting, shooting and coursing semi-tame animals, and calling it sport. We, in my humble judgment, have the greatest need to uphold true, honest, genuine sport rather than its counterfeits, which only go to make our enemies blaspheme at us with some cause. Perhaps I shall be electrocuted for saying that the days of the carted deer are numbered, and that the trapped pigeon and bagged rabbit should be done away with.

Probably still more dreadful things will happen to me if I say that Dives, who turns his farms into pheasantries and his uplands into hare or rabbit warrens, should be liable for the waste thus created of what would otherwise be profitable to mankind; and should pay rates accordingly, and damage to tenants who took their holdings without the knowledge of the use to which their land, or that adjoining them, would be put.

It may also strike them that the gambling laws may be reasonably amended in such a way as to make betting profitable to the State, as it is now in almost every other country in Europe, as well as in the Colonies, and at the same time to do away with the evil and temptation which besets the working man in what is termed street betting.

To abolish betting altogether, as some faddists would have you attempt, is known by all practical people to be impossible. You may just as well pass a law to close the Stock Exchange, and all the other Exchanges, and make contracts in “futures” illegal. To abolish bookmakers or betting on the “nod,” as it is termed, or not permit it anywhere except on a racecourse under certain conditions, would be a reformation of which even the most Radical Government might be proud, and at the same time add to the prosperity of the country by compelling a percentage on all betting transactions to be paid over to the Board of Agriculture and the Local Government Board in equal proportions, for the benefit of the stock breeders and the poor of the country. This sum would amount to at least a million in the year, and would come out of the pockets of the wealthy and the unthrifty, without any injury to the State—as has been proved in the practice of the system of the Totaliser or _Pari mutuel_ in other countries. I have more than once ventilated this subject in your pages, and it has been discussed and advocated in the Press, although, as yet, the country at large does not appear to appreciate its importance, and very few Members of Parliament have given it a serious thought. There seems to be a holy horror of legalising betting, of which this savours, and this seems to make it impracticable; yet many good and wise people seem to forget that betting is not in itself illegal, and never has been so. The system which we advocate would make no difference in the law. It would only regulate it, with immense advantage to the State and the community.

Parliament very strictly regulates the drink traffic, and I have never, for the life of me, understood why it should not in a similar way regulate the betting business, because it appears to me that they stand on the same footing from a moral and legal standpoint.

However, I fear this subject will descend on deaf ears at Westminster at the present crisis, where anything in the nature of sport is likely to be tabooed, if possible, unless the independent party choose to take it up, in defiance of the somewhat elastic consciences of many of their _confrères_.

It is, nevertheless, a fact which no Government or Parliament can lose sight of, that sport plays an important part in Great Britain’s life as a nation; and that any serious interference with its material interests will be detrimental to the country, and if attempted will be seriously resented by the people in the future. Let us trust, therefore, that although we now deplore the absence from the House of Commons of so many men whose friendship to sport could be reckoned upon, yet that there are sufficient left to ensure an absence of legislation which will be inimical to the true sporting instincts of the people.

BORDERER.

Education at the Public Schools.

Perhaps the moment is hardly auspicious for dealing with the present subject, when the very word “education” has the ring of a challenge, but happily the Public Schools remain in a kind of secluded backwater, sheltered from the whirling eddies of political strife. Rightly or wrongly, they hold a sort of privileged position which no Government is likely to assail. In speaking of “education” at the Public Schools we employ the word in its widest significance, being not merely the assimilation by the boy of so many facts and figures, but his mental, moral and physical training. These three branches of a boy’s education are so closely connected together, acting and reacting on each other so continually that it is difficult to deal with them separately.

The first and foremost care of the school—the one in which it takes most pride—is the “tone” of its members. This word serves to describe the general behaviour and opinions of the boys, their religious beliefs, relations to their masters and to one another, the ideals, aspirations and traditions which every school holds dear.

When a boy goes to his Public School for the first time, he is overawed by the mass of customs and unwritten laws which insist upon his doing one thing and forbid him to do another. Although some of them may strike him as absurd, being merely survivals of a practice of which the use no longer exists, he will come to learn that the life of a school is bound up in its traditions, and will cherish them accordingly. He will first discover that the home estimate and school estimate of his capacities are very different, that he is, in fact, a nonentity. When he has recovered from the shock of this discovery, he will set himself to find out—or more probably he will learn instinctively—what is or is not sanctioned by the public opinion of the school, what he may do or say. As the “tone” of the place largely depends upon the discipline, which is shared by the masters with the bigger boys, who—from their position in the school or from their athletic and other qualifications—are chosen as præfects, monitors or præpostere, it is easy to perceive how essentially bound up together are these various branches of school training.

As regards education in its more restricted sense, many would have us believe that too great prominence is given to games, and that the school-boy’s great ambition is to get into the Eleven or Fifteen, whilst success at work is, in his opinion, of very secondary importance. It is argued—with some justification—that it is of no use in the battle of life to be a good cricketer or a good footballer; that education needs to be more practical and scientific; that it must, in fact, move with the times; and although it may be highly edifying to be able to write good Latin verses, or to read Greek plays at sight, such things have little real value in the twentieth century. Shakespeare, indeed, tells us that he had “small Latin and no Greek,” yet his education does not seem to have materially suffered. It may be of more practical use to a boy to have a thorough knowledge of French and German, for example—a knowledge which may be more easily acquired by a sojourn of two or three years in France or Germany—than the somewhat elementary acquaintance with the Classics which frequently represents the sum total of school education; but to say that the British boy—as boy—would be improved by spending the last two or three years of his school-life abroad is something amounting to sacrilege. It must not be forgotten that at all the big Public Schools there is an adequate “Army Side,” where boys are coached for Woolwich or Sandhurst; here, at least, the teaching is eminently practical for the end in view. There is, moreover, a “Modern” or “Civil Side,” where the theoretical work is often supplemented by practical work in the laboratories and workshops. Those parents, therefore, who cavil at the classical education, have only to put their boys on the Modern side, where the time devoted to Classics is more in proportion to the other subjects.

In the matter of education, the Public Schools labour under this disadvantage, that the parents have frequently not decided what their boy is to be, or what particular line his studies are to follow. Most parents are naturally anxious that the boy should choose his own career for himself, whilst the majority of boys are quite unable to do any such thing, never quite knowing their own mind for more than two days together. But in these days of competition it is essential that a boy should specialise, almost from the beginning; and the sooner his mind is made up, either by himself or by those responsible for him, the better it will be for his studies. It is no uncommon thing for a boy to learn Greek for a few terms, then drop it and go on the Modern side, and subsequently take it up again in order to pass Responsions or Little Go, after which he frequently drops it again. The human faculty of forgetting being far more highly developed than the power of remembering, it is obvious that this sort of “see-saw” learning can have little educational value, but it is through no fault of the Public Schools that such things occur. Most parents are convinced that their boy or boys must have a deal of latent talent, which they consider it the duty of the master to discover; hence, the latter are often faced with the problem of making bricks without straw, and the result is that the boy acquires a smattering of endless subjects without attaining a thorough knowledge of anything. If, on the other hand, the course of a boy’s studies has been decided upon, his mind need not be hampered with useless and imperfectly acquired information, and much valuable time can thus be devoted to the subjects which are necessary for his purpose. There are subjects, it is true, which do not seem to be of any practical value, yet which cannot well be dispensed with. Many boys cry out about geometry, for example, forgetful of the fact that this is a form of mental exercise which, in the majority of cases, must have the most beneficial effect, although they are glad enough to waste hours in the laboratories, doing what is euphemistically called “Practical Chemistry,” a branch of study to which the old adage about “a little knowledge” most emphatically applies. If it is intended that a boy shall follow a scientific career, let him, by all means, make a good use of the excellent laboratories which all the big schools possess; but for the ordinary boy it is advisable to limit his subjects as much as possible. There are subjects with which some boys can never grapple. It is useless, for example, for a boy who has no mathematical capacity to struggle with the difficulties of higher mathematics; and whereas one boy may have the “ear” for foreign languages, another is probably wasting his time in attempting to learn them. It is, therefore, advisable that as few subjects as possible should be made compulsory, and that a boy’s whole energy should be concentrated on those subjects for which he shows some aptitude or which are essential to the end he has in view; and that the system of general education—which theoretically develops the mind by a diversity of study, but which practically leaves the boy a “Jack of all trades, master of none”—should, in certain cases, give way to a more special treatment. This is not meant to advocate a system of cramming, which is foreign to the principles of the Public Schools, but is rather a suggestion that the system of education should be adapted to the somewhat limited capabilities of the average school-boy.

At most Public Schools a full day’s work is about six and a half or seven hours in school, with an hour or an hour and a half for preparation. At some schools, Harrow and Rugby, for example, all the boys are provided with studies, but at the majority of schools these are reserved for the privileged few. At Eton it has been the custom to divide the day’s work up into a variety of short periods, in order that boys may not be compelled to sit at their books for too long a time. This enables boys, for example, to play football in the morning, which is quite a common practice at some of the schools in Scotland, whilst at Winchester and Clifton football is played in the morning on whole school days; but the majority of schools prefer to break the back of the work before dinner. Wednesdays and Saturdays are usually half holidays, though Tuesday and Thursday are “half remedies” at Winchester, whilst Thursday is frequently a whole holiday at Harrow. At a few schools, red-letter Saints’ Days are observed as whole holidays. Sunday at the Public School is not a day of rest. Perhaps with the idea that the only way to keep boys out of mischief is to keep them employed, they do not have a great deal of time to themselves. It is no uncommon thing for boys to have Chapel three and, occasionally, four times on the Sunday, with a scripture lesson in the course of the day, whilst at some schools, where walks are permitted, the boys have frequently to return for “call-over” in the middle of the afternoon. The late headmaster of one of our greatest Public Schools stated that, although he had received many letters referring to the boys’ work and games, he had never had any with reference to religious training. This may have been due to indifference on the part of the parents, but more probably to the certain knowledge that there was no danger of this side of the boy’s education being neglected. Nearly every big school has its chapel. Rugby Chapel has been immortalised by Matthew Arnold, whilst many persons are familiar with the Chapel at Eton. Winchester Chapel, once a gem of Gothic architecture, has been deprived of almost every claim to beauty by the hand of the restorer. In the choir are the eighteen old “Miserere” seats, so contrived that, if the occupant went to sleep, they tilted over and deposited him on the ground. At Charterhouse the Chapel is built of white stone, like the rest of the school. The seats face north and south, and the choir seats are in the centre of the building, which is peculiar. Clifton College is very proud of the reredos in its chapel, which is a very fine mosaic. The first of the “School Laws” at Winchester refers to behaviour in Chapel:—

Deus colitor.—Worship God.

Preces cum pio animi affectu peraguntor.—Say your prayers in a pious frame of mind.

Oculi ne vagantor.—Let not your eyes wander about.

Silentium esto.—Keep silence.

Nihil profanum legitor.—Read nothing profane.

We thus see that the moral training of the boy is the first consideration at the Public School. Carlyle would have us believe that work is the only guarantee of happiness for a man, but for a boy it is different. He must have so many hours enjoyment every day to keep his mind and body in a healthy condition; and so it is that every Public School encourages and fosters those games and pastimes which take such a prominent place in our national life, and which contribute so enormously to the physique of our boys. Space, forbids anything but a passing mention of these games and customs, which play such an important part in the life of the English school-boy. Suffice it to notice that with the increased interest which has been taken in athletics and in the physical development of the boys, more attention has been bestowed upon their feeding and general health, and thus one of the greatest reproaches has been removed from the Public Schools. Nevertheless, the “tuck-shop” still figures large at most big schools, and the average boy prefers the dainties there supplied, however unwholesome, to the simple but wholesome food with which he is now provided. It is, however, worthy of notice that the “tuck-shop” has advanced with the times. At Harrow, hot sausages and boiled eggs are supplied, whilst at Haileybury loaves of bread, with the most delicious fresh butter, were obtainable. Except from the smaller boys, there is less demand for sweets and confections than there used to be. The old idea of large dormitories, with twenty or thirty boys in them, though it has much to recommend it from a disciplinary point of view, has generally given way to smaller rooms with three or four beds in them. Thus if any epidemic arises there is less fear of infection. At Harrow the boys sleep in their studies, the beds and bedsteads being folded back into a kind of cupboard during the day. At some schools boys are allowed to “brew” in their studies, which therefore may be differently regarded as workroom, bedroom, or kitchen, according to the hour of the day or the occupation of the owner.

In conclusion, it may be said that the average parent does not send his or her boy to school simply and solely to learn his books, but to make a man of him. It is this side of Public School education which calls forth our greatest admiration. The constant companionship of other boys, the hardening effect of games and sports, the observance of custom and the discipline of the school, these and other things help to rub the corners off a boy, to “lick him into shape,” and—if he has anything in him—to make a Briton of him. The Public Schools have justified their system of education in the past by the men whom they have educated and sent out into the world; and although they are, for the most part, very conservative bodies, they are doubtless fully alive to the needs of the moment, and will continue to perform their indispensable service to society by producing a class of men of which any nation might well be proud, with possibly, in the future, a little more practical knowledge than the majority of Public School boys have hitherto possessed.

MAGISTER.

Successful Steeplechase Sires.

A steeplechasing season somewhat lacking in interesting features has just about concluded at the time of writing. After the Liverpool Grand National the average racegoer says farewell to National Hunt racing with no poignant feelings of regret; but the season is by no means ended at that point for owners and others immediately concerned in steeplechase horses. The multitudinous Easter gatherings keep them tolerably busy, and jumpers which have gone the dreary round of the small winter meetings are brought out again in April and May in the hope of adding another race or two to the winning record. For the better-class horses there is the Manchester Meeting, with a stake second only in importance to the Grand National, while in Ireland steeplechasing cannot be counted as finished until the Punchestown Races have been run.

This season there was a fairly satisfactory influx of good-class flat-racers to the National Hunt arena, among them being Sandboy, Rydal Head, Amersham, Prince Royal, Vril, Lancashire, Therapia, and Crepuscule. In the long run, the action of the National Hunt Committee rather more than a year ago in raising the value of stakes at meetings claiming several dates on the fixture list, is bound to assist the progress of winter racing. Those who have read previous articles in these pages by the present writer will remember that he has invariably joined sides with those who advocate that no event under National Hunt Rules—with the exception of races at the genuine hunt meetings, claiming only a single day each season—should be of smaller value than £100. The suggestion has invariably encountered a great deal of opposition, the chief objection usually being that only the best enclosure meetings could afford to frame their programmes on these lines, and, consequently, sundry country gatherings that provide sport for many people would be obliged, figuratively speaking, to put up their shutters owing to lack of funds.

In reply to this argument, one can only urge that the steeplechase fixture list is greatly overcrowded, and if some of the less substantial meetings did go to the wall, so much the better for sport. This, I must grant, is a ruthless line of reasoning, but I hold that, if steeplechasing is to prosper, it is necessary to maintain the public interest, and that can never be done by a lot of twopenny-halfpenny meetings, whose importance—such as it is—is purely local. More quality, and fewer leather-flapping meetings, should be the object of all interested in the future of steeplechasing. It is only reasonable to assume that the more races there were worth running for, the more would high-class horses be put to jumping. New owners would take up winter racing with the knowledge that there were plenty of good stakes to be won, and the public would be attracted, in far greater numbers than at present, to see an improved type of steeplechaser and hurdle-racer. The National Hunt Committee have gone some way towards bringing about this improvement by the introduction of the rule regulating the amount of stake-money at certain meetings, and I hope for further legislation in the same direction within the next few years.

RED PRINCE II.

_Photo by W. A. Rouch and Co._]
]

The day may dawn, as I have suggested before, when breeders of blood-stock may consider it worth their while to breed specially for National Hunt racing, but at present there is not a great deal of encouragement to do so. It is interesting, nevertheless, to see how the best steeplechase winners each season are bred, and breeders of hunter stock can always learn something from a study of the pedigrees of prominent performers under National Hunt Rules. They know by this time, for example, that if you want to breed a jumper you are tolerably safe in using a suitable stallion with plenty of Newminster blood in his veins. They know, too, that the descendants of Birdcatcher, particularly through the Stockwell and Sterling channels, can get valuable steeplechasing stock; while the Blacklock blood, so powerful nowadays on the flat, has also claimed its share of cross-country successes, though we have yet to see a stallion of the Galopin tribe sire a Grand National winner. In this connection, it is worthy of note, the Birdcatcher line has claimed a Grand National winner four times during the last decade, namely, Manifesto (twice), Drogheda, and Ambush II., while the Touchstone line has had only two successes, Drumcree and Ascetic’s Silver. But while the Ascetics continue to show such remarkable form in the steeplechases calling for the best qualities of stamina and courage, and the Hacklers keep on winning many races every season, the Newminster line or Touchstone must still be regarded as the best for producing jumping stock.

On May 11th I drew out a list of the first twenty-four winning steeplechase stallions as they stood at that date, the lead being taken by Ascetic and Hackler, and this is how they came out in the male line:—

TOUCHSTONE.—Hackler, Ascetic, Marciòn, Bushey Park, Royal Meath, and Speed (through Newminster); Noble Chieftain (through Scottish Chief); and Victor Wild (through Marsyas); total, 8.

BIRDCATCHER.—Red Prince II., Juggler, and Laveno (through Stockwell); Isinglass, Enthusiast, Ravensbury, and Common (through Sterling); total, 7.

BLACKLOCK.—St. Frusquin, Buckingham, Florizel II., St. Simonmimi, St. Serf, Childwick, and Donovan (all through Galopin); total, 7.

MELBOURNE.—Marco and Wolfs Crag (through Barcaldine); total, 2.

Tracing these two dozen stallions still further back in male line, one perceives that the descendants of Eclipse are no less successful in steeplechasing than in flat-racing. There is not a single Herod among the twenty-four, Eclipse claiming all save two, these exceptions belonging to the Matchem tribe, through Melbourne. The cry for Herod blood is often repeated nowadays, but the majority of our breeders of blood-stock are scarcely likely to desert the Eclipse line in the face of this and much other evidence of its pre-eminence.

When is the last word on Ascetic as a sire of jumpers to be written? For years the praises of the old horse have been sounded in regard to new and repeated triumphs. As far back as August, 1897, the son of Hermit died at the advanced age of twenty-six, yet nine years later we find him still among the most successful steeplechase sires, and represented, moreover, in the Grand National by the first and third horses, with still another of his progeny among the select few who completed the course.

The majority of the Ascetics now in training have won races, all adding their quota in testimony to the marvellous capacity of the horse. During the past season Ascetic claimed ten winners of sixteen races, value £3,253, the chief contributors having been Ascetic’s Silver, Aunt May, Hill of Bree, and Æsthetic Anne. The winner of the Grand National is thoroughbred, and how the statement came to be made a few days ago that he is not so is surprising, seeing that the horse is registered all right in the “General Stud Book.” He has good jumping blood on both sides of the house, being out of Silver Lady by Ben Battle (sire of Ambush II., and grandsire of Manifesto), out of Lady Pitt by Plum Pudding. The combination of Ascetic and Ben Battle is enormously strong, and Mr. P. J. Dunne surely had his eyes on the highest honours of steeplechasing when he put Silver Lady to Ascetic in three successive years.

Unfortunately, Mr. Dunne did not live long enough to see his judicious methods of breeding crowned with the best possible success, but it was in his colours that Ascetic’s Silver won the Irish Grand National in 1904, thus foreshadowing his greater victory at Liverpool.

In the light of subsequent events, Prince Hatzfeldt got an extremely cheap horse in Ascetic’s Silver at 850 guineas at the sale of Mr. Dunne’s stud in October last. He was lucky, indeed, to secure him at that price. I know one sportsman who went from England to the sale with the fixed intention of buying the horse. He was prepared to go to 1,200 guineas for the son of Ascetic, and was so confident of getting him that he took his groom with him to Ireland to bring the horse back. Alas! on the morning of the sale my friend was unfortunate enough to listen to the counsel of one who should have been in a position to know all about the animal in question. “Don’t touch Ascetic’s Silver,” implored this adviser, for reasons he gave. And so the would-be buyer, having got the “straight tip,” would make no higher bid than 500 guineas. It is not difficult to imagine his chagrin when Ascetic’s Silver cantered away with the National; though it is only fair to mention that he had experienced a corresponding feeling of delight on his “escape” when the horse went somewhat amiss at Sandown Park early in February. It is certain that Ascetic’s Silver would have started at a much shorter price than 20 to 1 had it not been for this incident. But it is possible that the mishap at Sandown Park was mainly due to lack of condition, because when he was properly wound up the horse had no trouble in accomplishing the immeasurably more difficult task.

I am not in possession of the complete figures relating to Ascetic’s career at the stud, but the following table should prove interesting, being a record of the doings of his progeny under National Hunt Rules for ten seasons past:—

Season. No. of Winners. No. of Races Won. Value.
£
1896–7 6 12 966
1897–8 10 12 1,094
1896–9 12 25 2,381
1899–1900 18 33 6,099
1900–1 18 29 3,246
1901–2 13 26 4,686
1902–3 19 45 6,985
1903–4 21 45 4,894
1904–5 10 15 1,421
1905–6 10 16 3,253
——— ———————
Total 276 £35,025
——— ———————

Last year a photograph of Hackler was reproduced in these pages, and this time Red Prince II. is presented as being one of the best sires of steeplechase and hunter stock now standing in Ireland. This son of Kendal is out of Empress, who won the Grand National in the hands of Mr. T. Beasley twenty-six years ago, and that he is able to transmit to his progeny much of his mother’s excellence across country is beyond question. Red Prince II., a grand-looking horse himself, gets some handsome stock, and his own important successes in the show-ring have been frequently repeated by his youngsters. A stallion who can win the Croker Challenge Cup at Dublin and sire the winner of the Irish Grand National is one of whom his owner may justifiably be proud, and that Mr. Pallin is proud of Red Prince II. goes without saying. Red Lad has brought him into prominence on this side of the St. George’s Channel by finishing second in the Grand National, and it is not a little curious that the first and second horses for that race this season were both former winners of the Irish Grand National.

Hackler, champion steeplechase stallion in several seasons, was at the head of the list this year until Ascetic’s Silver’s success in the Grand National, value £2,175, gave his sire the advantage. But Hackler has many more of his stock now running than Ascetic, and was not long before he regained the position of supremacy. Hackler claims nearly twice as many winners as any other stallion, and during the past season fifty races have been won by his get, which include Hack Watch, the promising Old Fairyhouse, Wild Fox, Crautacaun (fourth in the Grand National), Conari, Hackett, Armature, Loughmoe and Clonard. I have given some figures showing Ascetic’s work as a successful steeplechase sire, and it is entertaining to compare them with the following table of Hackler’s winnings under National Hunt Rules. The son of Petrarch had his first steeplechase winner in 1897–8, so that the list is shorter by one year than that given of Ascetic:—

Season. No. of Winners. No. of Races Won. Value.
£
1897–8 5 7 900
1898–9 7 12 1,996
1899–1900 17 26 2,843
1900–1 10 24 3,587
1901–2 6 14½ 1,028
1902–3 16 29 2,436
1903–4 21 32 2,332
1904–5 23 45½ 2,863
1905–6 19 50 3,427
——— ———————
Total 240 £21,412
——— ———————

Isinglass, who was at the head of the stallions on the flat last year, takes a leading place among the steeplechase sires, Leviathan having been by a long way the best winner for this magnificent thoroughbred. Marciòn, too, ranks high on the list by virtue of Theodocion’s success in the valuable Lancashire Handicap Steeplechase. Enthusiast, for many seasons well represented on the steeplechase list, comes close behind Isinglass. Sleep, Dermot Asthore, Dathi, Agony, and Dependence have been the Irish horse’s best representatives. Noble Chieftain, who stands now in the south of Ireland, has been brought to the front by the smart work of his son Sachem; whilst Marco, although lacking the assistance of Mark Time, has done well with Amersham, Marcova and Black Mark.

ARTHUR W. COATEN.

The Billiard-Cue.

The cue plays such an important part in the game of billiards that no excuse need be made for discussing briefly, but fully, its essential points. Every amateur who takes more than a passing interest in the game should possess a cue, or cues, of his own, since the habitual use of a well-made, well-balanced cue goes far to engender the confidence which is so desirable an attribute of the billiard player.

First of all, the player should select an English hand-made cue. In a long article which appeared in the _World of Billiards_, February 7th, 1906, to which readers may be referred, the details of cue manufacture were fully explained by the present writer. Here it will suffice to point out a simple, yet infallible, method of distinguishing at a glance an English hand-made cue from the foreign machine-made article. In the English cue the ebony “points,” where they dovetail into the ash shaft, are _slightly rounded_, whilst in the French machine-made cue they run to a _fine, sharp_ point (fig. 1).

For the shaft of the cue no wood is better than good English ash, which must be naturally, not artificially, seasoned. This shaft, which should be stiff, yet full of vibration, should be as “true” and straight as possible, and _straight in the grain_.

The length of the cue, including the tip, should not be less than 4 ft. 8 in., nor need it, even for very tall men, exceed 4 ft. 10 in. Nineteen men out of twenty will be best suited by a cue of from 4 ft. 8½ in. to 4 ft. 9½ in. in length, 4 ft. 9 in., as given by so many writers on billiards, being the best average length for the cue. When wear and tear has made the cue too short, it should be sent to a good firm of billiard-table makers to be “spliced,” particulars of the length and size of tip required being given.

The size of the cue-tip is another nice point. Cue-tips (fig. 2) are made in five sizes, measuring respectively 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 millimetres in diameter.[15] A very fine tip is altogether a mistake, and one of from 10 to 12 mm. is recommended, 11 mm. (about 7/16 in.) giving an ideal tip. To affix the cue-tip, a process fully described in the writer’s book, “Hints on Billiards,” and other works, cue cement, liquid glue, or wafers, which last are handy and easily used, may be employed. Glass-paper, it may be added, should never be used to clean the cue, or to “rough up” the surface of the cue-tip, whilst coarse sand-paper should never be seen in a billiard-room. The cue, when it needs cleaning, should be well rubbed, first with a damp cloth, and then, to polish it, with a dry one. The best way, again, of preparing a new tip for play, or of renovating an old _smooth_ one, is to tap it well with a _fine, heavy_ file; a _rough_ file would tear the upper leather all to pieces.

The ideal weight for a cue is 15½ oz., but a player may suit his own fancy in the matter within an ounce or so, either way, of this weight, whilst a cue of 14 oz. or 14½ oz. is heavy enough for a lady.

In connection with cues chalk may find appropriate mention, and no better chalk can be obtained than Spinks’ green chalk, sold by Messrs. Burroughes and Watts. This firm may, in particular, be mentioned as turning out a first-rate billiard cue, and they put plenty of wood into their cues in just the right place, viz., just above the butt.