River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-08-15
THE ENGLISH pgReY.
Max o'ReIrs Account of His First Visit TO
the EPSON Downs.


Max O'ReIIs Account of His First Visit to
the EPSON Downs.
Though have spent sixteen years
in England, / have never seen the
Derby until to-day. Can there be in
the whole world such dirty. boot.
ing. swearing. brazen-throated, foul
mouthed crowd to be seen? And / am
told that these things are vastly i'm
proved. and the scenes to be witnessed
to-day are no match for the Derbys OF
Aud Lang Syne! And what a road
From Westminster we drove over a
route strewn thick with bills. paper
debris, advertisements of fusees. ad-
vertisements of the Gospel tent to be
found on the course, with orange peel
ings. cocoanut shells. empty bottles.
The only redeeming feature in the
whole thing seemed to me the treat
ment of horses, the care with which
they were driven, and at intervals,
along the road down, watered and re-
freshed. On the course | saw a man,
furiously driving and whipping poor
horse which had unfortunately got
into his company, quite set upon by
an indignant crowd that looked
likely to make very good anna
teur r. S. +. A. The workingman is
no doubt better aware than any one
who talks to him of humanity to his
horse that it pays to treat the animal
well. Looking at the way in which he
is often found treating his wife, the
extra gentleness extended to Dobbiu
may arise from shire wdness. Or is II
something else? "a fellow-feelina
makes us wondrous kind. In the
carts. cars, sh;lndrydans that i passed
on the road, there were three distinct
types of face-the bulldog, the fish
and the sheep. What an unlovely com.
pany occupied each cart, with its layer
or two of men in front, and all The
women (the females, should rather
say) slowed away behind in true
British fashion.
Where there was an apparent alb
sence of any linen on the persons OF
the men, there was an extra display OF
ostrich feathers on the wonderful hats
of the women. As the various vehicles
discharged their cargoes some truly
amazing toilets that had been blushing
comparatively unseen in the carts on
the way down, now joined in the gen.
eral Earring and swearing. One, noted
carefully in detail, will give an idea o.
many, though doubt if it could have
been outdone on the whole course.
Dress of sapphire blue silk, GOV.
cred to the waist with beaded frills, q
gigantic hat of crimson velvet, sur.
rounded by a wide band of gold lace.
and further adorned with long and
broad encircling plume of q dazzling
apple-green hue. The finishing touch
was put to this attire by train Of
black lace. which started from the
waist, and trailed long yard behind
its wearer.
just after witnessing the check in
the career of the Jehu whom the CROWD
took in hand for lashing the horse. J
stumbled upon female fight Two
enraged creatures, with fine feathers
and foul tongues, were in the thick of g
quarrel which they evidently intended
to settle on the spot. No interference
here. On the contrary, hearty encour.
aging cries from the male students OF
go it. old gal; I'll old yer at" an6
other evidences Of the absence of any
intention to spoil sport.
The main business of the day on the
Downs is evidently eating. drinking
and getting photographed. l viii.
venture to doubt whether half of the
people who flock to EPSON on Derby
day see a horse race. Horse play
there was, of course, plenty.
1t is not an invariable accom-.
paniment of every British holiday
making in which the masses take
part? On the whole, however, it must
be admitted that it was a good-tem-
pered crowd, rough and rowdy, but
not riotous; ridiculous and dirty, but
with here and there a diverting touch,
such as the impromptu foot bath of an
individual who removed the dust from
his boots by calmly swilling pail oil
water over them. To fun pure and
simple the nearest approach seemed to
be the wearing of big bonnet by a
man.
How the coclkney loves holiday,
and how he will toll at taking iti II
would be hard TO say wherein the
pleasure of the Derby day for the six
fellows whom | noted going down with
a handcart l say with, for only foui
of them were upon it. No. 5 was in the
shafts, and No. 6 pushed behind.
Where they had joined the stream
can not of course say, but when we
passed them they were on the Epson
side of footing, and with baskets on
board were clearly enough bound for
the course, If not for the grand stand.
To one who goes to mingle in the
crowd and not to look on from the
grand stand. the impression left is not
u pleasant or cheerful one. l returned
home feeling that if horse racing was
instituted for the improvement of the
equine race, it has certainly not con
duced much to the improvement of the
human one. Boston Herald.