Part 50

The ordinary day at the preparatory generally begins at about 7.30 a.m. At some schools the boys are taken for a short walk of about twenty minutes’ duration, with a sprint of a hundred yards about half way to warm them up and fill their lungs with fresh air, but this has the disadvantage of being somewhat dependent on the weather, and therefore liable to be irregular, when it ceases to be beneficial. At other schools it is the custom to do half-an-hour or an hour’s work before breakfast, which, in summer, at any rate, is no hardship, and this has the advantage of lengthening the play hours later in the day. If, however, small boys are to do much work before breakfast, they should have a cup of cocoa or milk before they begin. Breakfast, which should be a liberal meal, is generally at eight or half-past, and in winter this should always begin with a plate of well-cooked porridge. A doctor in the north was once heard to complain that he got nothing to do because “all the inhabitants began the day by putting themselves outside a big poultice of porridge.” If this is followed by either fish, eggs, bacon, or sausages, with plenty of marmalade, there is little danger of colds or chills. Weather permitting, the boys go out for half-an-hour after breakfast in the grounds, or there are classes with easy exercises in the gymnasium—a very necessary adjunct to every preparatory, especially in wet weather. From two and a half to three hours is the usual amount of work done in the morning, leaving an interval of three-quarters of an hour or an hour before lunch. At some schools an interval is taken in the middle of the morning, and work then goes on till dinner time; but the hour or three-quarters of an hour before dinner is very useful, especially in the summer, when the senior boys have cricket practice in the nets and are individually coached by the masters; whilst some of the boys have boxing, fencing, carpentry, or music lessons. Most preparatory schools possess swimming baths, and those boys who are not otherwise employed are generally permitted to bathe before dinner, under the supervision of a master, and nearly every boy learns to swim before he leaves school. The bathe seldom is allowed to exceed five or six minutes. Dinner is always a liberal meal, with plenty of vegetables, milk puddings, and so forth.

In the summer it is sometimes found advisable to work for an hour or an hour and a-half after dinner, leaving the cooler part of the day for cricket, which is continued till tea time. In the winter, on the other hand, the boys change fairly soon after dinner, and play football for an hour (generally Association, which is more suitable for small boys), after which they are free to carpenter, play racquets, or, at some schools, play golf. If the grounds are fairly large, a small nine-hole golf course is very easily laid out, and affords a vast amount of amusement and gentle exercise, and teaches a boy to keep his eye on the ball. Several schools are making little rifle ranges, which should serve a most useful purpose. The training of the eye cannot be begun too young, and every boy should be taught to handle a rifle. Work in the gymnasium should be as light as possible, heavy exercises having a tendency to develop the larger muscles at the expense of the smaller ones, and boys should never be in the gymnasium without someone in attendance. In winter, afternoon school generally begins at 4.30 and continues till 6 p.m., the usual hour for tea all the year round. At some schools the boys do an hour’s preparation after tea, but it is generally found that at this early age they are, for the most part, unable to concentrate their attention on one thing without assistance for any great length of time, and very frequently school continues from 6.30 or 7 till 8 p.m. After evening prayers or chapel they have a light supper of milk and buns, going off to bed about half-past eight. As most boys “live every minute of the day,” they are generally ready for bed and sleep without rocking. To quote from the _Field_ again: “Nine hours between the sheets is not a moment too much for growing boys who have been taxing mind or muscle, or both, from réveille to tattoo, barring interludes of meal times. Among luxuries for the young few are greater than sleep, and none does less harm even when bountifully conceded.”

Every attempt is made at the preparatory to discover and foster any hobby which a boy may have, and the school library will probably contain many books on natural history, engineering, locomotion, electricity, shooting, fishing, sailing, and so forth, in addition to the usual novels. Perhaps no books are in greater demand than those of William J. Long, “Beasts of the Field,” “Fowls of the Air,” “School of the Woods,” and of Seton Thompson; though Rider Haggard, Conan Doyle, Stanley Weyman, and Max Pemberton are great favourites. Kingsley, Merriman, and R. L. Stevenson are mostly read by the bigger boys. Some schools have a small natural history museum, with collections of birds’ eggs, fossils, moths and butterflies; but the small boy has not, as a rule, sufficient patience and perseverance to make him a good collector. Stamp-collecting has many devotees, but by far the commonest hobby is photography, though good results are seldom obtained by the majority. It is also a common idea for boys to have little plots of garden, over which they spend no end of time and trouble; although their industry has frequently little to show for it, a love for flowers and an interest in gardening is often engendered. Anything, in fact, which serves to occupy boys’ minds, and which makes them think, is of the utmost value. The boy who can amuse himself is quite the exception, and it is one of the objects of the preparatory school to teach him how to do so.

In conclusion, it may be said that the chief functions of the preparatory school are the gradual substitution of school discipline for the liberty of home, the gradual training of a mind, generally quite unaccustomed to think, till it is able to understand and think for itself; the gradual development of the body, the encouragement in every form of manly pastimes and interesting hobbies; last, but not least, the engendering of that spirit of self-reliance and self-respect which are the safest armour a boy can have in the battle of life.

MAGISTER.

The Late Mr. John R. Gubbins.

At no time can we afford to lose a good sportsman, least of all at present, when the old type, once common, is now scarce.

That the late Mr. John Gubbins was a sportsman of the truest old Irish type, no one who ever came in contact with him can for a moment deny, and one more generous or open-hearted was seldom met.

The youngest of a large family, son of Mr. Joseph Gubbins and his wife Maria, daughter of Mr. Thomas Wise, of Cork, he was born at the old family seat, Kilfrush, in the county Limerick, in 1839. On Tuesday, March 20th, Mr. Gubbins died suddenly of bronchitis at Bruree House, in the same neighbourhood, having for a long time suffered from general ill-health. He was J.P. and D.L. for his county for many years, was High Sheriff in 1886, and Master of the Limerick Foxhounds for five years previously. In 1899 he married Miss Edith Legh, of the well-known Cheshire family. Mrs. Gubbins died some years ago and left no family.

Settling at Bruree, hunting, coursing and salmon fishing were the sports which “Jack Gubbins,” for so he was always called, first enjoyed, and though always a heavy man, no one in Ireland went better to hounds. He was also a prime judge of the weight-carrying hunter. Some of the best horses the late Marquis of Waterford ever rode came to Curraghmore from the Bruree stable. In the early seventies he was owner of some useful steeplechasers, which were trained by Mr. Harry Lindé at Eyrefield Lodge; and it was pleasing to see how with the best of good feeling these horses were sent to meet in friendly rivalry those of his elder brother, Captain Stamer Gubbins, of Crimean fame. Captain Gubbins at that time had the strongest stable in Ireland and trained at Mountjoy Lodge, with old Dan Broderick as head lad.

Captain Gubbins, who died soon after from the effects of a broken leg sustained in a fall taken while schooling a horse, left most of his property to “Jack.” This included not only the racehorses, but the brood mares and youngsters which he had at his own place, Knockany, a few miles from Bruree, on the best managed and most extensive stud farm then in Ireland.

Reserving a few, John Gubbins sold most of the stud by auction; but there was a small, mean-looking chestnut yearling by Zenophon from Lina Rivers which he kept back, not caring that so miserable a little animal should appear in the sale room. This colt was eventually known as Seaman, who, after winning the Conyngham at Punchestown, the Grand Hurdle Race at Paris, and other great races for Mr. Gubbins, won the Grand National in 1882 for Lord Manners, who paid 2,000 guineas for this quondam cast-off yearling!

Beginning at once, Mr. John Gubbins improved both Bruree and Knockany out of recognition, setting up at the former a second stud farm superior even to the one he inherited from his brother; and it was not long before kennels to accommodate fifty couple of hounds were built on the best possible plan, and therein he started a pack of staghounds. After showing extraordinarily good sport for some seasons, he gave these up in 1881 to take the mastership of the County Limerick Foxhounds, which office he held for five years, giving the greatest satisfaction all round. But Land League troubles being imported into that previously peaceful county, the hunting had to be given up in 1886; the big establishment at Bruree was broken up, all but the stud farm, and Mr. Gubbins in disgust came to England.

Leaving with Lindé an increased stud of steeplechasers, including Spahi, Ashplant, Seaman and Usna (the two latter being the best Harry Beasley ever rode), he began hunting in the Shires. To show how he acquitted himself it may be mentioned that after a brilliant forty-five minutes with the Belvoir and a kill in the open, Frank Gillard, on the part of the Duke of Rutland and members of the Hunt, welcomed the Irishman to the country, and presented him with the brush, which from find to finish he had truly earned. This brush, with inscription under, now hangs at Bruree.

Inheriting another large fortune from an uncle in Cork, the subject of this notice soon after started to race on the flat in England, giving up hunting through increasing weight and continued attacks of gout. It is impossible here to enter upon the achievements of John Gubbins on the Turf—besides, are they not matters of general knowledge? Suffice to say, they were brought about at first from the stable of Jousiffe at Lambourne by such horses as Stars and Stripes, John Morgan, Bruree, Marietta, Toffey, Kinsale, Improver, Holycross, Palace Gate and others, all bred at the home farms. But it was not till the horses were sent to Sam Darling, at Beckenham, that the summit of this sportsman’s ambition was reached. From that stable were sent, amongst other good ones, Blairfinde (own brother to Galtee More), Kendal Boy, St. Jacques, St. Valentine II., Revenue, and Port Blair. While there also were prepared the great Galtee More and the still greater Ard Patrick, whose names, by the way, are taken from those of the highest peaks of the Galtee Mountains, which overlook their paddocks.

It may be recorded that the race for the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July, 1903, when Ard Patrick, ridden by Otto Madden, beat at sex allowance the mighty Sceptre, both of them leaving that year’s Derby winner, Rock Sand, lengths in the rear, ranks amongst the finest contests ever witnessed on a racecourse.

These horses, one the “triple-crown” winner of 1897, the other the Derby of 1902, after winning in stakes £27,019 and £26,616 respectively, were sold, the former to the Russian Government, the latter to the German, for £21,000 apiece. And it may be stated that when in May, 1898, representatives of the Russian Government came to this country purposely to buy a really high-class thoroughbred stallion, after looking over every one that was for sale (and others which were not, such as St. Simon, Carbine, Cyllene, and Galtee More), they came to the conclusion that not one could compare with the Irish horse. It was with the utmost difficulty Mr. Gubbins was persuaded to sell the celebrity.

Knowing that Kendal had on two occasions beaten Ormonde in trials, Mr. John Gubbins bought him at a good price from the Duke of Westminster in the early nineties, and sending him to his stud at Bruree, the son of Bend Or and Windermere got winners with quite phenomenal success. After a few years he was sold to Mr. Platt for £18,000, with free service of mares, which brought the amount to nearly £20,000. So with the income he earned as a sire in Ireland at a fee of £200, Kendal must have done as well for Mr. Gubbins as did either his son Galtee More or Ard Patrick, who was from Galtee More’s dam, Morganette, but by St. Florian, the horse bought to take the place of Kendal. In fact, besides being one of the most successful owners ever known on the Turf with regard to stakes won, he was one of the most successful breeders, for almost all his horses were bred at home, except the stallions, Morganette herself coming from his mare, Lady Morgan. With the sum of £22,739 he headed the winning owners in 1897, and as he always backed his horses he had reason to be grateful to the Parnellites for driving him out of Ireland!

The good nature of this fine old Irish gentleman was such that never would he refuse information to any one as to his horses, the absolute stranger being as welcome to ask it as the dearest friend. It is not surprising, therefore, that no more popular colours were than the never-to-be-forgotten “violet with crimson buttons and crimson cap.” And when Ard Patrick won for him his second Derby, the generous owner not only made suitable presents to those directly concerned with the horse, but gave double wages for a month to all the employees he had at home, while he remitted a half-year’s rent to all his tenants.

In his young days he was himself a good man between the flags, winning the Downshire at Punchestown, on Fairyland, in 1870, carrying 13 st. 8 lbs., as he did the Welters at both Cork and Downpatrick, on a horse of his own, D. P. S. But it was with one of the brothers Beasley as jockey (generally poor Tom) he won nearly all the big steeplechases in Ireland and several in England; while if Usna, with Harry Beasley, had not met with the accident at the canal turn, through over-jumping, the Grand National of 1888 might have been won by Jack Gubbins’ horse. Seamen, also with Harry Beasley, won the Grand Hurdle Race at Paris in 1881; and when Whisper Low won the Grand Steeplechase there the year after, steered by Tom Beasley, Gubbins was half owner.

Strange to say he did not care much for racing in itself unless he had a horse engaged, and had been known to go salmon fishing in preference to visiting Punchestown; while in July, 1903, rather than go and see Ard Patrick win the Princess of Wales’ Stakes of £10,000 at Newmarket he went to the Gordon-Bennett Motor Race in Kildare. He was a good, practical yachtsman, and fond of coursing, but did not care for shooting.

Owing to failing health and more frequent attacks of gout Mr. Gubbins retired from racing after the sale of Ard Patrick; and at the Newmarket Second July Meeting of 1904, his horses in training were sold, the twenty-seven lots fetching 14,920 guineas. Last autumn, however, finding himself better, he sent a batch of yearlings to his friend, Sir Charles Nugent, at Cranbourne, and so promising were some that nominations were freely taken; but now, alas, their sportsman-owner is no more, and these become, through a curious rule, null and void.

At Punchestown, at the end of April, four Irish sportsmen will be missed, than whom four better never visited there—the late Baron de Robeck, John Hubert Moore, Tom Beasley, and Jack Gubbins.

P.S.—Just as the foregoing was sent to the printer news came of the death, on April 4th, of the greatest friend and life-long comrade of Mr. Gubbins, his brother-in-law, Wray Bury Palliser, of Annestown, County Waterford, J.P., D.L. He was the same type of old-time sportsman, and a genial, jovial companion; loved racing, but never owned racehorses, and in his day was a first-rate man to hounds, well-known in the halcyon days of Curraghmore.

H. S.

Dressing Flies.

Cocking may be (I do not say it is) a thing of the past, but what possibly may not be generally known is the keen interest fly-fishermen still have in the preservation and continuation of certain varieties of the old fighting breeds of English game. Many find it adds pleasure to the delights of catching fish to capture them with flies of their own making, and several of these (all amateurs) can and do turn out at the present day better work than has ever before been seen. But to achieve this the right material must be to hand, and from the start difficulty will be experienced in procuring hackles of the right colour, texture, and—most important in the case of chalk-stream fishermen—size. For frequently the July and August trout is not to be beguiled in the mid-day heat by anything bigger than a 000 hook, and the barnyard fowl wears no feathers that will hackle this; its fibres are much too long. Dyeing is largely resorted to to obtain with less trouble the exact hues required, but this does not entirely get over the difficulty, as the commoner red and ginger hackles will not serve as the groundwork for, say, a pale olive, and the blue, the honey and other light-coloured duns are just the ones that are most difficult to lay hands on. So it comes about that to mention blue dun game in the presence of a fly-tier produces much the same effect as the word “rats” does on any well-brought-up terrier.

At the present time, if the dun game varieties are wanted the best localities to search are the West of England, from Cornwall and Devon, through Wales to Cumberland, a circumstance which it is somewhat tempting to endeavour to connect with the driving into these parts of the British, amongst whom, as we know, the Romans introduced cocking, but this must be left to the antiquarians; probably it is only a coincidence due either to the presence of many fishing waters in those districts, or to the fact that in out-of-the-way England old customs died hard, and the law against cock-fighting was not so stringently carried out as in the counties more immediately under the eyes of the lawgivers, whereby the breeds have lasted longer there.

Gervase Markham, who wrote in the early part of the seventeenth century, had a poor opinion of the duns, but his strictures on their merits as fighting birds are not upheld by Robert Howlet, himself an author of an angling book, who writes, in 1807, that as to colour of cocks “there is nothing in it, for the world affords no better birds for the game than many of your duns and whites prove.” However, in most lists made out in order of merit this colour comes at the bottom, which perhaps accounts for the little space devoted to it in the literature so far consulted. I quote Mr. Harrison Weir’s description of the breed as far as regards plumage: “The truest and most rare” (of the duns) “is the blue dun, and these are sub-divided into light and dark. The hackle of the cock bird should be of an intense indigo-blue, and very bright, also the back and the tail-coverts; the wing having a distinct bar; the breast and thighs, as well as the tail, of a beautiful blue dun colour; the face red, with a dark rim round the eye, or dark eyelid; comb and wattles a brilliant vermilion.”

By diligent search specimens of these birds may still be found and procured, though in most instances only at the expenditure of much diplomatic skill and suasion, including that which is not allowed at election times, for if the owner supplies the trade he naturally is interested in limiting the supply and keeping intact a little “corner” of his own; if, on the other hand, he is a breeder by family tradition, money is little likely to induce him to part with his best. Still, perseverance does wonders, and either by getting sittings of eggs, or by picking up individual cockerels and pullets at prices such as are asked from hunt secretaries and treasurers of poultry funds, several enthusiastic fishermen are just now making a beginning at breeding on their own account.

It must not be thought that this is a new departure, for within the last thirty years two poultry shows, one at the Crystal Palace in 1871, and another at the Westminster Aquarium in 1892, have been held, at which prizes were offered both for hackles suitable for fly-dressing and for the birds which yielded them; but at this moment fresh interest seems to be aroused, more and more men are learning to tie, and thereby induced to breed, so that it should not be long ere such prizes shall be again competed for at the big poultry shows, which will by this means attract a visit from many to whom otherwise a fowl presents no points of interest except at meal-times.

Many of those engaged in poultry breeding know nothing—have never heard—of the blue dun game or of the demand for it and the kindred varieties, though they might do worse than run a pen or two of them, only bearing in mind that, though at present the demand is not met by the supply, at no time will it ever be very large or of a size to make game fowl breeding by itself a profitable commercial undertaking.

Besides shortness of fibre the other peculiar merits of the game hackles are their brilliancy, hardness, and ability to shoot the water. They are best obtained from a mature cock in the pink of condition (in cocking days this would have been the eve of a match), during the last two months of the year, except in the case of dun hackles, which are blue at Christmas, but before the autumn moult have golden tints. Of course, now that paraffin is used by the waterside, hen hackles are by no means to be despised, indeed, some tiers care little which they use provided they come off a game bird.

One and not the least advantage of being able to tie his own flies himself is that it enables the fishermen to judge of the work put into those he buys, and to put his finger on the exact material that is wrong when patterns are not copied accurately. This is not infrequently the case, and a good fly gets a bad name, most undeservedly, in consequence.

H. L. T. P.

Navicular Disease.

BY PROFESSOR J. WORTLEY AXE.

There is no disease which so seriously affects the feet of our horses as “navicular disease.” Its commencement is subtle and its progress so insidious that it is only when the malady has reached a dangerous condition that it becomes known to the ordinary horseman. At this stage veterinary aid is usually sought, with the result that the owner has to be told that nothing can be done in the way of cure and very little towards stemming its onward progress. Why, it may be asked, do we occupy the pages of this Magazine with a subject so absolutely devoid of matter to which attention can be profitably directed. Our reply is that if little can be done in these directions we are not without hope of ministering to its prevention, and for this we claim some justification for so far imposing on our readers.