TROTTING TRACKS. 189 



But a truce to these reminiscences of boyhood's times 

 and trotting aspirations. Suffice it to say that, with Un- 

 cle Peter's assistance, we built a track of tan-bark, and 

 from that time Ashland's trotters were not short of work, 

 if they were deficient in Flora's 2 :i9% speed. But what 

 a great day it was for our country when my Nellie beat 

 the local star, Lucy, and trotted in just 3 103 ! Uncle Peter 

 came to his chain's length years ago ; the hair of most 

 of the lads is nearly as gray as his was then ; the wildest 

 one of the band is a minister; the swiftest runner is one 

 of the leading railroad magnates on the Pacific Coast; 

 the richest boy is working for "day's wages" in a mine 

 of the "stuff" he so lavishly squandered; the red-headed 

 boy, who read "Dick Turpin" and "Claude Duval" dur- 

 ing school hours, is a professional gambler; a number 

 have joined Uncle Peter, and, let us hope, are bearing 

 the endless golden chain of happiness ; and, as a fit apro- 

 pos, the only one who adopted the horse profession "for 

 a livin' " should have been the best boy. But I doubt 

 if I was above the average in this respect, and, were the 

 point left to the minister aforesaid, his decision would 

 have been a dead heat between him and me — for I am 

 that "only one." 



2 11934 is now only a jog for many of our flyers ; still 

 many of us are "hankering" after that jog. 



How to Build a Track. 



First get your land, then get a surveyor, would be 

 my prescription. Forty-nine acres for a mile, fourteen 

 acres for a half-mile track — but don't forget the sur- 

 veyor. This acreage is simply what is necessary for a 

 track having a homestretch sixty-five feet and a back- 

 stretch forty feet wide, and does not include the land 



