FOUNDER OF HIS RACE 15 



to shy, not to kick and never to be taken by surprise. 

 He was happy and care-free then, for he did not have 

 to wear hard straps, called harness, nor draw heavy 

 loads, nor wear iron shoes ; and his bare, sensitive hoofs 

 soon learned to tell the difference between safe and dan- 

 gerous ground. His sense of smell was singularly acute 

 and standing close to his mother's side — that she might 

 better brush the flies from both, with her long, useful 

 tail — he learned to distinguish poisonous from whole- 

 some weeds. 



Master Whitman called him True Briton, 2d, for his 

 celebrated father, True Briton, but the double name was 

 soon shortened to the very appropriate one of "True." 

 And, for convenience, we shall speak of his mother as 

 Gipsey. 



Gipsey was one of those mothers, unknown to his- 

 tory, but to whose early influence her son possibly owed 

 much of his success in later life. Sometimes it was nec- 

 essary for her to reprove him; she nipped him sharply, 

 if he were playful at the wrong time, or kicked too 

 strongly in fun ; but she never had to admonish him 

 twice about anything on account of his remarkable mem- 

 ory. 



One day. when she had to correct him, and was con- 

 scious of having lost her temper, she neighed apolo- 

 getically. 



"Alas, my son, I am no better than a woman !" 



This was unjust, as True discovered later, for some 

 of the strongest friendships of his life were for women; 

 he found them ever generous with maple sugar and the 

 goodies for which he quickly learned to whinney at their 

 kitchen windows. They were more appreciative, too, 

 and did not expect him to perform miracles, as men did 

 who set him tasks that taxed every nerve and muscle. 



Early each morning Silas Whitman came to the barn- 



