The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-22

Special TO the washington Iost.
The great racing course at Ascot, espe-
eially on Gold Cup day suggests nothing
so much as the old Bible division of the
sheep and the goats On the grand stand
side of the long. grassy track are the
sheep-Engllsh aristocracy in the most
elaborate costumes the London mind can
conceive of-and no more could be said
swarms OF silk-hatted exquisites where
the betting runs up into the multi-thous-
ands and royalty in its canopied inclos-
ure.
On the other side of the fence are the
goats-all the dingy, picturesque iotsam
of the London streets, from the East
End tough. with his favorite barmaid, and
the occasional redcoat escorting some
variety theatre girl. to the long streams
of red-ehecked Cockney commoners, all
betting their shllings and half-crowns
with as much excitement as If they were
risling whole fortunes. Probably there is
no such scene to be found elsewhere in all
the world. Certainly we never saw such
an enormous crowd of people together
before. There must have been many, many
thousands, for they stretched entirely
around the huge track. several tiers deep.
We arrived a little early on the grounds,
since we went down by train and we
were very much torn between the two
sides of the track-both were SO alluring
Finally, however, having tickets for the
Enclosure If we wanted to use them, we
decided temporarily in favor of the goats
and made our way into the laughing,
pushing crowd 1t was great fun. Some
of the people were sitting on the ground
to hold their places along the fence, and
they were eating lunches out of japanned
boxes. Everywhere there were vendors
of Sweets" small English flags, and
punches of carnations fastened to the
end of little sticks. Here and there were
the cheap boolmakers stalls and the
hoarse voices We're yelling: low wy
donnt you put your money on Pretty
Polly? on wouldn't sy she was going to
win If Oh didn't now she would
Below the decorated drags containing
the members of sporting and private clubs
"a beautiful sight in themselves-there
were all sorts of droll performers. One
tawdry looking woman accompanied by a
man with tiny harp, was singing Wren
e Went aawy Long Years Agowh' at the
top of her lungs and two blackened men
with banjos were trying to sing a coon
song. The combination of cockney accent
and attempted coon dialect convulsed us.
although the crowd enjoyed IT, The peo-
pie seemed to be very little interested in
the elegance of the aristooracy across the
way, but were utterly absorbed in their
own doings and in the way the betting
was going, although they kept an occa-
sonal eye on the royal box, waiting for
lis majesty to appear.
Seat on a Wlgwag Bus.
We had one or two such funny expert
ences through our American ignorance
We found that we could really get a much
better view of the kings box from that
side than from the grand stand, so we
began looking around for a perch some
where above the rabble. Just beyond were
all the private tallyhos where jolly par
ties were lunching, having driven out
from London for the day. Among these
coaches we spied an empty bus and as
any sort of seat was hard to find, we
made for 1t and asked permission to buy
a seat upon 1t until after the king had
come and the first race was over They
seemed somewhat embarrassed but willing
to make an extra penny, and SO up we
went. We were in bright array for the
occasion. My boon companion, after strug-
Cling vainly against the contaglon, had
gone down before the white feather boa
mania, and she now Haunted several feet
of boa to the breeze, but as tallyhos full
of ladies were all about us, we did not
feel conspicuous In our lofty seats. Pres
emily, however. two men mounted beside
US and then began a series of violent mo-
lions which startled us beyond words.
We soon found that we were guests on tho
signal box, a place where, by some sort
of wireless marconigraphy, the betting
data is transmitted Needless to say that
we descended In some haste and wan
dered ont through the throng rather dis
Just then, the boon companion yearning
for tea. we approached one Of the many
little tents back of the talyhos, and
purses In hand, ordered tea of the young
man who was arranging the table. He
was a regular short story hero of a man,
with the proper blue eyes and firm chin,
and we ought to have recognized him at
once but we didn't. He explained cour-
teously that tea was not yet ready to
serve, but II we would wait he would
have some made. Just then, however, my
eye fell upon a large silver loving cup In
the center of the table and we realized
that we had gone to the tent OF yacht
club and demanded tea. We beat mis-
cradle retreat, pursued by offers of tea,
and decided that we had better get inside
the Enclosure before we disgraced our
selves further.
kinq Edward Reaches the Course.
AS we started across the track, there
was a sudden raising of voices, brilliant
flag shot up above the kings box and his
majesty appeared under the canopy. We
were very near the royal Enclosure and
had a very close view of him. | think he
reminded me more Of q particularly dig
nified sober-suited Santa Claus than any
thing else with all due respect to his
majesty. His stout figure. white hair and
beard and rudy color all suggested this
at first and the general Jollity and gem
iality of his manner later helped it on. In
one way he looks very like his pictures,
but in another way he does not, for pho
tographs never give a correct impression
of coloring, and so one gets wrong idea.
In reality the kings eyes do not appear
SO full and prominent as in his pictures
because his ford complexion and slightly
tanned skin seem to make them stand out
less. He looked as II he lived very, very
well indeed, and his white mustache Is
vellowed and blackened about the mouth
with excessive smoking. He wore pale
gray high hat, with a broad black band
around 1t. and pale gray gloves. 1t was
amusing to see how completely he still
leads the fashions, as he did when he was
the Prince of Wales. On the first day or
the races nearly every man there wore
A black silk hat, but on the day following
they had all paled to a dull gray. and
each man dangled a pair OF very new
gray gloves No one Is allowed to enter
shs rovat box but royalty, so the king ex-
changed greetings over the rail- with some
titled folk who approached, standing alone
under the canopy except for few mo-
ments when the Princess Christian was
with him. She Is bulky motheriy look
ing lady by the way, and was dressed
verv simply In comparison with most or
the women present.
After viewing the course the king SLOW
" descended the little spiral stairs lead
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