272 AT THE SIGN OF THE STOCK YARD INN 



road team and harness racing, and indulged his 

 fondness for the sport at considerable cost. He 

 was entirely serious and altogether practical in his 

 efforts with the drafters, the Shorthorns and the 

 pigs, but warned everybody against the allurements 

 of the turf. Often I have heard him say, "If you 

 will go and buy a cow that has formed the habit 

 of sucking herself, you will have a piece of property 

 of about the same value as one of these trotters." 

 The great day dawned at last. The pigs had 

 all been crated the evening before, and at sunrise 

 the caravan started one great wagon load of 

 swine, another filled with feed, camp equipment and 

 luggage of various kinds. The trotters drew the 

 high-wheeled ''sulkies" and Dieppe was led. It was 

 a merry party that took the road that morning, I 

 assure you, and the evening found us putting up 

 for the night at a wayside tavern a few miles from 

 the town of Washington. Early the next morning 

 we drove to the railway depot, and loaded the 

 whole outfit into a Rock Island box car. I have 

 since crossed the Atlantic and our continent many 

 times, but never was there such a great adventure 

 as this railway journey of the backwoods country 

 boy of eleven to the great city of Cedar Rapids and 

 the Iowa State Fair of 1871. Father took a room 



