208 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



was brought from Aleppo, about the year 1710. He did not 

 cover many mares except those of his owner in Yorkshire, but he 

 was very successful. Childers, commonly called Flying Childers, 

 was foaled 1715. He was got by the Darley Arabian out of 

 Betty Leeds, a distinguished lightweight runner, by Careless. 

 Childers was the most distinguished race horse of his day, and 

 the fabulous story of his having run a mile in a minute was cir- 

 culated, believed and written about for generations. He ran a 

 trial against Almanzor and Brown Betty over the round course 

 at Newmarket (three miles, six furlongs and ninety-three yards) 

 in six minutes and forty seconds, "and it was thought/' says the 

 old record, "that he moved eighty-two feet and a half in a second 

 of time, which is nearly at the rate of one mile in a minute." 

 This was the basis of the legend "A Mile in a Minute," and it 

 has lived till our own day, just as many a traditional pedigree 

 has lived. If we accept the time as given by the old chroniclers, 

 of which we have very grave doubts, Childers ran at the rate of 

 one minute and forty-five seconds to the mile,,, and he covered a 

 distance of fifty feet and about two inches to the second of time. 

 The pedigree of Childers on the maternal side is one of the old- 

 est in the Stud Book, and we are not aware that any charges 

 have ever been made against its substantial authenticity. 



BLAZE, the son of Childers, was foaled 1733, and was out of a 

 mare known as "The Confederate Filly," by Grey Grantham; her 

 dam was by the Duke of Rutland's Black Barb, and her grandam 

 was a mare of unknown breeding, called "Bright's Roan." Here 

 the maternal line runs into the woods, but this is not the only 

 defect in the pedigree, for the dam of Grey Grantham was also 

 unknown. In order to give a clear idea of just how Blaze was 

 bred, taking the Stud Book for our authority, we will here tabu- 

 late the pedigree for a few crosses. 



( Darley Arabian 

 f Childers ........ 4 , Careless 



B]aze | Betty Leeds... j g^fo Leeds. 



* u ^{rrriSar- 



Daughter of.. . - Bribt , g Roan unknown 



Certainly this horse cannot be ranked as thoroughbred under 

 any rule, English or American, that has ever been formulated. 

 Only three generations away we find two animals of hopelessly 



