182 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



The following week at Rochester we struck some new 

 talent in Wedgewood' s race, which we disj)osed of without 

 much trouble, winning in four heats, Kitty Bates taking 

 the first. In the second heat of this race Wedgewood re- 

 duced his record to 2:19^, after which he trotted the third 

 heat in 2:20, and the fourth in 2:23, winning easily. In 

 this race I made one of the greatest mistakes of my life. I 

 was more than ever convinced that for Wedgewood to go a 

 good race he must be laid up at least one heat, and maybe 

 a little more, it depending a good deal on his condition. 

 The newspaper reporters and a few others who go to the 

 races commenced to abuse me roundly; said that I was driv- 

 ing Wedgewood simply in the interests of the pool-box ; 

 declared that the judges ought to comj^el me to win in 

 straight heats with him, and if I refused or did not do it, 

 take the horse away from me. This did not affect me much, 

 as long ago when I was a boy and worked for Mr. Simmons, 

 I once went to him, complaining that the newspapers had 

 criticised me very severely, and he said to me : ' ' Well, 

 Splan, if you are going to make your living out of the pub- 

 lic, you win be bound to be criticised, and sometimes very 

 severely, but you can rest assured of one thing — jou had 

 better have them criticise you severely than to say nothing 

 at all about you." Mr. Simmons told me many a good 

 thing, but I always considered this one the best. I don't 

 believe that newspaj)er criticism can make or unmake a man. 

 If he is made of good stuff, all the news^^apers in the world 

 can't write him down, and if he is made of soft material 

 there is no real merit. The higher the newspapers write 

 him up, the harder he will fall when he comes down, as he 

 is certain to do. A friend of mine who, like the newspaper 

 reporters, thought I could win whenever I liked, came to 

 me at Springfield, and said that as a personal favor to him 

 he would like me to win in three straight heats ; and to 

 please him, and thinking XDerhaps I could drag it off in 

 three heats, I i^ut my money on my horse and started out 

 with that determination. The track was soft and deep and 



