254 AT THE SIGN OF THE STOCK YARD INN 



banks patronized by those shrewd, home -loving, 

 thrifty farmers of the valley of the Huisne. 



The Percheron Stud Books of France and America 

 had from their first inception the powerful support 

 of the wizard of Oaklawn. In fact, they were almost 

 his own children. He knew that pedigree records 

 must sooner or later be demanded in the develop- 

 ment of these horses, as they had already been 

 found essential in other lines, and with characteristic 

 enterprise and breadth of outlook he set the forces 

 in motion that led to the printing of the initial 

 volumes in Nogent and Chicago. None knew better 

 than he that these could be at best the mere crude 

 beginnings of registration. Criticism, therefore, di- 

 rected against errors and omissions in this pioneering 

 work fails to detract in the least from the soundness 

 and value of the idea which those early publications 

 reflected. There were naught but traditions and 

 data of a wholly unsatisfactory character to serve 

 as a starting point. The situation in that respect 

 differed little, however, from that which has con- 

 fronted the founders of all existing pedigree regis- 

 tries. Those who were charged with the thankless 

 task of assembling the foundation material in this 

 undertaking simply did the best they could with 

 the meager information then available. The use of 



