"CHERRY AND BLACK" 



the station-agent explained that the Withers Stakes was 



the source of all the contention, the old gentleman rolled 



his eyes at the idea of a "horse race," and turned away, 



declaring men might put their time and money to better 



purpose. 



The spring had come, and with it came the bold 



George Kinney to Jerome Park, while from Rancocas 



each day brought tidings of the great work of Pizarro. 



Jerome Park, always picturesque, was 

 The Withers . j j r 



r oo never more so than now; dandelions span- 



of i88^ \ 



gled the long meadow where the bobolinks 

 were warbling; the Club-house "Bluff" was a picture 

 of rock and dell, the tall grass waving in the breeze 

 that swept from the south, and the blossoms of the 

 cherry and the peach, the apple and the violet, filled 

 the morning air with delicious perfume. 



No race for the Withers had attracted so much at- 

 tention since 1879, when Spendthrift met Harold. It 

 was one of those fashionable assemblages such as 

 marked the early history of Jerome Park when 



Fifth Avenue sends out, in satins arrayed, 



Its Junos and Venuses, matron and maid; 

 And from all Murray Hill (and the other hills, too) 



Come eyes that are hazel, brown, black, grey, and blue. 



All sorts of rumors were current, one that Matt 

 Byrnes had stolen out at 2 o'clock in the morning and 

 given Pizarro his trial by moonlight, under the im- 

 pression that Jerome Park slept; but there were several 



