CHAPTER XXIX 



BREEDING FARMS IN THE BERKSHIRES 



I KNEW Charles H. Kerner for more than a third 

 of a century, and from first to last he was an 

 enthusiastic lover of the trotting horse. He was a 

 member of visiting delegations to Kentucky when 

 trotting was in its infancy there, and he struggled 

 manfully to live the pace set by companions of 

 greater physical endowment than himself. He was 

 one of the privileged group at Stony Ford when that 

 breeding establishment commanded national atten- 

 tion, and he often stood with uplifted glass In the 

 smoking-room and saw the Old Year pass, and felt 

 the first beat of the pulse of the New Year. He was 

 a regular road rider, and seldom missed an afternoon 

 call at Gabe Case's or John Barry's, when in town, 

 and he felt certain that George B. Alley, Shepherd 

 F. Knapp, David Bonner, Lawrence Kip, and Albert 

 C. Hall would be there. He kept his secrets so well 

 that he often surprised us, when driving through the 

 country, by asking us to stop while he climbed over 

 a fence to Inspect a brood mare or colt grazing In 

 the pasture, and which he was forced to admit was 

 his property. When in jovial mood. Alley Bonner 

 would turn to hlrn and say: "Charley, here is a 



280 



