The system is the pari-mutuel, and here one seems to be more at its mercy even than in France.

The odds keep distressingly low; but no one seems to be either elated or depressed, whatever happens.

To be at the races is the thing--to walk about and watch the people and enjoy the air.

It is the most orderly frugal scene, and the baleful and mysterious power of the racehorse to poison life and landscape, as in England, does not exist here.
To the Cascine also in the spring and autumn several hundred Florentine men come every afternoon to see the game of pallone and risk a few lire on their favourite players.

Mr.Ruskin, whose "Mornings in Florence" is still the textbook of the devout, is severe enough upon those visitors who even find it in their hearts to shop and gossip in the city of Giotto.