76 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



birth," says the historian, " it was treated differently 

 from any other animal on the place. As soon as it 

 had been weaned, a suitable stall was built in a big 

 barn for its accommodation, and from that day forth 

 nothing was left undone to secure its comfort ; and 

 it was not long before Conklin and his colt were the 

 talk of that end of Long Island. When the colt was 

 three years old it was broken to harness, and during 

 the following summer took part in a little race on 

 the Island, winning the contest in about three min- 

 utes. Then the old man was more certain than ever 

 that he had the wonder of the world, and redoubled 

 his efforts in the way of care, etc., had a special sta- 

 ble built for the colt, with an office adjoining, where 

 in winter, all seated around a big fire, he would 

 entertain his neighbors, telling them what a great 

 horse that colt was going to be. . . . For the next 

 two years Mr. Conklin gave almost his entire time 

 to the care and education of this colt. He bought 

 himself a light wagon, got a set of double harness, 

 secured an old runner, and as he was a very heavy 

 man, and did not want to compel the colt to draw his 

 weight, he hooked him by the side of the runner, 

 and in this manner he received his first lessons in 

 trotting." 1 



The extraordinary part of this story is that the colt, 

 who was called Earus, perfectly fulfilled the extrav- 

 agant expectations of his breeder and owner, becoming 

 the champion trotter of the world, and reducing the 

 record in 1878 to 2.13]. Mr. Conklin brought him 

 up well, for Splan, in whose hands Rarus passed the 



1 This quotation is from John S] dan's " Life with the Trotters," 

 a verv entertaininc: work. 



