32 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



sister's fame to recommend them, and he vouches 

 that he has seen yearhngs sold for i,ooo to 1,500 

 guineas apiece, or double, which were not worth 

 sixpence for the purpose for which they were bought. 

 Not worth sixpence ! 



He expresses his sympathy for the purchaser of 

 one of these sensational flat-catchers, which had been 

 disposed of to some unfortunate individual, and 

 ingenuously relates how by a * stratagem ' — note the 

 admirable word ! — he helped some such unfortu- 

 nate individual who was a friend to get rid of such 

 a useless creature by palming him off on some other 

 unfortunate individual who, I suppose, was not a 

 friend. Mr. Day naively writes, ' we succeeded 

 beyond our expectation.' Doubtless 'Wapstraw,' 

 possessing this useless creature, caused his hopeful 

 offspring to go about in gaiters, with riding-breeches, 

 open-mouthed, boasting that their weedy purchase 

 was ' a thousand-pounder, sir !' And the youths of 

 the district gape and admire, and the fathers send 

 their mares to visit him. 



In an article on ' Thoroughbreds in 1897 ' i'^ ^^^ 

 Liz^e Sloc^ Journal Almansick for 1898, by C. B. 

 Pitman, it is stated that Persimmon was so shaken 

 by his race on the hard ground at Sandown that it 

 was not deemed prudent to let him fulfil his autumn 

 engagements at Newmarket, and yet it is stated of 

 this same Persimmon and of St. Frusquin that in 

 them ' we had two colts of rare excellence.' Further 

 on Mr. Pitman states that in the sale of thorough- 



