52 MY HORSE ; MY LOVE 



Princess of Wales, when in England, that on hearing of her 

 great passion for horses, and her great ambition to possess 

 a beautiful Arab, he determined, on his return to Turkey, 

 to send her the choicest animal in his stable. Of course 

 you must understand that the Sultan had no opportunity at 

 home of conversing with any other women than those of 

 his own harem. And so it was that Kouch, the most 

 beautiful horse ever seen in England, the only pure "air- 

 drinker " in the Sultan's stables, for which he paid ten 

 thousand guineas, entered England.' 



Is he still living? 



' Alas, no ! The new Master of Horse in the Imperial 

 stables, having no liking for Arabs, in an evil moment 

 ordered Kouch to be shot. The order was quickly carried 

 out, much to the regret of the Prince of Wales, who had 

 intended to present him to a gentleman owning a rare stud 

 of Arabs in England. 



' The only pure-bred son he had, Gomussa — whose dam 

 was Noami, the only Arabian mare then in the United 

 States — was subsequently exported to Chili. Kouch and 

 Kismet were admitted by the cognoscenti to be the horses of 

 this century, and now both are gone. Kismet died two 

 hours after landing in New York, having been eighteen days 

 at sea, and dying, no doubt, of peritonitis. 



' Yes, I heard with great regret of his death, which was a 

 severe loss to two continents. His owner, the Rev. F. F, 

 Vidal, of Needham Market, Suffolk, England, yielded him 

 up after the most earnest persuasions, as a loan to the 

 Americo-Arab Company on Long Island, for two years, in 

 order that new blood might be infused into the coming 

 races of horses in America. Mr Vidal himself wrote me 

 that he was actuated by a hearty sympathy in the efforts 



