LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEKS. 381 



Line, not only drives horses on the road, but has also had a 

 stable on the turf for a number of 3 ears. Mr. Houston, Jr., 

 is perhaps the youngest road rider in New York. From the 

 manner in which I have seen him handle his trotters I 

 believe I would be willing to match him to drive against any 

 one of his age in the country. While his father has much 

 the advantage of him in years, I doubt very much whether 

 the young man asks any odds of his sire when it comes to 

 driving a trotter. 



Major Dickinson, one of the old school, and one of the few 

 men that are left now who are willing to match their horses 

 for five or ten thousand dollars a side, keeps a very hand- 

 some establishment for road driving and also another for 

 turf purposes. He enjoys driving his horses and also see- 

 ing them trot, which is attested by the fact that when they 

 perform the Major with his pleasant ways is always on 

 hand. 



Nathan Straus also keeps two establishments, and in 

 Majolica, record of 2:15, he has a horse that he has had a great 

 deal of pleasure with. Majolica has quite a history, hav- 

 ing been bred by Mr. Eobert Bonner and sold for a very 

 small i^rice. It has always seemed strange to me that as a 

 rule the men who breed horses do not derive the full bene- 

 fit f]'om them. JSTaming over the list of our celebrated 

 horses commencing with Maud S., who was sold by ber 

 breeder for about $500, Jay-Eye- See, whom Colonel West 

 disposed of for a small consideration, St. Julien, Goldsmith 

 Maid, and so on down through a long list I find that most 

 of them have been bred for trotters and by men who under- 

 stood their business and then sold for comparatively small 

 sums of money. Rarus was the only horse of the kind 

 from whom his breeder realized the full benefit. 



In Boston the two representative gentleman horsemen 

 are John Shepard and Mr. Geo. Hall. In appearance Mr. 

 Shepard is a tall, gentlemanly looking man, one of 

 the most prominent dry-goods merchants in the Eastern 

 country, and no Yankee ever loved a horse better. He has 



