— 469 — 



about midnight, I was accosted in the road by two highwaymen, wha 

 stepped in front of the horse, and demanded a halt. I gave ' Prince' 

 the word, and he jumped, striking tlie two men with the wheels of the 

 wagon, knocking them aside, and in less time than I am writing his 

 name he had us all out of harm's way. After remaining in the above 

 place for two months, we left for Virginia, arriving at Winchester in 

 the fall of 1880. This city I made my headquarters for one month, 

 taking in the small towns in a radius of, say, 60 miles. After leaving 

 Winchester we went to Harrisonburg, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley, 

 where we did a very successful business, at the termination of which I 

 gave a free excursion over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, bringing 

 into Harrisonburg over 7,000 farmers. I handled upon this occasion 

 10 very bad horses, and during my stay here I made many warm 

 friends." 



Staunton, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Danville, Virginia, were 

 next visited, and then in the winter of 1880-81 they reached Greens- 

 boro', N. C. Here business was bad, and Mrs. Gleason was ill for 

 many weeks. Attempts to form classes in neighborino^ towns were 

 fruitless, and as soon as Mrs. Gleason was able to travel they borrowed 

 money of their landlord and went to Atlanta, Ga. There in two 

 weeks enough money was made to repay the loan, and they paid profit- 

 able visits to Augusta, Macon, and other places. At Savannah they 

 made good friends and much money, and then, for the sake of Mrs. 

 Gleason's health, set out for Jacksonville, Florida, where th-^y spent 

 the winter of 1881-82. 



Next spring they started for the North again. At Nashville, Ken- 

 tucky, Professor Gleason was taken ill for some weeks. On his re- 

 covery they went to Lexington, in the heart of the famous " blue 

 grass " region, where the finest horses in the world abound. He gave 

 exhibitions there and formed a large class. Among the horses broken 

 by him at Lexington w^as a valuable "Almont filly," the property of 

 General Withers. 



" This was," says Professor Gleason, " one of the most vicious colts 

 that I ever handled. I had heard of her from some of the horsemen 

 of Lexington as being such a kicker that all the horse-breakers who 

 had previously handled her had given her up as no good. So in meet- 

 ing General Withers one day, I said, ' General, let me handle your 

 mare.' He replied, ' You cannot drive her.' I said, ' I can hitch and 



