IX.] CORN IS APPLICABLE. 



hard^ and on they go as fast as they can scam- 

 per^ the successful driver talking of the " glo^ 

 rious achievement'' for a week. It would have 

 been a shame to pass two years and a half 

 amongst these happy people without contracting 

 their habits ; and, therefore, my horses, whether 

 driven by myself, by my sons, or by any body- 

 else, had their trials upon the road, not less fre- 

 quently, at any rate, than those of other people j 

 sometimes we were victorious, and sometimes 

 defeated, but never the latter, without pretend- 

 ing, that we did not want to go so fast. Until 

 the year 1819, I used to feed as others did, with 

 oats, barley, rye, and cut chaff; but in that year 

 I could not have these without purchasing; and 

 I had a great stock of corn which I had pur- 

 chased in the ear. My horses had, therefore, 

 nothing but corn for the whole of that year, un- 

 til the month of November, when I came away ; 

 and they beat every pair of horses on the road, 

 till at last nobody that knew them ever attempted 

 a rivalship. I was now, generally, the driver 

 myself; but it was the corn that forced the horses 

 along, and they frequently went to New York, or, 

 at least, to Brooklim, where the ferry is, in less 

 than two hours, whicli is twenty miles, besides a 

 mile from my house, to the road ; and, as 1 wanted 

 no drink myself, I never stopped to give them even 

 water, unless 1 happened to stand in need of a gos» 



