Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-11-02
half crown could back favorlte for

half crown could back favorite for
any great race. E.
The betting lists have been put down
by successive acts of Parliament and the
severity of the magistrates of the mo
tropolis; to great extent they still
exist like Illicit stills. Ready-money
betting has also been made illegal.
But the small fry of "boOkmakers"
for the most part "welshers" q. e. peo-
pie who never pay, except like Pistol,
on compulsory are still numerous, and
still pursue their wretched trade under
difficulties, hunted from public houses
to the parks, from the parks to the
waste lands of the city, from the waste
lands to quiet lanes, and there continu-
ally made to "mOve on. They still
swarm like locusts around the gate of
the betting rings and reap a scanty sill
yer harvest from a never-Ceaslng crop
of fools at once credulous and greedy.
The legislature has not thought fit and
does not seem likely to interfere with
the branch of the wagering procession
which still nourishes in clubs and sub
scrlption-rooms to minister to the de-
mands of the wealthy for this essential
ly British form of gambling.
The following extracts from the diary
of Charles GreviIIe, an accomplished
man, descended from noble blood, but
who made racing gambling the business
of his life, speaks the tue voice of IA
man, "who, to gamble, gave up what
was meant for mankind"
"June llth, 1893. At a place called
Buckherst, for Ascot races. Racing all
the morning, then eating, drinking and
play at night | may say, with more
truth than anybody, 'cicieo meiiord pro-
boque, deteriord seqtor.' lie who wastes
his early years in horse racing, and all
sorts of dleness, figuring away among
the foolish, must be content to play an
inferior part among the learned and
wise.
"When read such books as the Life
of Macintosh, and see what other men
have been, how they have read and
thought, sort of despair comes over
me, deep bitter sensation of regret 'for
time misspent and talents misapplied'
not the less bitter with being coupled
with hopelessness of remedial indus.
try. and of doing better things.
"All last week at EPSON, and now,
thank God, these races are over. | have
had all the trouble and excitement aud
worry, and have neither won or lost ;
nothing but the hope of gain would in.
duce me to 60 through this demoralizing
drudgery, which am conscious reduces
me to the level of all that is most dis
reputable and despicable. My thoughts
are eternally absorbed by it. Jockeys,
trainers and blacklegs are my compan-
ions, but it is like dram drinking, having
once entered upon it | cannot leave it
off, though am disgusted with the oc-
cupation. Let no man who has no
need, who is not in danger of losing all
he has, and is not obliged to grasp at
every chance, make book on the Derby.
While the fever it excites is raging and
the odds are varying | cannot either
read or write or occupy myself with any
thing else.
CAT the gaming table all men are
equal; no superiority of birth or accom-
plshments avail here. The only pre-
eminence is that of success; the only
superiority that of temper.
"Phy. is a detestable occupations; it
absorbs all our thoughts, destroys the
better feelings; it incapacitates us for
study and application of every kind,
makes us irritable and nervous; all our
cheerfulness depeL DIS upon the uncertain
event of our nightly occupation.'
The published diary closes in 1887.
The diarist died in 1865, living the same
life to the last.