106 GinSf, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



a yet further exertion was called for, and from the 

 effort a strain or injury was received which time 

 ultimately developed ; and thus the flower of the 

 stable, the hope of the owner, is thrown out of 

 work, ultimately to descend through the gradations 

 from pampered pet to over-wrought cab-horse. 

 True, it is not unfrequently the lot of man to 

 undergo the same vicissitudes of fortune ; but he 

 invariably has some hand in altering his position. 

 But the poor horse earns degradation through his 

 endeavor to serve a selfish master too well. 



The Americans are justly considered close observ- 

 ers and an essentially practical people, possessed 

 with that energy which has long characterized this 

 their mother people. From being originally thrown 

 in a new land, where every effort and resource had 

 to be employed to raise them to the standard of 

 older countries, constant required attention to all 

 the details of life, through numerous generations, 

 has made them what they are, inferior to none, and 

 far, far ahead of many European powers who can 

 date their existence back numerous centuries. At 

 an early age the inherent love of Englishmen for 

 horse-racing showed itself in America ; and as might 

 be expected, when the importation of thorough-bred 



