60 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



he began to boast of the wonderful speed at which 

 the horse had carried him, and thereafter the animal 

 was taken out, harnessed to a buggy, on Saturday 

 afternoons and like occasions, for a brush on the 

 road with the fast trotters of the neighborhood, all 

 of whom he outstripped. Within a few weeks the 

 Dutchman's son, who had been brought up in this 

 country, procured an old sulky, and put the milk- 

 wagon steed in some sort of training. In two 

 months' time they appeared at a track, engaged in a 

 race with veteran drivers and horses of established 

 reputation, and beat them all in three straight heats, 

 — a wonderful achievement for a green trotter and 

 jockey, and an immense surprise to the professional 

 persons who had jeered at the uncouth appearance 

 of the newcomers. 



This case bears out Dr. Holmes's illustration of 

 the milk-cart ; nor is the other example that he sug- 

 gests without foundation in fact. Some years ago, a 

 baker's mare in Boston, after delivering her rolls and 

 brown bread in the city one day as usual, was driven 

 to Saugus, a distance of about eight miles, and started 

 in a match race at the track there. In the exuber- 

 ance of her spirits she ran away in the first heat, 

 and went around the course once or twice before she 

 could be stopped. But being allowed to start again, 

 notwithstanding this irregularity, she won the race, 

 and finished her day's work by bringing the baker 

 back to Boston, and beating all the horses that en- 

 gaged with her on the road home. 



It must not be supposed, however, that these ani- 

 mals were entirely of plebeian origin. The milk- 

 man's horse had a dash of thoroughbred in his 



