PAT SHANK 



(Published in "The American Sportsman," January S, l.v.il. 



In a fertile corner of Medina County, O., watered by 

 spring brooks and rich with sweet grapes that grow upon 

 the gently undulating country round about, where the air 

 is clear and bracing, a few miles from the romantic and 

 beautiful sheet of crystal water called Chippewa Lake, is 

 the little hamlet of Litchfield, and in Litchfield resides 

 "Pat" Shank. Perry O. Shank, about 1856, opened his 

 eyes within its borders, and tradition says his first thought 

 was horse. One of the youngest of a very large family, 

 the son of a country Baptist preacher, it is unnecessary 

 to say that the lad was brought up in the path he should 

 go as regards morals and taught to "hustle" in all his un- 

 dertakings. From a juvenile tobacco-grower, he developed 

 first into a country schoolmaster, then, following the path 

 of some older brothers, into a full-fledged trotting horse 

 man. The handsome farm, and tidy buildings thereon, 

 standing on the tax duplicate in his name, attest his 

 success in his chosen vocation. It is singular that the 

 ministerial profession and a love for horses go hand-in- 

 hand, but that this affinity exists there is no denying, and 

 a good preacher is almost invariably a good horseman. 

 In this case it must have been the results of the inevit- 

 able law of heredity — a cross in his pedigree — for of the 

 seven brothers personally known to the writer, everyone 

 are horsemen, and good horsemen at that. Not "horse 

 jockeys" in the general acceptation of the term, for they 

 are among the leading men in their community. 



