We have lately had "sport" brought to our very doors, and a pretty crew
offered themselves for my study. In the diseased life of the city many
odious human types are developed, but none are so horrible as those that
crop up at sporting gatherings of various sorts. I have never doubted
the existence of an impartial, beneficent Ruling Power save when I have
been among the scum of the sporting meetings. At those times I often
failed to understand why a good God could permit beings to remain on
earth whose very presence seems at once to insult the pure sky and the
memory of Christ. If you go away for a few weeks and live among simple
fishermen or hinds you become proud of your countrymen. On wild nights,
when the black waves galloped down on our vessel and crashed along our
decks, I have felt my heart glow as I watched the cool seamen picking
up their ropes and working deftly on amid the roaring darkness. The
fishers are sober, splendid men, who face death with never a tremor, and
toil on usefully day after day. Come away from their broad, sane
simplicity and courage, and look upon the infamous hounds who are bred
in the congested regions--you are sickened and depressed.
I notice that the sporting gang talk only of betting, thieving,
whoremongering, or fighting. With regard to the latter pursuit, their
views are distinctly peculiar. A sudden, murderous rush in a crowded
bar, a quick, sly blow, and a run away--that is their notion of a manly
combat. In the days of the Tipton Slasher two Englishmen would fight
fairly like bulldogs for an hour at a stretch; no man thought of crowing
about a chance bit of bloodshed, or even a knock-down, for it was
understood that the combatants should fight on until one could not rise;
then they shook hands, and were friends. But the brutes whom I now see
are transformed Englishmen; they know that a fair upstanding contest
would not suit them, and their object is to land one cunning blow, then
to make as much noise as possible so as to attract attention. It is
cruelly funny to see a gaping blackguard, who has chanced to give
someone a black eye or a swollen nose, swaggering round like an absurd
bantam, and posing as a sort of athletic champion. The gang are nearly
always full of stories about their miserable scrambling fights, and
anyone might fancy he had got among a regular corps of paladins to hear
them vapour. One marvellously vile betting person haunts me like a
disease. The animal has a head like a sea-urchin, his lips are blubbery,
his tongue is too big for his mouth, and his face is like one that you
see in a nightmare. The ugly head is stuck on a body which resembles a
sack of rancid engine grease. This beauty is a fairly representative
specimen of our bold sportsmen. He is a deft swindler, and I have gazed
with blank innocence while he rooked some courageous simpleton at
tossing. The fat, rancid man can do almost as he chooses with a handful
of coins, and the marvellous celerity with which sovereigns or halfpence
glide between his podgy fingers is quite fascinating. On the subjects of
adultery and fighting this object is great, and his foul voice resounds
greasily amid our meetings of brave sportsmen. He is accompanied by a
choice selection of gay spirits, and I take leave to say that the
popular conception of hell is quite barren and poor compared with the
howling reality that we can show on any day when a little "sport" is to
the fore. I am tolerant enough, but I do seriously think that there are
certain assemblies which might be wiped out with advantage to the world
by means of a judicious distribution of prussic acid.
Among my weaknesses must be numbered a strong fancy for keeping dogs of
various breeds. When you come to understand the animals you can make
friends of them, and I have lived in perfect contentment for months at a
stretch with no company but my terriers. A favourite terrier often goes
about with me now, and the other day Mr. Landlord said, with insinuating
softness, "We must have your pup entered for our coursing meeting." It
mattered little to me one way or the other, so I paid the entrance fee,
and forgot all about the engagement. Coursing with terriers is a very
popular "sport" in the south country, and the squat little white-and-tan
dogs are bred with all the care that used to be bestowed on fine strains
of greyhounds. I cannot quite see where the sport comes in, but many
men of all classes enjoy it, and I have no mind to find fault with a
remarkable institution which has taken fast root in England. All
coursing is cruel; a hare suffers the extremity of agony from the moment
when she hears the thud of the dogs' feet until she is whirled round and
shaken in those deadly jaws. I lay once amongst straggling furze while a
hare and two greyhounds rushed down towards me. Puss had travelled a
mile on a Suffolk marsh, and she was failing fast. As she neared me the
greyhounds made a violent effort, and the foremost one struck just
opposite my hiding-place. Never in my life have I seen such a picture of
agony; the poor little beast wrung herself sharp round with a
scream--such a scream!--and the dog only succeeded in snatching a
mouthful of fur. He lay down, and the hare hobbled into the cover. I
could see her tremble. The same sort of torture is inflicted when hares
are bundled out of an enclosure with the rapidity and precision of
machinery. There is a wild flurry, an agony of one minute or so, and all
is over.
The mystery of man's cruelty is inexplicable to me; I feel the mad
blood pouring hard when the quarry rushes away, and the snaky dogs dash
from the slips; no thought of pity enters my mind for a time because the
mysterious wild-man instinct possesses me, and so I suppose that the
primeval hunter is ignobly represented by the people who go to see
rabbit coursing. We have been refining and refining, and educating the
people for a good while; yet our popular sports seems to grow more and
more cruel. We do not bait bulls now, but we worry hares and rabbits by
the gross, we massacre scores of pretty pigeons--sweet little birds that
are slaughtered without a sign of fair play.
Decidedly the Briton likes the savour of blood to mingle with his
pleasures. A thousand of ordinary men will gather at Gateshead or Hanley
and howl with delight when two wiry whippets worry a stupefied rabbit.
They are decent fellows in their way, and they generally have a rigid
idea of fairness; but they fail to see the unfairness of hooking a
rabbit out of a sack and setting him to run for his life in an enclosure
from which he cannot possibly escape. Pastimes that do not involve the
death of something or the wagering of money are accounted tame. It is
one of the riddles that make me wish I could not think at all. I give it
up, for I am only a Loafer, and the dark problems of existence are
beyond me.
Perhaps they are beyond Mr. Herbert Spencer.
Our ragged regiment met in a wide, quiet field. Nearly all my costers
were about, and they cried "Wayo!" with cordiality. Half the company on
the field could not muster threepence in the world; many of them were
probably hungry; many were far gone in drink; but all were eager for
"sport." We shall have some talk presently about the bitter ennui of the
poor man's life. The existence of that deadly ennui never was brought
before me so vividly as it was when I saw that queer multitude,
forgetting hunger, cold, poverty, pain--and forgetting because they were
about to see some rabbits worried!
On a low stand stood a broad pair of scales and an immense hamper. The
stand was watched by a red-faced merryandrew, who gibbered and yelled in
a vigorous manner. A funny reprobate is that old person. Every hour of
his life is given over to the search for excitement; he is never dull;
he has a cheery word for all whom he meets; he will drink, fight, and
even make love, with all the ardour of youth. When there is nothing more
exciting to do, he will drive a trotter for twenty miles at break-neck
pace. When he dies, his life's work may be easily summed up:--He drank
so many quarts of ale; he killed so many pigeons and rabbits. Nothing
more.
My terrier made a ferocious dash at the big hamper, and I knew that our
victims were there. Presently the dogs began to arrive, and I was amazed
and amused to see some of the little brutes. They could no more catch a
rabbit on fair ground than they could pull down a locomotive; but the
long railway journey, the strange field, and the clamorous mob render
poor Bunny almost helpless, and he gives up his life only too easily.
The best of the terriers were beautiful wretches with iron muscles and a
general air of courageous wickedness. Their bloodthirstiness was
appalling; they knew exactly what was to happen, and their sharp yells
of rapture made a din that set my head swimming. Each of them writhed
and strained at the collar, and I caught myself wondering what the poor
rabbits thought (can they think?) as they heard the wild chiming of
that demon pack. In the country, when a dog gives tongue Bunny sits up
and twirls his ears uneasily; then, even if the bark is heard from afar
off, the little brown beast darts underground. Alas! there is no
friendly burrow in this bleak field, and there is no chance of escape;
for the merry roughs will soon finish any rabbit that shows the dogs a
clean pair of heels.
The ceremony of weighing was completed in a dignified way, and the first
brace of dogs went to the slipper. One was a sprightly smooth terrier,
with a long, richly-marked head; he was quivering with anticipation, and
his demeanour offered a marked contrast to that of the dour, composed
brute pitted against him. The rabbit was lifted out of the hamper by one
of those greasy nondescript males, who are always to be seen when pigeon
shooting or coursing is going on. The greasy being held the rabbit by
the ears, and put it temptingly near the dogs. The sprightly terrier
went clean demented; the sullen one stood with thoughtful earnestness
waiting for a chance to catch the start. When the rabbit was put down it
cowered low and seemed trying to shrink into the ground; its ears were
pressed hard back, its head was pressed closely to the grass, and it was
huddled in an ecstasy of terror. Of course that is quite usual, but we
practical sportsmen cannot waste time over the sentimental terrors of a
rabbit. The greasy man uttered a howl, and Bunny started up, ran in a
circle, and then set off for the fence. I was struck by the animal's
mode of running. For hours I have watched them feeding, at early morning
or sundown, and I have noticed that as they shifted from place to place
they moved with a slow kind of hop, gathering their hind legs under them
at each stride. When Bunny is on his own ground he is one of the fastest
of four-footed things. He lays himself down to the ground, and travels
at such a terrific pace for about forty yards that he looks like a mere
streak on the ground. I never yet saw a terrier that could turn a rabbit
unless Bunny was imprudent enough to wander more than one hundred yards
from home. But this wretched brute in our field was moving at the pace
proper to feeding time, and, judging by its deliberate sluggishness, it
seemed to be inviting death. When the short pitter-patter of the
terriers' feet sounded on the grass, Bunny made a clumsy attempt to
quicken his pace; the leading dog plunged at him, and by a convulsive
effort the rabbit managed to swirl round and get clear. Then the second
dog shot in; then came one or two quick, nervous jerks from side to
side; then the beaten creature faltered, and was instantly seized and
swung into the air. A good wild rabbit would have been half-way across
the next field, but that unhappy invalid had no chance.
The other courses were of much the same character, for the rabbit, being
used to run on a beaten path, has not the resource and dexterity of the
hare. One strong specimen distanced the pair of tiny weeds that were set
after him, but the pack of roughs were whooping at the border of the
field, and the doomed rabbit was soon clutched and pocketed.
The betting was furious; a few hard-faced, well-dressed men did their
wagering quietly and to heavy amounts, but the mob yelled and squabbled
and cursed after their usual manner, and they were all ready to drink
when we returned. This is a fair description of rabbit coursing, and I
leave influential persons to decide as to whether or no it is a useful
or improving form of entertainment. I have my doubts, but must be
severely impartial. I will say this, however, that if any one of us had
spent the afternoon over a good novel, or something of that kind, he
would have been taken out of himself, and, when he rose, his mind would
have been filled with quiet and gracious thoughts. Our gang were
suffering from a form of the lust for blood; they were thirsty, and they
were possessed by that species of excitement which makes a man ready to
turn savage on any, or no, provocation.
The bar was like the place of damned souls until eight o'clock:
everybody roared at the top of his voice; nobody listened to anybody
else, and everybody drank more or less feverishly. We had a supper to
celebrate the destruction of the rabbits, and afterwards the truculent
gentlemen, who had bellowed so vigorously in the field, sang sentimental
songs about "Mother, dear mother," "Stay with me, my darling, stay," or
patriotic songs referring to an article of drapery known as "The Flag of
Old Hengland."
For half-an-hour our intricate choruses resounded as we went in groups
deviously homeward, and a few members of our sporting flock dotted the
paths at wide intervals.
That kind of thing goes on all over the country in the winter time. It
is not for me to preach, but I must say that it seems to be a barren
kind of game. Can any man of the crowd think kindly or clearly about any
subject under the sun? I fancy not. My own real idea of the character of
the various mobs that see the rabbits die is such that I could not
venture to frame it in words. The sport is so mean, so trivial, so
purposeless, that I should go a long way to avoid seeing it now that I
know the subject well.
And that unspeakably atrocious pettiness forms the only relaxation of a
very considerable number of Englishmen. If any member of a corporation
were to propose that a great hall should be opened free, and that good
music should be provided at the expense of the community, I suppose
there would be a deal of grumbling; but I am ready to prove that
expenses indirectly caused by our mad "sporting" would more than cover
the cost of a rational spell of pleasure.
Honourable gentlemen and worthy aldermen are allowing a great mass of
people to remain in a brutalised condition; those people only derive
pleasure from the suffering of dumb creatures.
How will it be if the callous crew take it into their heads at some or
other to show restiveness? Will they deal gently or thoughtfully with
those against whom their enmity is turned? Certainly their education by
no means tends to foster gentleness and thoughtfulness. If I were a
statesman instead of a Loafer, I reckon I should try might and main to
humanise those neglected folk--and they _are_ neglected--before they
teach some of us a terrific lesson.
I see that one "Walter Besant" has some capital notions concerning the
subject which I have ventured to touch on. If he were a rough--as I am
during much of my time--he would be able to talk more to the purpose.
Still, I deliberately say that that novelist, who is often treated as a
moony creature, is a very wise and practical statesman, and he has used
his opportunities well. If powerful people do not very soon pay heed to
his message, they will have reason for regret.
The worst of it is that one is constantly being forced to wonder whether
culture is of any use. For instance, on the day after the coursing, I
fell in with a smart lad who loafs about race meetings, and who
sometimes visits the landlord's parlour at the Chequers. He has been a
year out of Oxford, and he is rather a pretty hand at classics; yet he
tries to look and talk like a jockey, and his mother has to keep him
because he won't do any work. A shrewd little thing he is, and this is
how we talked:--
"Shall I drive you over to the meeting to-morrow?"
"If you like."
"We can do a bit together if you'll dress yourself decently. Barrett
says there's a new hunter coming out. It could win the Cesarewitch with
8st. 4lb., but they mean keeping his hunter's certificate. Put a bit
on."
"Wait till we see."
"Lord! If I could get the mater to part--only a pony--I'd buy a satchel
and start bookmaking in the half-crown ring myself. It's Tom Tiddler's
ground if you've got a nut on you."
"Queer work for a 'Varsity man?"
"Deed sight better than bear-leading, or going usher in a school. Fun!
Change! Fly about! What more do you want?"
"Do you like to hear the ring curse? Dick and Alf often make me
goose-skinned."
"What matter, so you cop the ready?"
"Do you read now?"
"Not such a Juggins. I think my Oxford time was all wasted. Of course, I
liked to hear Jowett palaver, and it was quiet and nice enough; but give
me life. Bet all day; dinner at the Rainbow, Pav., or Trocadéro, and
Globe to finish up. That's life!"
If anyone had chances this youth had them, and now his ambition is to
bet half-crowns with the riddlings of Creation. This universe is getting
to be a little too much for me. Come down, pipe; I shall go in the
Chequers parlour to-night, and play the settled citizen.