C. J. HAMLIN AND VILLAGE FARM 



stirred up his guest in order to get the freest ex- 

 pression of opinion from him. There were points 

 about shoeing which Mr. Bonner would not give 

 away unless when thoroughly aroused, and Mr. 

 Hamlin nagged him for the purpose of adding to his 

 own fund of knowledge. I often wish that a ste- 

 nographer could have been present to preserve this 

 striking of fire between two resolute flints, because 

 it certainly would have added to the entertainment 

 of thousands of readers. The Bonner and Hamlin 

 intellects were remarkably keen, and each man was 

 in truth the architect of his own fortune. 



Mambrino King was a dark chestnut horse, by 

 Mambrino Patchen, dam Belle Thornton by Edwin 

 Forrest, second dam Brown Kitty by Birmingham, 

 thoroughbred son of Stockholder by Archy, and he 

 was the idol of his breeder, Dr. L. Herr of Lexing- 

 ton, Ky. He was ten years old in 1882, and traveled 

 critics had pronounced him the handsomest horse 

 in the world. After his failure to buy Halcyon at 

 Louisville, Mr. Hamlin took the train for Lexington, 

 and, under date of April 18, 18.82, he wrote me: 



" My return to Lexington was for the purpose of 

 buying, if possible, Dr. Herr's Mambrino King, he 

 being, I believe, the grandest horse in existence. Cer- 

 tainly I have never looked upon his equal. To get 

 him I paid exactly what the doctor priced him at, 

 and it was a very large sum of money. My main 

 object in purchasing King is to cross him with mares 

 by Almont Jr. and vice versa, insuring me, I trust, 



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