TROTTING FAMILIES. 43 



Justin Morgan was no trotter, and not till the third 

 or fourth generation did a trotter arise in his family 

 but he was distinguished in three ways, as a draught 

 horse, as a short-distance runner, and as a military 

 charger or parade horse. In his day there were no 

 race-courses and no stated races in Vermont ; but when 

 the sporting element gathered at a tavern on a spring 

 or summer evening, they were wont to amuse them- 

 selves by running their horses on the level road in 

 front of the tavern, the prize being a gallon of rum, 

 and in these races Justin Morgan is said never to have 

 been beaten. On the same occasions a contest would 

 often be had in pulling logs ; and when the other horses 

 concerned had done their best, it was the custom of 

 Justin Morgans owner to hitch him to the heaviest 

 log that had been stirred, then to jump on himself, 

 and the little horse never failed to move the load. 

 When ridden at a muster, his proud carriage made 

 him the cynosure of all e} T es ; and he was so intelli- 

 gent and tractable that women could ride him. In 

 fine, Justin Morgan was an animal of extraordinary 

 utility and style. To an extraordinary extent, also, 

 he stamped his image and impressed his qualities upon 

 his descendants. 



Unfortunate indeed is the American in whose ears 

 those magic words, " Morgan horse/*' awake no recol- 

 lection, or not even a thrill of sympathetic interest. 

 For nearly a century the Morgans have served the 

 farmer, the stable-keeper, the minister, the country 

 doctor, the mounted militiaman, and all other people 

 who desired to travel quickly or to be carried hand- 

 somely. "Wonderful truly ("and perhaps at times a 

 little apocryphal) are the stories of Morgan intelli- 



