556 THE HOESE OF AMEEICA. 



breeding the trotter. And, interspersed with this continual seeking for 

 the light and the right, there was an amount of historical matter pub- 

 lished that would make the compilation of a valuable book on the Ameri- 

 can trotter possible from the Monthly alone. It was, moreover, continu- 

 ally exposing frauds of history and of pedigrees, and was as potent in 

 guarding as it was in discovering the truth. It was the recognized enemy 

 of fraud, of humbug, of false pretense everywhere, and attacked them in 

 high places as well as low, and that its editor incurred the enmity of many 

 whose designs attracted the Monthly's searchlight, and were thwarted 

 by it, is a fact known of all men. 



This, in brief, \vas the character of the Monthly from its foundation, 

 until it passed out of Mr. Wallace's hands. To follow its detailed history 

 through the nearly sixteen years of Mr. Wallace's editorship is not the 

 purpose of this article, but the rather to group the salient factors that 

 made it what it was, and that have secured for it an enduring place in 

 trotting history. 



The Monthly was from the first illustrated, and the progress in horse 

 art is well demonstrated by tracing through its pages. Its first drawings 

 were made by James C. Beard, who came of a race of artists, but whose 

 attempts at horse portraits were wretched caricatures, one and all. Still, 

 they seemed to be the best, or rather the least bad, then obtainable. Mr. 

 Wallace, however, was painfully cognizant of the lack of truthful por- 

 traits of horses, and was not less delighted than surprised when, one Sep- 

 tember day in 1878, a young man came into his office, and exhibited 

 drawings that were so obviously truthful portraitures that they were a 

 revelation in horse art. A rapid questioning as to whether he had drawn 

 them, and where he had hidden his light so long, developed that the young 

 genius was Herbert S. Kittredge, of Pennsylvania. He was immediately 

 engaged, and his work in the Monthly was the first reputable horse por- 

 traiture in American literature. This gifted, self-educated genius died in 

 May, 1881, long before his prime, and when his powers were daily develop- 

 ing. He was the forerunner of Whitney, Dickey, Morris, and others 

 whose ability to faithfully portray horses is acknowledged to-day. He 

 had not the mechanical aids notably the camera or processes which 

 they so freely call into play, but in true artistic ability to draw faithfully, 

 it is doubtful whether this undeveloped master was the inferior of any 

 artist who has yet made horse portraiture a specialty in any country. 



From year to year the contributory staff of Wallace's Monthly increased, 

 and always had in its membership a number of the leading breeders and 

 students. For many years Mr. Wallace did practically all the editorial 

 work himself, as in fact he did the registration work. But this gradually 

 outgrew him, and soon his office staff began to increase. First he removed 

 the office to 212 Broadway, not far from its first location. Then in May, 

 1887, the final move was made to commodious offices in the Stewart Build- 

 ing, at Broadway and Chambers Street, when the office staff had grown 



