SPOTS AND BLOTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1067, 6 May 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPOTS AND BLOTS.

"RISING FIVE," " Carrlago Horses.—For sale, the property of a gentleman going abroad, a capital pair of chestnut horses, 15.2. Rising five. Splendid action ; perfectly quiet in harness. Can 1 bo Boon at 14 Du Bias Mows, Doubty street, "Look at that, dear," said my wife; " won't thoso bo tho very thing?" "Looks promising," I replied. ''Perfectly quiet in harness, ami-splendid action, dear; that sounds well. I don't liko skittish horses; but what docs rising fivo mean ?"

That is their age, of course Property of a gentleman going abroad." " And of course ho would be ready to part With them at a sacrifice." "Poor man, "I said. " I don't sec why you should call him poor man, dear. Ho ought to be very glad to find someone, like ourselves, ready to take tho horses off his hands, Aud you will buy them, won't yon, dear?" she said, coaxingly. "All depends, my dear. If they really are a capital pair of horses, and the price is moderate, I shall most likoly become tho purchaser,"

Yes, that's right, There's a dear good boy; aud of course they aro sure to be all right, as tho gentleman is parting with them because he is goiug abroad," • It will bo seen from tho above that the lady who honored me with her hand is dccidedly unworldly, and ready to tako upon trust,_ in her innocence, almost everything that is said, Some people would cousider it a failing; I do not, for there is something abhorrent to me in awomanwhois irritatingly sharp and clover, as people call it, the cleverness too often being a low kindly of worldly cunning, She would have taken tho horses, if they had pleased her eye, entirely upon the advertiser's recommendation, and if I had afterwards found fault, she would undoubtedly havo replied, "But how could I think any ono would bo wicked enough to tell such dreadful stories-and in an advertisement, too?"

• For my own part, I am sorry to.say that I have found out how ready people are to tell exceedingly wicked stories in advertisements, especially about horses, so that it was with nnything but a sanguine feeling that I set off that morning for the address whore the horses were to he seen.

Doubty street I well knew. It is one of those well-built old streets that once were fashionable and great-regular Koyal streets Tthat the sea of fashion has left to travel far away, and leave dry and hopeless to quite another class of occupiers, Still, many highly respectable, old-fashioned folks live in such Streets as Doubty, and keep their carriages, for there is an excellent mows behind, where the cissing of grooms and the stamping of horses cau be heard, with occasional hollowBounding blows and orders to "hold up" aud "come over," and the like. It was quite probable that a gentleman might be going abroad and wish to part with his horses, which animals might be very good m their way, and quite worth my while to buy ,• for horses with good characters and clean bills of health are worth the notice of any one who has a purchasing idea.

Doubty street looked better than I expected to find it. Dozens of gentlemen might havo boon living there, even if there were a good many cards in tho windows about apartments to let, There was a piano-organ at one end, on wheels, and a regular uncharitable grinderorgan at the other end, not on wheels, but resting on a pad upon an Italian gentleman's knee. There was a respectable look about the areas, aud the occupants of the houses did not throw cabbage-leaves aud those from tho tea-pot into the road. I soon found the mews, Yes, Du Bias Mews, where I wanted No. 14, aud crossing the road, I walked dowir the length of a house and its hack yards, and then, turning at right angles, found myself in what had once been a first-class mews, and was still a very respectable-looking placo, There were the coach-house and stable doors, right and left; the bricked-up manure receptacles, the groom's or coachman's rooms over tho stables, some with clothes hanging out to dry, others with neat little fences aud gates in front of the windows, behind which bloomed petunias and geraniums, or nasturtiums and canari-1 ensis ran and trailed as luxuriantly as if this I were not West-central London. At one win. dow there were strings tied from the sill to far above, and scarlet runners curled round ! them and thrust out brilliant blossoms, or' hung long beans from the fragile stems, front of one coach-house a man was washing a carriage with a wheel raised a few inches from tho stones, so that he could spin it round, and, after removing the mud, throw pailsful of water on the wheel, which water flew off in spray, like a wet Catharine wheel' that sparkled in tho sun. By another stable, a good-looking horse | was tied up with its head close to a ring in tho wall, what time a groom made it wince, and kick, and whinny as he scraped it with that exceedingly unpleasant modern strigil I known a currycomb, ! Yes; the surroundings of Da Bias Mews I were satisfactory enough, and if one end was I Occupied by a cab proprietor, who evidently had at least a dozen cabs, why it was not j surprising, for this was not a fashionable Belgravian place, Just then I heard a step, and a man passed me with a bit of straw in his mouth, He woro a drab small clothes and gaiters to match, a neat single-breasted frock coat of the regular Oxford mixture, buttoned up to his chin, beneath which was a scrupulously neat white tie, worn a la stable, and secured with a silver horse-shoe pin, Tho plated buttons bore a crest of a spur with wings, aud there was the regulation cockade in his hat, " Decidedly a respectable-looking groom," I thought, as the keen, dark man passed on, looking "ossy" both in tho cut of his hair and the trim of his narrow strips of whiskers, his upper lip aud chin having evidently been but recently shaven, The man walked right on, opened a stable door on my left, and went in aud closed it sharply behind him, while, not seeing the number I wanted, I walked up to the end of tho mews, counting the numbers, " Why, I shouldn't wonder if that is No, 14 where the groom went in," I said to myself, and turning back with something like a hopeful feeling that this might be the case, I re-noted tho numbors, and found that though there was nothing to indicate tho fact, this really must be No, 14,

There was a respectability and tidiness about the place that encouraged me, and lulled my suspicions as I knocked at the door with the handle of my umbrella; and as I waited I heard the familiar rattle of a horse's bead-stall, and the stamp of a hoof, while thc-rcgular odour of ammonia scented the air, There was no reply, so I knocked again, and then I heard steps, and the man I had seen enter, but minus coat and vest, and with his braces slipped off his shoulders and Blurt-sleeves rolled up, came to tho door. "Is this No, 14?" I said.

_ "Yes, sir," said the man, looking at mo in a curious searching way, which took me in from tho top of my hat to the solos of ray boots,) '

"I came in consequence of an advertise' mentinthe Times," 1 mid.

1 ' Advertisement— Times ?" ho said, starting j aud I folt disappointed, for it was evidont that I had come to tho wrong plaoo, "Yes j about a gontleman,wishing to dispose of a pair of horses. Enquire here." "Well, I aw blest," exclaimed the man. " It's a ram un, that it is."

" What, have I come to tho wrong place?" I said. '

"Well, no, sir j I don't know as you've oomo to the wrong place, but it's a rum un, that it is."

"Why?" I said, smiling. "Why, him a goiug ou like that," continued the man in an injured tone, "Tho guvnor never knows his own mind for ton minutes together. Ony lars week ho says to me, ho says, 'I shan't ndvortise the osses no mora, Thomas,' he says, 'II shall keop 'em,' ' I'm very glad on it, sir,' I 1 says,' for it's a pity to sell 'cm, and their keop won't como to such a deal while you'ro away,' ' I don't like osscs to be a eating of their heads off with nothing to go,'he says; and then he says again as he shan't sell 'cm, and goes and 'fa over again."

"You have advertised the horses before, then," 1 said, sharply, "Yes, sir, the governor did, and two gents came to sco 'em, and a horse dealer; andthoy wouldn't none of 'emgive the guvnor's figure, and they comes here a bullying and as nasty as could bo," continued the man, excitedly, " and swears as the osses wasn't sound, and finds faults in'cm till I got so mad I could ha' kicked 'em out o' the stable. The guvnor's making a. mistake, that's about what he's doing, and so I told him, and nearly got sacked for my pains," " Been with him long ?" I said, casually, " Close upon four year, sir, aud ho aint a bad sort; trusts mo with everything, buying corn and selling the horses, and all; but he's got such a horful temper, you dursent hardly say a word to him." "Got a temper, has ho?" "Well, ouljrsometimes, sir, You seo, he was in the Crimea, and he got bayonettcd, and ho hasn't been well since," "Officer, eh?"

" Yes, sir, captain; and, bless yer 'art, ho don't want osses, only he likes to keep 'em, and if I didn't keep 'em protty low and exercise 'cm well, they'd get that fat they couldn't move,"

" Well, I can see them, I suppose ?" "Oh, yes, sir, you can see'em, of course, I'm only a servant, and has to obey orders," "And what] are your orders?" I said sharply,

" To sell the chestnuts, sir, if I could get a good home for 'em, but it's a pity, that it

As he spoke he drew back for mo to enter, and closed the door after me, when I found myself in a scrupulously clean, old-fashioned stable, with the well-brushedstones sprinkled with red sand, A half door admitted us into the stable proper, where two stalls out of four were occupied, and I noticed that tho straw was beautifully clean, and the edge plaited, so as to give the place a particularly neat appearance. Over the two occupied stalls were tablets of wood painted stone colour, and upon these in black letters were the names—

"Sultan," | "Uncle Sam." evidently owned by the favoured chestnuts. " There they are. sir," said the man, going up to one, unbuckling its roller, drawing off that and the horse-cloth together, and then patting and smoothing the animal's satin coat, arid afterwards performing tho same operation upon the other, while the beast laid its ears flat, and mado an attempt to hito him.

" Pooty creature," he said, laughing, " ho is as full of play as a kitten. Lor' bless you, they haven't done a honest day's work for months, sir, that they haiut. It's a pity, too." The man seemed to be thoroughly proud of the horses, holding the cloths over his left arm, and using his right hand to smooth them here and there,' drawing back every now and then to admire them; .

" Picters, ain't they, sir?" ho said at last, turning to mo, \ " Yes, a very handsome pair," I said, as I made a critical examination of the pretty little chestnuts, which were admirably matched, the only striking blemish being that one of them had what is called a "rat tail," that is, almost bare of hair instead of being long and flowing like its fellow's, »

" Yes, that is a fault, sir," said tho groom, laughing, and taking a false tail from the wall; " but when he's in harness we alius put him on this here, and no one knows the difference, It's a pity, sir, but he's a deal the best oss o' tho two."

"And what other faults have they?" I said, plumply.

The man looked at me searchingly. "Lookyo here, sir," he said; "do you mean buying'em ?" "I don't quite know," I replied, "You don't want them to go." "Well, sir, p'r'aps I don't; but if the gent as buys 'em behaves hansome to me, I won't crab' the sale, but tell you just what's wrong," " And what do you call handsome ?" I said, bluntly, " Well, sir, I think I ought to havo the odd shillings; in fact tho governor hinted as much,"

" What is the price then ?" I asked. "Hundred and fifty—guineas—sir. No more and no less, and so I tell you, ' I shall ho content with the pounds, Thomas/ the guvnor says, 'and you can have tho odd shillings; and if nobody will give that for 'em, why let 'em stop in the stables.'" "Hundred and fifty guineas," I said, going over the horses pretty carefully. "It's rather a long price," "Long price," said the man, in a contemptuous tone, "why if they were sent to Tatt'sall's 'they'd fetch two hundred, sir. Look at'em,"

_ I was looking at them carefully all tho time, and had to look sharp to avoid being bitten or kicked,

" Lor' a mussy, 'ow playful they do get," said the groom, grinning, "Yes, Doing nothing, I suppose," I replied,

"Yes, sir, that's it, I havo to keep'em pretty low, I can toll you." "And what are their faults ?"

" Faults, sir ? Well, I don't know, of anything of what some folks calls faults, That off-side un is a bit playful in the stable, and gets nibbling at you a bit sometimes, and this here one, Sultan, likes to kick the stall a bit; but they goes like lambs in harness, and you might drive 'em with a bit of silk." " But are they sound ?" I asked. "Sound, sir? There ain't a sounder pair in London, Look at 'em; there's heads. Why, if you was to see'em harnessed and trotting, you'd say it was as pooty a picter as ever you came across in your life, and as to matching, there's nothing agen either of 'em 'cept that there white slashing on Uncle Sam's off hind leg." "Oh,-that's nothing," I said, "Nothing? I should think not, Idou't want you to buy'em, sir; but if you want to buy a pair of beauties, here's your chance, sir. Tho guv'nor give two hundred for 'em —gnincas,"

The man watched me curiously as I passed my hand down the horses' legs, looked at

their teeth, and wont through the customary performance, even to- giviug each one a nip in the wind-pipe, a course of examination that did not seem to afford my companion much satisfaction. '

■ ."I told thoguv'nor ho'd better keep ,'om," ho said; '! but he's that hobstinifc he mil do as'ho likes, and that's why he's advertised 'em,"

"And where is your master?" I said, still continuing my critical examination of the horses,

. "Let's seo; what's tho name o' tho place?" said tho man, scratching his head', '' Somewhere in Franco, Is there a place called Pow, or Paw, or some such name as that?"

"Pau?" I suggested, "That's him, sir—that's it, Ho drinks some kind o' water .there as he .thinks does him good, and when ho's away I do most as Hike." . '

"Aud if I bought tho horses, whom should ipnyf- ■ " You'd have to pay mo, sir, aforo a hoof went out o' tho place," said the man, sharply, " Fi' pound notes and sovereigns, for tho governor said I wasn't to take no cheques, But you can tako 'em or leave 'cm, sir, It won't hurt him keeping on 'em. There aint a bettor pair o' chestnuts in London, that there aint."

As he spoke ho' carefully readjusted their cloths, and buckled on their rollers, smoothing their manes, and patting them as if they were the best of friends, though I saw Undo Sam raise a leg as if to kick, should a chance present itself, and Sultan rolled ono eye in a particularly ugly style. "It's take 'em or leave 'em, sir,"- tho man said at last, "They're dirt cheap at tho money."

" A hundred and fifty, oh?" I said, "Yes, sir, guineas; or I tell you what, if you like to give me a fiver, sir, you can have 'em for the pounds, What do you say ?" "Well," I replied, "as at tho very out. side thoy are worth fifteen pounds a piece for cab-horses, I don't think I shall buy them," "What?" ho shouted, with his whole aspect changing. "They are a pair of the best-looking screws I've seen for a long time, my man, I said, coolly; "and tho get-up ia excellent, but if I buy horses I should like them to ataud straight on their forelegs, and to be without spavins, Look at that one's books —that broken-winded fellow; and look at this beast; why, he'd kick a trap to pieces the first timo he was put in harness, You'vo dressed him up well; but'he's marked