A KNIGHT OF THE GOLDEN DAYS 215 



Thames, near the village of Delaware, and built it 

 up with the aid of sheep, cattle and judicious crop- 

 ping into one of the prize farms of the Dominion. 

 The star of the BATES-bred Shorthorns, of which 

 Mr. GIBSON was so fond, had begun to wane even 

 at the time of his Chicago sales. The invasion of the 

 west by the heavy-fleshed Herefords and Aberdeen- 

 Angus had already begun to turn the Shorthorn 

 tide into other channels. It was for many years a 

 source of much concern to this valiant defender of 

 the Kirklevington blood that the American public 

 insisted upon drifting away from what he regarded 

 as the true Shorthorn faith to wander far afield 

 after strange gods. He did not believe in the 

 Aberdeenshire type of Shorthorns, and did not hesi- 

 tate to denounce them roundly as destined to ruin 

 the breed in this country. That he sincerely be- 

 lieved this to be true no one could question. He 

 was often called as a judge at leading shows in 

 Canada and the States, and if one of the lordly, 

 high-headed, broad-loined, level-quartered sort, which 

 he regarded as the true Shorthorn type, came 

 before him in competition with one of the low- 

 headed, heavy -bodied, shorter -legged GRUICKSHANK 

 stamp, there was rarely a doubt among the by- 

 standers as to where GIBSON would hang the ribbon. 



