THE TROTTING- HORSE OF AMERICA. 331 



lirst called Modoc, and afterwards John Morgan. JSTow, it 

 is true, as v/e shall presently see, that he made her put 

 forth all her powers to beat him, especially at two-mile 

 heats. But Patchen did this more than once, and actually 

 beat her two-mile heats as well. Moreover, it did him no 

 perceptible harm ; for he was still very fast and very stout 

 when he was trained again to trot with General Butler, 

 after having been at the stud: while, as regards John Mor- 

 gan, the race appeared to upset him. It '' cooked his mut- 

 ton," as the saying is, and he never was as good again. 

 With this, which Patchen well deserved, I leave him. 



But Flora's work in 18G0 was not ended when she had 

 done with Patchen. James McMann would make hay when 

 the sun did not shine as well as when it did ; and so, a 

 purse being oifered down at Danbury, in Connecticut, on 

 the 15th of November, he took Flora there to trot for it. 

 The attachment of James to Flora was very great. He 

 gloried in her, and often reproved the boys for giving her 

 nick-names, other than the one he fondly applied to her 

 which was Dolly ; but it must be confessed that he kept 

 her busy, and at it early and late. Her opponent at Dan- 

 bury was the Widow Machree, a mare that bade fair at one 

 time to win a place only second to that of Flora herself, 

 and would have done it, in my opinion, if her legs had been 

 as good as her pluck and her constitution were. The 

 Widow was a low, wiry chestnut, with all the hard, con- 

 densed quality of a thoroughbred. She had great speed, 

 she was capital before a wagon, she was as game a mare as 

 any that I remember ; but she was light in the bone below 

 the knee, and her fore legs went early. The truth is, how- 

 ever, that, with proper care and judicious management, they 

 m'ght have lasted a good deal longer. She was one of the 

 daughters of that famous horse American Star, of whom 1 

 have .spoken in prior chapters. 



At Danbury, the mud was deep and heavy, and the 

 weather bleak and cold, as it commonly is in New 



