AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 2/ 



During these business years in Batavia my 

 attachment for that noble animal, the horse, 

 gradually increased, and learning that a horse 

 trainer by the name of Rarey, intended visiting 

 the town, I was one of the first to seek for and 

 obtain what knowledge I could from him ; but 

 finding his system to be not at all practical, I 

 applied myself to the investigation of the sub- 

 ject, and began experimenting with a view to the 

 discovery of a better, simpler and more certain 

 system. 



Some years later it was rumored that a gentle- 

 man named R. P. Hamilton, who was self- 

 announced as "the great renowned horse trainer," 

 would give instruction on the subject. He soon 

 made his appearance, and, with others, I attended 

 his lectures. Mr. Hamilton advanced some valu- 

 able ideas which I gladly adopted and added to 

 my former knowledge, and when I had grasped 

 all that was valuable in his instructions, and 

 united it to the results of my own experiments, 

 I felt assured that, ere long, I should reach the 

 height of my ambition and develop a system of 



