Carbine in England.

Hastings Standard, Issue 67, 14 July 1896, Page 4

Carbine in England.

[By Javelin.] " Heigho! It's deuced cold ! I suppose no nig from 1: 5 downwards was ever belter cl ">»iu "I or more housed than I am, but hang me if I can get warn! ! " Why the dickens can't they get the sun to shine here like it used to at Bacchus Marsh '? " Talking of the Marsh, I wonder what has become of my first love, little Fishwife. Surrounded as I am by all these swell fillies, and much as it amuses me to twig how their attention to me makes that old masher St. Simon over there get his dander up, I often think of how I used to spoon with little Fishwife by the dear old Lerderdorg Creek. " I wish I could drop in for an hour now and have a pitch with Calma or chad'old Mentor again like I used to about winning my Cup with 800) more than he carried, and cutting it out two and a half seconds quicker. " ' Oh! Give it a rest-,' he used to say. ' You didn't have, like I had, to beat a horse that jolly near won both Cups V " What a handsome, strapping fellow that Mentor was to be sure, and a witty beggar too! Must have inherited* it from his sire, for I've heard thai—what d'yon call that chap again that us;d to jump hurdles?— Tim, Tim something! Oh 1 Yes! Tim Swiveller —was jn-t v.me. " That was a deuced funny thing Tim said on the track the morning after they did bun out of that Caulfieid Cup he won ! " He heard the old man tell young John that they had been robbed of the Cap on the e*,idt"ict» of a photograph, and th it one of the Y.R.C. committee had made th< on'," 1 ". d remark that the ' appiratu- couldn't lie.' • I'.-, -«ay-! Tim to Fortunatns, ' pity it am t alive ; it 'ud make a.s '"v.-ird ! ' Yes, tho>e Sv.-ivellers have got a bit cf wit. I remember n:v d.>y when old Meiuor had been gassing about how hj" stalk d off Tradition I asked him whether he dtdn t think giving Highh rn -Vilb. and waltzing away from htm in record tun> wa- g.xrl enough, he got even on me by retorting. 4 Oh, well, it "ud haw be -a i. terrible di<gracv to haw been downed by a gelding :' " Of co'ir-e, the beggar -a a-; alluding to me mi-sing the Derby when that crock of White's, that they found out afterwards had a broken leg, got home. So old Menter scored, and I had to change the subject. " He was a good jolly old pal though, that same Menter with all his chaff, and very few people knew what a good horse he was. " With his blood and bone he ought to get something good, but, Lord, they're such a mm lot in Australia—want the service of a swell stallion for about a fiver—that I shouldn't wonder if he's about somewhere in the back blocks amongst a lot of half bred mares ! " Talking about stud fees, I wonder what they thought in Australia when they heard ol my filling for three years at 200 guineas as soon as the duke announced that my services were open to the public ? " I'll bet that made old Mai;:a and Trenton sit up, and Archie Yuiile's mouth water ! How would he like to have me and his saintly nibs in the next box there to advertise for a season or two at our present fees ? " There's no mistake this is a great country, for all its fogs by day and dews by night, that touch your marrow up a bit. " Fancy me filled for three vears at 200 guineas, and Yengea-nce, that won the front half of our ' two cups double ' In *9B, going begging out in Australia at a fiver ! " Hello ! Here comes St. Simon ! Any odds in the world he's going down to admire his reflection in the pond I That fellow 'll die of vanity if he doesn't watch it! " Good morning, Sim ! Knew he . wouldn't answer ! He gets as savage as a native cat when I call him ! Sim!' "If he only knew it, it's because he's such a Johnny that I like to take him down a peg ! A regular old beau ! • 4 1 heard him say to old Daddy Donovan the other morning (now he is a good sort; no marmalade about old Donovan), ' Hang that Australian fellah, Revolvah or whatever they call him. Fancy, haw, his infernal impertinence addressing me, ME, as " Sim," as though I belonged to Barney Barnato, instead of to Her Majesty's Mastah of the Horse, doneherknow ! I shall have to sit on the fellah ! ' " Yes ! He's a terrible old masher St- Simon, but I must confess he has something to be proud of, for he's as handsome as paint, as Mark Gawen remarked when he was fixing up my picture to be sent to the Y.R.C. the other day (that reminds me, I wonder how old Mites is getting on; he was not a bad sort). " * Jack, old' roan,' Mark said, ' I J knew you in our own country, and I'll make you look as big a toff as possible, but you know there's a difference between a Lord Mayor and a peer, and dash me if I can torn you out such an aristocrat as St. Simon, much ag I'd like to,!' " Mark is pretty plain spoken, and as hes a good judge, I suppose I </.< suffer a bit by comparison in the matter of quality! " But, by Jove, if I'd have met old Svengab over there—that's what I'll call him in future if he puts on any more side—on the track before I split my hoof I'd have made him look both ways for Sunday, with all bis unbeaten record ! V he'd been in my Melbourne Cup or in either of my two Sydney Cups or Champions I'd have taught him something about' Revolvah,' &s he has the cheek to call me, gammoning he can't semember my proper name. feftW thfflfcng his Grace won't n i8 * oQ ° *

Carnage to just ' miss the bus' like they did ! " There's no n;i.-i'.=.ko Portland ha 3 treated me well ami deserves to be repaid, but somehow or other nobody can replace the old bos--;. " l>y -Jove, I honestly believe that and Walter and Hick—poor old Mick, v.'lnt a. hor.se;nan he was, with hands as light as a girl's and a heart as soft as a child's—used to doubt whether even Eclipse was my equal! " I shall never forget how the guv'nor used to beam on me when I waiped np to the weighing yard after dishing Mckr-s or taking the vanity out of some of those 2-year-olds. " I can see him now standing on those steps at Flemington when I waltzed home with lOst 51b in the Cup of 1390, and made him the proudest man in Australia. " There's no mistake that was a good go, and there's nobody to this day, not even Bob Rammage, knows how jolly easily I won it. " Why, down at the three furlongs post on the turn I had 'em all dead to the world, and my only trouble was because I knew there was nothing able to bring me home and show the people something worth looking at. " Ah i Well ! Those days have gone for ever but it's pleasant "to reflect on them. " Honored as I am by princes and peers, I'd give something to once again rub my nose against Donald Wallace's shoulder, or to see old Walter come into the box and take off his blue specs, to look me over like he used to do. " But I've something still to live for, and that is the 3-vear-old season of 1900. '• I can fancy what they'll say in Australia if a Carbine colt wins" the Derby, and how would they clip my noble St. Simon's comb ! " Look at the conceited old dandy prancing round that yard as if he thought all the world was looking; at him ! '' They've just heard from Epsom that Persimmon and St. Frusquin have run first and second for the Derby, and it's made the beggar vainer than ever. '' He was had enough after Frusquin v, on the Two Thousand, but now th f i "II be no holding him. If one of *em home in the Lr-ger, which look:-. 4 Cert.', I -upp >se old Svengali will h,i\c to be spoken to by special invitation ! "All right, my aristocratic friend; you've snubbed me a bit since I came to Welbeck, but, by the soul of Dan O'Brien, if we both live until 1900 you'll have to play second fiddle here when one of my young 'uns pulls the.triple crown ! "