The English Derby.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 77, 4 March 1885, Page 4

The English Derby.

We have heard of an old gentleman who used to point a moral m this way. He took his children and placed them on an eminence whence they commanded a view of the thousands that flocked annually to the English Derby. "■There," he would say, "is Britain going to the races."" All sorts and conditions of men and women m all sorts and conditions of attire, but all wearing pleasant faces, or, as Mark Tapley would say, looking "jolly." Then the old gentleman would take his children to the Tower, the Crystal Palace, the Museum, and otherplaces of interest; i while away the day, m fact till the races were over. Then to the hill again. " There,"" my children, "you see Britain returning from the races." A change had come over the pleasant; faces. The yells and stammerings of the drunken sportsmen were the only indications of "jollity." Here and there could be seen a bright countenance— the owner had won; but these were only specs m. the ocean of, pale dejected faces. "There!" continued the old gentleman, "what do you think of a sport that can so degrade humanity." i"hen the crowd would be swallowed up m the intricate streets of London. Some . would seek out the nearest bridge and plunge into the Thames, poison, the razor, the rope., or the lunatic asylum would finish ; the day's work for others. .