SIMMONS, STONER, AND THAYER 



ments at Oakland extended the fame of Kentucky 

 as a trotting-horse producing State. 



I remember a breakfast at Maplehurst Farm, 

 Lancaster, Mass., which was pleasant. I had taken 

 an early train from Boston with Mr. Albert C. 

 Hall, and had a good appetite when we passed 

 from the drawing-room to the cheerful breakfast- 

 room. Colonel John E. Thayer is one of the leading 

 citizens of New England, and at Lancaster he has 

 surrounded himself with all the evidences of culture. 

 The welcome of Mrs. Thayer, an accomplished 

 woman, was as cordial as that of her husband, and, 

 if she was not interested in the talk about horses, 

 she had the tact to conceal her feelings. John E. 

 Thayer was born in 1862, and spent most of his 

 time on the large farm at Lancaster until he went 

 to college. I quote from a letter written to me in 

 1896: 



" I was always fond of animals, especially dogs 

 and horses. I formed the Hillside Kennels in 1881 

 with my twin brother. They soon became well 

 known, as we won prizes all over the country. After 

 graduating from Harvard in 1885, I S ot more and 

 more interested in horses. The first trotter I owned 

 was Delightful, 2.33, by Daniel Lambert, dam by 

 imp. Consternation, but the one that was responsible 

 for my great interest in trotting was the little roan 

 mare, Dusty Miller. I first saw her at a county fair, 

 and fell in love with her, and bought her on the spot. 

 She won a lot of races for me, was second in a Grand 

 Circuit meeting at Springfield, and ended her career 



213 



