LIFE WITH THE TROTTEKS. 343 



to the track in condition the day of the race, and I will make 

 it the best day's work that you have ever done." Ethan 

 had been used on the road for a long while and Mr. Simmons 

 had always said that he had never had a horse with him 

 that could run as fast as he could trot, and was sure that 

 with a good running mate he could go a mile close to two 

 minutes. Mace had for a running mate Cliarlotte F., a 

 thoroughbred bay mare about fifteen and one-half hands 

 high, that he bought from Dr. Weldon. In appearance she 

 did not have much of the thoroughbred about her, being 

 rather a strong mare on short legs with a good deal of bone; 

 went with her head rather low, could trot a three-and-a-half 

 gait and run a mile in harness close to two minutes. Her 

 disposition w^as perfect. She was without exception the best 

 horse of that kind I have ever seen. I find that most run- 

 ners get rank and want to rush off after being driven a few 

 times. When this race was made I consider that Mace was 

 in his jDrime, and with a backer like Mr. Simmons he had 

 the nerve to try anything. In talking the matter over one 

 day with Mr. Simmons in my presence Mace made a remark 

 that I never forgot. Mr. Simmons was cautioning him about 

 training Ethan when Mace remarked: "Never mind Ethan; 

 have the runner in good shape, as he is the one that has got 

 to do the work," and went on to say that a man might as 

 well undertake to run an engine without paying any atten- 

 tion to making steam as to try to win a race of that kind 

 without having his runner in first-class condition, and I doubt 

 whether or no in all liis active life he ever said anything 

 that contained more facts in the same number of words than 

 that. 



I will describe as near as near as I can how Mace trained 

 and drove his team in the race. Ethan was a liorse that did 

 not need a great deal of work, always seeming to have his 

 speed, and Mace worked him in single harness a great many 

 slow miles. After he had his legs and body thoroughly 

 hardened and in shape he would occasionally hitch Ethan 

 up with a runner and brush him a little better than a 2:20 



