Good Half-Breds. 35 



membered that of two horses with an equal strain 

 of pure blood, one may have reverted to a coarse 

 physical type, and the other to the finer. And 

 the one who has inherited the undeniable stamp 

 of the common-bred ancestor may also have in- 

 herited from the other side those qualities of con- 

 stitution, courage, intelligence, and speed, which 

 sum up the value of high English blood. Not 

 one fine-bred horse in one hundred — I speak 

 from the ownership of, and daily personal inti- 

 macy for considerable periods with, over fifty good 

 saddle beasts, — has as many of the admirable 

 qualities of pure blood as Patroclus. And yet 

 {absit omen), he has a wave in his tail, and though 

 his feet and legs are perfect in shape, and as clean 

 as a colt's, they are far beyond the thoroughbred's 

 in size. He shows that his ancestry runs back 

 both to the desert and the plough. In America, 

 surely, handsome is that handsome does. Let us 

 value good blood for its qualities, not looks, and 

 ride serviceable half-breds, instead of sporting 

 worthless weeds because they approach to the 

 clothes-horse pattern, or have necks like camels. 



VII. 



One of the most distinctly promising features 

 of the athletic tendencies of to-day is the mania 

 for the saddle. Fifteen years ago, the boys along 

 the Boston streets used to hoot at your master, 



