136 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



if he ever knew what fear meant, but one hot 

 noon in June, at Mystic, he met with an ex- 

 perience that surely startled him some. A 

 youthful green boy from the country had 

 been employed by one of the trainers to as- 

 sist in the 'stable. He had great plans of 

 some dav working up to the position of a 

 knight of the sulky. Some of the grooms 

 saw the idea of having fun, and informed 

 him that he was too heavy to drive, but if he 

 would go into training he would likely get 

 down to weight. To do this he would have 

 to spend some time in one of the manure pits 

 for a thorough steaming out. This day the 

 horses had all been worked early on account 

 of the heat, so the boys induced the green 

 one to take his first course of sprouts. Op- 

 posite to "Uncle Jock's" stable was the larg- 

 est and hottest heap of manure. Into the 

 very center of this, where the steam was 

 rising like smoke and the thermometer would 

 register 130 degrees, was placed the student 

 after he had undressed. Then the manuri 

 was again thrown about him till all that 

 could be seen was from his chin to the top 

 of his head. The sweat was running down 

 the bov's face in streams when "Uncle Jock" 

 happened to pass by. Somehow he glanced 

 towards his manure heap, stopped with a 

 start at the sight of a human head with the 

 eves staring into his own. 



"Was it a case of murder," he thought, 

 "and the head been thrown up there?" 



To examine further "Uncle Jock" walked 

 around the heap, and those eyes followed 

 him. Then he knew it was alive, so stopped 

 again and said : 



"What in hell are you doing in there?" 



"I'm in training to make a jockey," came 

 the reply. 



"Yer "are, are yer? Well, you will have to 

 get some brains first, I'm thinking, and if 

 you don't get out of that pretty soon the 

 grave diggers will get a job," and the veteran 

 made his own grooms get to work and dig 

 him out. 



At Svracuse a prominent driver from one 

 of the Eastern Middle States, that had cam- 

 paigned his gelding in New England early 

 in that season, attempted a bluff on "Uncle 

 Jock." The latter was standing in the home- 

 stretch chatting with "Ollie" Woodard. of 

 Boston, when up rushed the trainer with a 

 threatening air and said: 



"Mr. Bowen, I understand that you have 

 reported around that I pulled my horse at 

 the Saugus July meeting?" 



"Uncle Jock" relieved himself of a mouth- 

 ful of tobacco juice, in the meantime looking 

 the trainer straight in the eye. and then 



pointedly replied: "Well, yer did, didn't 

 yer?" 



"I don't know," said the trainer in a weak 

 and surprised tone. 



"Yer don't know, eh ! Well, I know that 

 you did." 



This was too strong for the trainer, who 

 turned on his heel and got out of sight. 



For many years Lewis Whitaker, of Bos- 

 ton, known as "Old Whit," and "Uncle 

 Jock" were the closest of friends, yet when 



LEWIS WHITAKER 



Patron and Comrade of "Uncle Jock" Bowen. 



Owner of Refina, 2:08 1-2; Jesse 



Hanson, 2:13 3-4, etc. 



together both were sure to get to quarreling 

 like a couple of school boys. One evening 

 in the dining room of one of the Dover, 

 N. H., hotels, the discussion between the two 

 was whether a pint of beans would swell to 

 fill a two-quart bean pot. "Old Whit" de- 

 clared that they would, while "Uncle Jock" 

 was as firm in telling the former he had 

 grown so old that he had become foolish to 

 talk such rubbish. The argument kept the 

 entire room in a howl of laughter. 



But when "Uncle Jock" had his pocket 

 nicked at the Lexington meeting, "Old Whit" 

 had his turn. He had remained to see the 

 two weeks' meeting at Dover, and when the 

 news came he said that "Uncle Jock" was 

 not a safe person to carry money around. 

 He was too old for one thing, and another 

 was that he would insist in putting his money 

 in his vest pocket, just because Sam Lang- 

 maid always did when he was with him. The 

 consequence was, "Whit" said, that he was 



