PEESISTAKCE 1 H TEAIKIKG COLTS. 139 



in her company. I will first put the long rein on him, 

 so that he can follow in the rear, till the novelty of the 

 situation is gone, when I imagine he will not trouble us 

 in this particular. Your former remark, that patience 

 is everything in the formation of trotters, is doubtless 

 correct, and must be accepted as an axiom by those who 

 would be successful in teaching young roadsters how to 

 trot. You cannot look for them to "keep pace with our 

 expectancy, and fly," unless we are reasonable enough not 

 to look for the acquirement of speed till they have a fair 

 chance of showing it, after years of patient teaching. It 

 requires a good deal of enthusiasm for the business to 

 make trotters of colts, and no one will be highly success- 

 ful who has not a great fondness for them. They are very 

 trying to the temper at times, and it is of the first im- 

 portance that we should school ourselves never to show 

 the ruffling. Neither must we be discouraged by the jeers 

 of others, "that we are throwing our time away in at- 

 tempting to make something of a brute that never will go 

 fast enough to cany the mail." "Once upon a time," at a 

 quarter race, I saw two men strip to fight out some 

 grudge that had culminated in the excitement attend- 

 ing on the running. One was a big, brawny six-footer, 

 called Barney : his opponent, a much smaller man, yclept 

 Sam. The feelings of the assemblage ran very strongly 

 in favor of the larger, and whenever he hit a telling blow, 

 he was cheered on, "Now you have got him, Barney," 

 " Hurrah for Barney ! " " He's nearly licked," with nume- 

 rous phrases calculated to keep up his spirits. But Sam 

 was a nervous, wiry fellow, and needed a good deal of 

 " punishment " to cook his gruel ; and, notwithstanding 

 the shouts of encouragement to Barney, he finally came 

 out conqueror, the big fellow having to be carried to a 

 neighbor's house, where he did not get out of bed for 

 several daya. On congratulating Sam on his victory, 



