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DONOGHUE MAKES A START Crack English Eider Tells of First Employment in Racing Stable Takes a Healing for His Trip to Chester but butHis His Father Is Persuaded to Apprentice ApprenticeHim Him to Trainer John Porter The crack English rider Stephen Dono ghue who is writing a scries of reminiscences for the London Sunday Express had many obstacles to overcome before he could realize his ambition to become a jockey The early part of his narrative which has been printed in these columns ended with his trip to Chester and his interview with John Porter who told him to have his father call for a talk regarding his possible employment in the stable What happened when the young adventurer returned home he recounts as follows followsWell Well I got back to Warrington that night how I never quite knew though I remem ¬ bered boarding the wagonette The cheery crowd of revelers that were in it made merry all the way back and I resolutely refused to let my mind dwell on the exceed ¬ ingly unpleasant reception I was likely to meet with at my stern parents hands on my return home homeOn On approaching the house however I felt Increasingly apprehensive and 1 soon found I was not mistaken in my anticipations anticipationsWHIPPED WHIPPED AXD SENT TO IJED IJEDDirectly Directly I showed my nose I was pounced upon by my angry father who had evidently been grimly awaiting my arrival He had learned all about my absences from school probably from the lad I had relieved in the morning of the headmasters letter and in whose telling I expect my crimes hat lost nothing So I received one royal hiding for playing truant from school and another one for having been away from home all day and without being allowed to offer a word of explanation or being given a morsel of food I was flung into my bedroom and the door locked on me a miserable sobbing moredeadthanaiive little scrap of human ¬ ity a pitiful end to my day of glorious ad ¬ venture Those merciless hidings are they really necessary I wonder for small boys So many fathers especially among the miners and workers in the North seem to think them indispensable as daily treament for their offspring offspringThey They may be right but remembering my own sufferings as a little lad I have never felt able so much as to lay a finger on either of my own two small sons whatever boyish crimes they may have committed and I dont think they behave a whit worse than I did as a lad and I am certain they have never played truant from school MOTHER PULLS THE STKTJTGS STKTJTGSAnyhow Anyhow as soon as my father was sleep ¬ ing the sleep of the unjust in my opinion my mother ventured to creep in to try to comfort me and to her I told the days history and that 1 wanted to be a jockey and Mr Porters message about my father oing to see him the next day dayShe She evidently persuaded him next morning that I was determined to get a start in stables if I could and site induced him to go as Mr Porter had suggested and see him in Chester the same day He took me with him and he and John Porter talked matters over and it was settled that I should be taken on on trial So I went back to Warrington in high glee my start in stables being assured to collect my small wardrobe and to say goodbye to my mother and the family I had to return to Chester then to join Ralph Moreton on the horse boxes and travel on to Kingsclere in his charge as he was accompanying the horses back after the racing Batt that had run second in the Chester Cup and had been second in the Derby the year before was one of our charges
