LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 133 



for New York, and wished that, after talking with Mr. 

 Conkliu, I woiiM come to New York and see him. I com- 

 municated these facts to Mr. Conklin, and by apx^ointment 

 we met in New York two days later. In our first talk, Mr. 

 Conklin opposed the idea of selling Rarus very much. He 

 said he thought that after all the good Earns had done him 

 he was at least entitled to a good home in his latter days. 

 I said that Mr. Simmons was ready to guarantee that the 

 horse would have as good a home as any animal could have. 

 I also told him that I thought it was more humane to sell 

 Rarus to a good home while in the prime of life than to 

 keep him and trot him until he was old and worn out and 

 suffered defeat, as I had known a great many other first-class 

 horses to do. This seemed to strike him rather forcibly, 

 and after some further talk, he said to me, ' ' You have at- 

 tended to all the trotting of him, his training and driving, 

 and have control of him, and if you see fit to sell him I will be 

 satisfied with anything you do. ' ' I took a carriage and drove 

 to Mr. Simmons' s office, and told him that I had come pre- 

 X^ared to put a price or Rarus. I then told him that the price 

 was $40,000 in cash. We had some talk, which ended by 

 Mr. Simmons offering me $30,000 for him. I said "No, 

 $40,000," and left the matter there. Mr. Conklin and I 

 took the train for Hartford that evening, where Rarus had 

 already gone to meet an engagement. Our intention was to 

 try and beat his record, which we were j)ositive he was able 

 to do at that time, having without extra preparation gone 

 the third heat at Rochester in 2:13^. I gave him careful 

 preparations for the effort, and the last time I worked him 

 before the day fixed for the trial, I thought him a better 

 horse than ever. He seemed in the pink of condition, with 

 unlimited speed. 



The morning of his race, H. M. Whitehead, of New York, 

 came to me on behalf of Mr. Simmons, with regard to the 

 sale of the horse. I told him, as I had stated to Mr. Sim- 

 mons, that the price was $40,000, with the regular commis- 

 sion off for cash, which was 10 per cent, I also told him 



