226 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



Among the many eulogies and word-paintings of Messenger, 

 by writers who knew the horse personally, we select the follow- 

 ing from the pen of the late David W. Jones, of Long Island, as 

 the most striking and picturesque. He says: 



" Having scanned in n y boyhood the magnificent form and bearing of this 

 noble old horse, and for more than half a century having drawn reins over his 

 descendants, I have tor a length of time felt it incumbent to furnish such facts 

 and impressions, as, when considered with those of others, will give the 

 younger portion of the present generation, as well as posterity, a fair knowledge 

 of the general characteristics of the noblest Roman of them all. The first time 

 I ever saw old Messenger my father sent me to the farm of Townsend Cock, 

 Esq., of the County of Queens, L. I., where the horse was then standing, to 

 receive his services. On my arrival at his harem, I found the groom, whom I 

 knew, and he at once placed me with the mare a short distance from the stable, 

 by the side of a barrier erected for security. Having at home heard frequent 

 and long discussions in relation to the wonder I was now to behold, you may 

 suppose I was all eyes. Presently the stalwart groom, James Lingham, with, 

 at the extreme end of the bridle rein, all the blood of all the Howards, turned 

 the angle of the stable and came in full view. The moment the old horse 

 caught sight of the paragon of beauty I had brought to his embrace, he threw 

 himself into an attitude, with the grandeur of which no other animal can com- 

 pare, and at the same moment opened his mouth, and distending his nostrils, 

 raised his exultant voice to such a pitch as gave unmistakable evidence of the 

 capacity of his lungs and the size of his windpipe. Indeed, if his nostrils were 

 as much larger than ordinary as my boyish vision pictured them, I can almost 

 suppose that Mr. McMann with his little bay mare (Flora Temple), and sulky, 

 could drive in at one, down the windpipe, turn under his immensely long 

 arching loin and out at the other. ... At that early day I was only im- 

 pressed by those extraordinary developments; but in after years as I sit behind 

 his offspring, they invariably remind me of what was then to my youthful 

 judgment less apparent the extraordinary strength of his loin, the length 

 and beautiful molding of the buttock, the faultless shape of the crupper 

 bone, giving an elegant set to his fine flowing tail, as well as the remarkable 

 swell of his stifle, altogether forming a most perfect and powerful hind 

 quarter." 



A good many years ago I made a special study of all that had 

 been written about Messenger, and I was fortunate in being able 

 to supplement this information by interviews with a few old 

 gentlemen who knew the horse personally. Nearly all that 

 generation of horsemen had passed away before I commenced this 

 personal search for them. But a few then remained with excel- 

 lent memories and with characters above suspicion or reproach. 

 From these sources I gathered a great many incidents, facts and 

 descriptions which I succeeded in harmonizing, to my own mind 



