182 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



"One of the causes of the loss of that famous breed here was the great 

 demand for them in Cuba, when that island began to cultivate sugar exten- 

 sively. The planters became suddenly rich, and wanted the pacing-horse for 

 themselves and their wives and daughters to ride, faster than we could supply 

 them, and sent an agent to this country to purchase them on such terms as he 

 could, but to purchase them at all events. I have heard my father say he 

 knew the agent very well, and he made his home at the Rowland Brown 

 House, at Tower Hill, where he commenced purchasing and shipping until all 

 the good ones were sent off. He never let a good one escape him. This, and 

 the fact that they were not so well adapted to draught as other horses, was 

 the cause of their being neglected, and I believe the breed is now extinct in 

 this section. My father described the motion of this horse as differing from 

 others in that his backbone moved through the air in a straight line, without 

 inclining the rider from side to side, as the common racker or pacer of the 

 present day. Hence it was very easy; and being of great power of endurance, 

 they would perform a journey of a hundred miles in a day, without injury to 

 themselves or rider." 



We can understand very well how an enormous and unexpected 

 demand from Cuba, without restriction as to price, should re- 

 duce the numbers of the breed very materially. But it is a poor 

 compliment to the intelligence and thrift of the good people of 

 Narragansett to say that, because there was a lively demand; 

 they killed the goose that laid the golden egg every day. It is a 

 slander upon that Yankee smartness which is proverbial to con- 

 clude that they deprived themselves of the means of supplying a 

 market that was making them all rich. We must, therefore, 

 look for other causes that were more potent in producing so 

 marked a result. 



After more than a hundred years of faithful service, of great 

 popularity, and of profitable returns to their breeders, the little 

 Narragansetts began to disappear, just as their ancestors had dis- 

 appeared a century earlier. Rhode Island was no longer a 

 frontier settlement, but had grown into a rich and prosperous 

 State. Mere bridle paths through the woods had developed into 

 broad, smooth highways, and wheeled vehicles had taken the 

 place of the saddle. Under these changed conditions, the little 

 pacer was no longer desirable or even tolerable as a harness horse, 

 and he was supplanted by a larger and more stylish type of horse, 

 better suited to the particular kind of work required of him. 

 This was simply the ' 'survival of the fittest," considering the 

 nature of the services required of the animal. The average 

 height of the Narragansett was not over fourteen hands and one 

 inch. His neck was not long, even for his size; he dropped 



