RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



home, Maud S. will trot on Tuesday, October 14, or 

 next good day at Charter Oak Park, exhibition heats 

 against her own record of 2.09!, and, should she 

 beat the record (which she may not be able to do, 

 owing to the lateness of the season and the uncer- 

 tainty of the weather) , The Connecticut Stock Breed- 

 ers' Association will commemorate the achievement 

 by awarding to her a cup with the time made by her 

 engraved thereon." 



The word commemorate struck the fancy of Mr. 

 Bonner and he gravely handed me a cent as a token 

 of remembrance. This copper coin I still have. The 

 next morning I went to Hartford and saw T. J. 

 Vail, Secretary of the National Trotting Association, 

 and Morgan G. Bulkeley, President of the Connecti- 

 cut Stock Breeders' Association, and arranged for the 

 competition against time under the rules set forth in 

 the memorandum. There was willingness to stretch 

 a point to meet the well-grounded views of a horse- 

 man so resolute and consistent as Robert Bonner. 

 One of the gentlemen who accompanied Mr. Bon- 

 ner and myself to Hartford on that Tuesday in 

 October was General James F. Robinson, President 

 of the famous Kentucky Association, the oldest active 

 racing association in America, and he was one of the 

 timers. The wind blew a gale and those who were 

 without overcoats shivered even when standing in the 

 sunshine. Fast time was impossible under the circum- 

 stances, and when 2.i2f was hung out the critical on- 

 lookers felt that Maud S. had acquitted herself as well 

 as could be expected. The experiment showed that 



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