RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



" I hope by the time your present stock is broken 

 down by old age to present you a pair of my own 

 raising, better than you have now. The next ten 

 years ought to produce something that will go in 

 2.10. If you hold out as well as the Commodore 

 has, you will still then be young enough to hold the 

 reins over such stock. 



" U. S. GRANT." 



At the time this was written Dexter, with his rec- 

 ord of 2.17^, was the trotting king and the shining 

 light of Mr. Bonner's stable. In after years two 

 horses with records better than 2.10 to high-wheel 

 sulky were occupants of the stable, but neither was 

 bred by General Grant. 



General U. S. Grant tells us in his personal 

 memoirs that as a boy his father, Jesse R. Grant, 

 found a home in the family of Judge Tod, the father 

 of the late Governor Tod of Ohio, and remained 

 there until he was old enough to learn a trade. John 

 Tod, one of the sons of Governor Tod, was for 

 many years a prominent owner of trotting horses, 

 and, prior to the William Edwards regime, was the 

 President of the Driving Park Association at Cleve- 

 land. George Tod, the brother of John, is a dis- 

 tinguished breeder and owner of trotting horses at 

 Youngstown, Ohio. 



"I detested trade," writes General Grant, " pre- 

 ferring almost any other labor; but I was fond of 

 agriculture, and of all employment in which horses 

 were used. When I was about eleven years old, I 



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