AND OTHER SKETCHES 221 



look on at a 2.10 or .12 clip, they did have some really 

 good sport in the days of Anld Lang Syne. I can travel 

 over forty years myself, and sometimes anchor alongside 

 a still older one and rejoice to hear him rnn the gamut of 

 past experiences and tell how they did things in the early 

 days. I met not long ago an ancient who told me all 

 about a forty-mile trot that took place on the old Don 

 race course in the year 1847. The old heads had for some 

 time been disputing as to who owned the likeliest horse, 

 and when one chimed in on his favorite, another would 

 talk back about his, and so it went on until the blood 

 warmed up to the pitch when "it's money talks" and no 

 other argument will fill the bill. 



In the year '47 long-distance trotting was the rage, and 

 Mr. C. E. Romaine, then known all over the continent as 

 "Young Canada," offered to bet a thousand dollars that 

 his mare. The Queen, could beat Mr. James Cotton's 

 horse, Jack on the Green, a straight trot of forty miles. 

 The Cottonites had blood in their eyes also, and the 

 result was a match for $2,000 over the Don track. From 

 the moment the match was made the feeling ran high and 

 the partizans of each gentleman kept the pot boiling right 

 straight along. Unfortunately for Mr. Romaine, about 

 three weeks before the appointed time, The Queen lamed 

 herself, and her party were down in the dumps. Her 

 plucky owner, however, succeeded in getting a postpone- 

 ment for ten days on condition that the full stake of 

 $1,000 a side be posted and the match made p. p. 



This was done, and as the mare got over her lameness 

 speculation again became brisk, a good deal of money be- 

 ing put up at evens. Three days before the eventful one 

 it commenced to rain and Jupiter Pluvius kept the 

 sprinkler going for thirty-six straight hours. As a con- 

 sequence the track on the inside was fetlock deep in mud 

 and it became necessary to trot clear on the outside to 

 keep away from the stickiness. As the horses were rung 

 up for the start, the most casual observer could not fail 

 to note the striking difference in the appearance of the 

 two performers. The mare was a scant fifteen hands, of 



