198 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



"If a stranger entered his stall/'' relates a former 

 owner, "he would act as if he was going to kill him, 

 and yet he was perfectly kind. It was only his fun. 

 Whenever a woman entered the stall, he would be 

 extremely gentle. I used to let him loose in the 

 stable, and he would come rushing, stamping up, 

 showing his teeth and acting as if he meant to 

 slaughter me on the spot. But when he reached me 

 he would poke his nose in my face as pleasant as 

 could be, and invite me to stroke him." 



Altogether, Flying Eaton was a perfect cob, with 

 speed and endurance such as very few cobs indeed 

 possess. 



Within a few miles of the small town where Fly- 

 ing Eaton was foaled, a stout little Morgan mare very 

 much like the dam. of Flying Eaton used to be driven 

 by a farmer's boy. She also was a high stepper, and 

 so courageous and ambitious that she never could 

 be persuaded or compelled to walk while in harness. 

 The hills are very steep and long in that neighbor- 

 hood, but she invariably surmounted them at a lively 

 trot ; and on the one or two occasions when a serious 

 attempt was made to moderate her impetuosity, she re- 

 sisted so strongly as to upset the vehicle in a ditch. 

 This little mare became the mother of a very hand- 

 some, high-stepping chestnut colt (his sire being the 

 Eaton horse) which, though weighted with the name 

 of Shepherd F. Knapp, made a reputation in this coun- 

 try, in France, and in England. Mr. Burdett-Coutts 

 speaks of him as being "unsurpassed for pace and 

 action," and he conjectures that this horse derived his 

 gait and style from the Xorfolk trotter blood of Bell- 

 founder. But this is a mistake ; Knapp, as we have 

 seen, had not a drop of that blood. 



