CHAPTER XV 



CHARIOT RACING IN CALIFORNIA 



IF one wishes to study some of the phases of 

 Greek or Roman history he could not do 

 better than study the remarkable revival of 

 chariot racing in Southern California. There 

 on the first of January every year thousands 

 gather in a large park and watch a typical 

 chariot race, carried out on the lines of old Rome 

 in every particular and detail. 



The chariot race has been seen in the circus 

 at Madison Square, where the inside wheel of 

 the vehicle is weighted down and the horses are 

 carefully trained and selected so that the 

 " beautiful lady " w r ill win. Chariots are also 

 cleverly shown in Ben Hur, racing against 

 the moving, endless road, a task so hopeless that 

 it can be compared only to the placid hen who 

 has faith and confidence in the glass egg upon 

 which she is sitting. These fade into insignifi- 

 cance before the contests seen in California, and 

 it is doubtful if even in the old days of the 

 chariot, either in Athens or Rome, one thousand 

 dollars went to the driver of the winning chariot 

 and five hundred to the second man, which sums 



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