LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEES. 251 



the most appropriate name I ever knew a trotter to have, 

 as he was always cocked and primed and ready to go oil at 

 the sliglitest notice. Wlien in tlie vicinity of tlie steam cars 

 or ferry boats Needle Gun was i)erfectly wild, and in order 

 to handle him at all it was necessary to always stuff his ears. 

 One day they shipped Needle Gun across on the Thirty- 

 fourth street ferry. About the time the boat landed at 

 Hunter' s Point Needle Gun got the cotton out of his ears 

 and staited in to unload himself. Although everybody on 

 deck at the time turned to stop him he tore out through the 

 ferry house and injured himself so seriously that he was 

 never afterward of any account. 



Years ago, when l>an Mace was a kind of handy boy 

 about Boston, one of the old-time sports made a race and 

 started in to drive his own horse. He broke and acted wild 

 in the first two heats, and the owner invited Mace to take a 

 seat behind him. Mace put some cotton in the horse's ears, 

 drove him the balance of the race, and won it. That night 

 the owner took his old horse home and the next time Jie 

 drove the animal found a great change had come over him. 

 Nothing in the way of noise seemed to have any effect on 

 the horse, and when he si)oke to him the old fellow waited 

 to be hit with the whip before he moved. The owner was 

 somewhat alarmed and wondered what Mace had done to 

 the horse that he did not get over the effects in three weeks. 

 He sought out Mace and interviewed him confidentially on 

 the subject. Mace innocently told him he could not imagine 

 what ailed the horse, but on examining him the thought 

 struck him that the cotton had never been removed from his 

 ears, which proved to be the case, and when they took the 

 cotton out the old horse seemed to heave a sigh of relief and 

 the owner found he Avas himself again. 



This race with Nobby was the first I ever drove for Mr. 

 Gordon, and as I have been connected with that gentleman's 

 horses more or less ever since, a short history of his estab- 

 lishment may not be out of place. In manners, aj)x>earance, 

 etc., Mr. Gordon is a veritable Chesterfield. He is a success- 



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