CHAPTER XL 



A PLEA FOR A USEFUL TROTTER AND 

 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



* * * Wherever the trotting horse goes, he carries in his 

 train brisk omnibuses, lively bakers' carts (and therefore hot rolls), 

 the jolly butcher's wagon, the cheerful gig, the wholesome afternoon 

 drive with wife and child, all the forms of moral excellence except 

 truth, which does not agree with any kind of horseflesh. The racer 

 brings with him gambling, cursing, 'swearing, drinking, the eating of 

 oysters, and a distaste for the mobcaps and the middle-aged virtues." 



Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



Thus prophetically did charming old Dr. Holmes sound the praise, 

 years ago, of a class of horses that our nation can really be proud of 

 at the present time. It is well to have so broadminded a man of science, 

 and a poet besides, make this radical distinction between the trotter 

 and the thoroughbred running horse. Even though he calls in ques- 

 tion the truthfulness not of the trotter himself but of the men who use 

 him, he emphasizes his greater usefulness and sets it off against the 

 results following from the devotion to a mere pleasure animal, the 

 machine in motion used to satisfy a craving for gambling and all its 

 attendant evils as enumerated. 



Usefulness here means that a horse not only should be able to do 

 a lot of work, but also that he should perform it with intelligence. 

 The more intelligent a horse is, the longer will he last and the better 

 will be his services. The great docility of the desert Arab proves that 

 a close contact with man molds the mind and disposition of the horse. 

 Every breeder has had similar experiences. Our nation is raising 

 level-headed trotters because the American breeder and trainer are 



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