EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii 



pletion of the book were all arranged, and I received 

 his directions to that end. During the progress of the 

 work, I had some hundreds of interviews with him, 

 during which he dictated the matter now presented 

 to the reader in this volume. It was his custom to 

 read carefully every chapter as it appeared in " The 

 Spirit of the Times," and he gave a few directions for 

 emendations. These have been strictly followed. His 

 memory was marvellous, not only of events, but of 

 the little details connected with them; and he had such 

 a graphic way of describing matters and things, that 

 his hearers and his readers were carried to the scene 

 and time, and virtually made spectators of the things 

 themselves. He was utterly intolerant of quackery in 

 any shape ; and his readers may rely upon it that the 

 only way to develop the gifts and capabilities of the 

 trotting-horse is to employ those elements which 

 HIRAM WOODRUFF brought to the composition of this 

 work, judgment, conscientious painstaking to be 

 right, and much perseverance. 



