70 JUSTIN MORGAN 



For this task Evans agreed to pay Morgan fifteen dol- 

 lars and to feed the horse. 



Evans, big chinned and grey eyed, was a lean and 

 sinewy frontiersman, poor and hard-working, with a 

 large family, and True knew, intuitively, that his days 

 of pleasant jaunting about the country under the saddle 

 were over. However, with that indomitable courage, 

 which characterizes his descendants to this day, he set 

 about the difficult task and by the first of June it was 

 finished, without help from any other horse. '^"' 



He never regretted this work for it developed his 

 chest and leg muscles early in life, muscles, the like of 

 which had not been known before in a horse of his 

 size. 



The setting of many of True's most interesting expe- 

 riences and exciting adventures at this period of his life, 

 was Chase's Mill. This busy spot was situated on the 

 wooded bank of the White River, as pretty a bit of 

 Vermont as one could find in a day's journey. The 

 river sparkled and laughed between green banks and 

 leaped merrily over the mill-wheel ; spruce and firs thrust 

 thirsty feet deep down in the water and reared tall heads 

 high into the upper air to catch the sun's rays; perfume 

 of wild flowers loaded the breeze; birds sang all day, 

 and white stemmed birches guarded the nearby forest 

 like soldiers standing in a row, straight and firm. 



Miller Qiase plied an honest trade in Medford rum 

 while the farmers waited for the wobbly stones to grind 

 their corn or the saws to saw their logs. Horses and 

 oxen grazed at hand, taking the opportunity to enjoy 

 the delicious grass growing so abundantly in the rich, 

 fertile valley. 



One day True chanced to remark upon this grass to 

 his friend Old Grey. 



* Morgan Horses, Linsley, page 136. 



