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and hunting, and horse-racing, do so tor the self
same reason.
" He who does not smoke," said the sag^
"has known no great sorrow." Similarly, it
may be urged that he who never joins in a
friendly glass has known no great joy. Do we
express our unfeigned joy and thankfulness for
having a great and good Queen to reign over us
by toasting her in flat soda-water ? Forbid the
deed ! W^hen our sons return from the midst of
many and great dangers, from the battle-field,
the raging deep, or the land of savages, do we
express our delight by putting the kettle on to
boil ? Avaunt ! I have known a man who had
won ,^27,000 on a certain Wednesday at Ascot,
dine that same night olF a chump chop, chips,
and a bottle of ginger-beer, at a coffee-house no
great distance from Fleet Street. And he gave
the waitress one penny for herself, and counselled
her not to "get gamblin'" with it. But
amongst my own personal friends, when the
fancied horse catches the eye of the judge, there
is revelry ; and who shall say that they sin there
by ? I do not believe in the man who takes his
winnings sadly—or at all events impassively. " A
shout, and a drink, and then sit down and write
about it," is the programme pursued by a journal
istic friend; and although I donot always " write
about it," 'tis much the same programme pursued
by myself. Nor do we rejoice for the sole reason
that we have got the better of somebody else.
For, alas ! the balance at the end of theyear is far
too often in favour of that " somebody else."
" On the question of the prohibition of the