Snyder at the Races.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 223, 17 February 1874, Page 7

Snyder at the Races.

“ Did I go to th e races ?” Well, of course T did. What did I think of them, eh?” Well, that is a question Mr Snyder 'hi not going to answer. He backed two or three of the horses and won, and the law savs no man is'bound _ to criminate himself. When I go to' races it is not to see the running, but to get a quiet glimpse of a bit of human nature as it comes out on the surface. On tliis occasion I beheld with surpassing admiration that lovely attribute of woman—her wonder ful power of patience and quiet endtirance.' 1 saw two hundred and fifty females with at least five thousand pounds’ worth of drapery and millinery on them sit for five long hours on a grand stand in a roasting sun, for which they.were rewarded with four and a half iiimutes’ racing, and not a word of complaint did 1 hear one.- of these lovely beings utter. They only examined themselves from time to time as well as they could without a toiletteglass, feeling whether the curls and horse-

tails we.ro holding on to their moorings, and ascertaining that their skirts were not getting crumpled, and, their panniers all there and nothing wanting. Talking about patience, • why the young' lady who entered intp that lineofbuainessßittingpn t amppu)nentci)uldn’t be compared tqmy ftwo,,hundred .and fifty’ girls sitftpg on a grand stand for five hours while . they, watched the sun converting, the grass into hay. There was, however, a beautiful little episode occurring at the rear of the grand stand, which to me was as refreshing as is iced lemonade with the slightest dash of Martell. to tone down the acidity on a blazing day when the sun is at the meridian. There were three young girls, with com-

plexions where the rose tints faded into the lillies so lovely that it was hard to say where the ro?es ended and the lillies usurped their places, and these were engaged, heart and soul, body and mind, in getting up sweepstakes —half-crown sweepstakes you know — and weren’t the men mad to get into these sweeps, and one or other of these sylphs in light gossamer attire held the tickets to be drawn out of such a coquette of a hat and trimmings, and when the race came off didn’t they get excited, and crane over the heads and shoulders of those before them to see which horses were leading.- Why. their, hearts were in their mouths, and their mouths had such lips that made one—well, don’t let ns dwell on it, there’s always a limit to human forbearance. And when the race was over, the lovely holders of the stakes were for handing over the money to the winners, but like

gallant men as they were they refused to take it, saying it was to be spent on gloves, and what not. And so the races went on, and more sweeps were got up, and the men stdl refused to take their winnings, and the happiness of the 250 women in £SOOO worth of mercery and millinery, boiled down, would not equal by a tenth the joybuSness of those three nymphs.

And did they spend the stakes in gloves and feminine finery ?” Not a hit of it ! Before the last race was over,the Graces coaxed us (I was of the happy ones) into the luncheon room, and there treated us to iced champagne j until the whole of the stakes were used up. | There never was such champagne, nor snob ! girls, nor so much innocent fun and laughter ; j and I was just frantic to seize one of the j three—it didn’t matter which—and take her i under my arms, run off with her to some re-' i tired hermit in the dale, with power to celej urate marriages, and go and dwell with her in la lonely hamlet in a sequestered■ spot in a | romantic valley near to a crystal stream or a purling brook, and live there happy ever afterwards. And then the thought struck me that in those lovely moss-grown spots there’s no pay-day on Saturdays, and so J | cooled down and thought better of it, Now • I wish to ask some of my. Irish friends—and | 1 have a few whom I am very proud of—if ! they can tell me what country these “.cushla imachrees” hailed from?