— 486 — 



undisputed record of having killed four men. It was led into the ring 

 with a bridle that it had worn constantly for over three years, night 

 and day, also an iron muzzle weighing over three pounds. Some of 

 the audience at that time dropped a remark which reached Gleason's 

 ears that they guessed " the horse was not so bad after all," whereupon 

 Gleason offered $50 to any one who would take the muzzle and 

 I ridle off; an offer that was not accepted. 



The autumn of 1887 found Professor Gleason busy at various agri- 

 cultural fairs in New York, Xew Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and in 

 November he exhibited at Providence, R. I. How he was esteemed 

 in that city may be judged from this quotation from The Providence 

 Telegram, of November 3d : 



" Professor Oscar R. Gleason came to Providence well known to horse- 

 men. His wonderful successes in the large cities of the country in 

 subduing vicious animals, breaking young or old horses, or curing 

 them of disagreeable traits has reached Providence. It was then no 

 surprise that the riding school should have held a large number of 

 spectators last evening at his open performance, and among that num- 

 ber were many ladies. 



" Professor Gleason's method seems to be a sensible one, and after 

 giving the theory he demonstrates the practice. Knowing the traits 

 of horses, and he gives them credit for being almost human, he treats 

 them with that same judgment which would be used by a father to his 

 child. He shows the horse that he is his master; that he is a loving 

 master ; that he is a master to be feared. Whenever the horse does 

 wrong he receives instant punishment, not brutal, but effectual. 

 AVhen he does right he is rewarded." 



From Providence he went to Wooster, Mass., where he exhibited 

 for one week to the capacity of the house. The reader will remember 

 on lookino; back to the commencement of his career as a horse trainer, 

 that the first horse he ever trained as a trick horse, and to drive with- 

 out lines, was a "buckskin " mare, with which he has a sorrowful 

 partinir at the time his father and he parted after dissolving their 

 partnership, the fotber taking all the stock v>-ith him to Vermont. 

 " Well, on my arrival in Wooster," says Professor Gleason, " I was re- 

 latins: to some bystanders the many things I liad taught her to do, 

 and ou describing the mare so perfectly, a gentleman standing by said 



