LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 139 



their being contestants in races long after their powers were 

 on the wane, causing them to suffer defeat fi'om animals 

 whom in their prime they could easily have left behind. 

 Another reason why Mr. Bonner is a benefactor to the turf 

 lies in the fact that his willingness to buy, no matter at what 

 price, the fastest horse in the world makes a constant mar- 

 ket at top figures for animals that would otherwise be 

 white elephants on the hands of their owners — something 

 for which an adequate value could never be obtained. Mr. 

 Robert Bonner, above all men, has been the friend, patron, 

 and in every sense the benefactor of horse breeders, horse 

 drivers, and horses themselves. 



But to return to Rarus and his sale. After leaving the 

 horse in the stable, Mr. Conklin, Mr. Simmons, Mr. David 

 Bonner, and myself, adjourned to the Hoffman House, where 

 the money was paid over to Mr. Conklin. I told Mr. David 

 Bonner that I had left all of Rarus' s effects, wagons, etc., 

 at the stable with him, with the exception of one ]3air of 

 blankets that I had promised Mr. Conklin, and wished he 

 would say to Mr. RoV)ert Bonner that he was entitled to 

 them all, Ibut that, if he did not wish to keep them, he could 

 send me word, and I would come and take them away. The 

 next day, I received a note from Mr. Robert Bonner, asking 

 me to call at his office, which I did. He thanked me for my 

 attention in sending him Rarus' s traps; told me he would be 

 glad to keex3 them, and insisted on giving me an order to 

 duplicate them new from a shop at his expense. This I 

 declined to accept, for the reason that I believed any man, 

 who had given $36,000 for a horse, was entitled to his be- 

 longings, and so said. Mr. Bonner told me that he should 

 send Rarus to his farm in a day or two, and invited me up 

 there to see Rarus in his new home. I accepted the invita- 

 tion, and the pleasing remembrance of that day, and the 

 valuable hints that I received in the way of training horses, 

 are still fresh in my mind. I there took my last ride behind 

 Rarus, driving him a mile in 2:16^, over Mr, Bonner's track, 

 and left liim with feelings of regret. 



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