The Last Race of Lexington 305 



gentlemen living in the South who refer to the 

 time " when we came back from New Orleans 

 with a boatload of money." That very river life 

 itself on the great Mississippi steamers that left 

 the Crescent City to bring the sportsmen north- 

 ward with their bags of gold is a story in itself. 



The name of Lexington was handled with 

 scarcely less deference than that of the Deity. 

 All over the sunny South went the word " Lex- 

 ington." Far up into the North, even into parts 

 where the race-horse was not known, travelled the 

 word " Lexington." There came a day when any 

 little child of America could have told you the 

 story of Lexington. And the time is not yet past 

 when that name is synonymous with everything 

 that is greatest in a horse. Lexington belonged 

 not alone to the turfmen. He was the heritage 

 of the nation. He was Lexington in the minds 

 of the people, and after him there were merely 

 other horses. 



That he was a greater race-horse than his sire 

 perhaps the records may not prove. Much dis- 

 cussion has there been on that particular subject. 

 Lexington's campaign was so short that, as a 

 whalebone animal of almost impossible endur- 

 ance, Boston is away above him. Yet, measured 



