Boston the King 243 



this time that some of the Northern track proprie- 

 tors seriously proposed to exclude him from run- 

 ning. The possibility was discussed of opening 

 their races to the world, bar Boston. 



That the sport might not be spoiled and the 

 public disappointed, the gentlemen who had con- 

 trol of the fortunes of Boston permitted stake 

 and private forfeits to go by rather than collect 

 them at the expense of the pleasure of the public. 

 He found enough to do, however, in Virginia, at 

 Washington, and in Georgia to bring a comfort- 

 able amount to the credit of his stable. And 

 then, at the age of seven years, after a racing 

 career that probably has no precedent in its 

 severity upon the constitution of a horse, he 

 went home to Petersburg, with legs as clean as 

 a hound's tooth, as sound as a dollar all over. 

 He had beaten every horse he could reach that 

 year and had challenged all other living ones. 



It seemed quite possible to Colonel Johnson, 

 who was looking after him, that Boston might 

 be the following year a horse without honor, 

 because there were no more honors for him to 

 gain. With that possibility confronting the 

 owners of the animal, Boston was put in the 

 stud the following spring, or in 1841, and forty- 



