25 JUNE 1927, Page 12

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There are many stories, from 'Enery 'Omes downwards, of the illiteracy of ostlers ; but no horsey man who ever lived can have much surpassed the Welwyn ostler whose account, of two hundred or so years ago, has been recently unearthed• The following is the bill :—

OSTELER

s. d.

Osarfaday

10 0

Aforos

. . 2 0

Anaputimingin

6 12 6 Even if we duly space the words, thus :—'os 'arf a day ; for os ; an' a put 'im in, 'gin—the translation is not altogether easy. The new shorthand or speed writing, about which much has been written recently, contains no crisper abbreviation than the ostler's writing of " hay for horse."

W. BEACH THOMAS.