AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 385 



eastern mare ; and a good young stallion he was, 

 named Blue Jacket. I felt very confident that I should, 

 at any rate, secure uniformity from so close a connection 

 as this ; and I also felt confident that I should get a 

 great many valuable qualities from a sire and dam so 

 well bred and so full of merit themselves. The first 

 colt, now known as Sorrel Jim, is as good a little horse 

 as one could desire, about fourteen hands high, of light 

 sorrel color, with lighter mane and tail ; with a loose, 

 open, strong gait ; great intelligence and courage ; and 

 speed enough to beat almost every thing he meets on 

 the road, even when handled by my young daughter, 

 who now owns and drives him. He is a most attrac- 

 tive little horse. The next colt was a gray mare, not 

 at all preposessing, and by no means worthy of her dis- 

 tinguished ancestry. The next colt was a gray horse 

 of about the same description ; and I began to despair. 

 The next was a bay horse ; and a good bay horse he is. 

 I have no fear of him. His head and neck and shoul- 

 der and back and quarter and leg will carry him very 

 far up the steep which leads to the temple of fame, 

 or I am very much mistaken. He is not as brilliant as 

 his dam ; but he has immense strength, a great, even 

 gait, an abundance of calm determination, steady cour- 

 age, and a personal pride which will not be trifled with. 

 The last colt, and the fifth which the mare has had by 

 Blue Jacket, is a mouse-colored filly, too young to tell 

 even the first chapter of her story. 



Here I had a dam and sire closely related, bearing in 



25 



