The "rough" element is kept away from the French turf,
partly because it would find its surroundings there uncongenial with
its tastes, and partly by the small entrance-fee required; and one is
thus spared at Longchamps the sight of those specimens of the various
forms of human misery and degradation that offend the eye at Epsom and
infest even the more aristocratic meetings of Ascot and Goodwood. At
the French races, too, one never hears the shrieks and howls of an
English crowd, save perhaps when in some very important contest the
favorite is beaten, and even then the yells come from English throats:
it is the bookmakers' song of victory. A stranger at Longchamps would
perceive at once that racing has no hold upon the popular heart, and
that, so far as it is an amusement at all apart from the gambling
spirit evoked, it is merely the hobby and pastime of a certain number
of idle gentlemen. As to the great mass of spectators, who are not
interested in the betting, they go to Longchamps as they would go to
any place where uniforms and pretty toilettes and fine carriages are to
be seen; for the Parisian, as one of them has well said, "never misses
a review, and he goes to the races, although he understands nothing
about them: the horses scarcely interest him at all.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206