THE HIGHLY POLISHED GOLD 



BRICK. 



At the Cleveland Grand Circuit Meeting in 1899, in 

 one of the slow classes, appeared a rakish bay gelding 

 entered from "Old Missouri," but his name wasn't "Joe 

 Brown," nor yet "Brother Ike" of red hair renown. His 

 driver, name unknown, was of the innocent smiling con- 

 tingent; at the same time one whom a shrewd judge of 

 character wouldn't be apt "to collar" with a view to float- 

 ing a gold brick proposition. And his name (the horse's) 

 was Sagwa. Now his driver appeared like an industrious 

 "cuss," but somehow, at the finish, it was eyelashes apart 

 between the three front horses. He was about the most 

 indolent young man you ever met. The judges, seeking 

 the acquaintance of all meritorious fellow American citi- 

 zens — especially those from the sister colony of Missouri 

 — sent for the gentleman "all the way from Pike," and in- 

 troduced themselves to this wanderer and stranger on old 

 Erie's shores. He, appreciating the compliment, smiled, 

 showing his clean white teeth — gave them a thirty-year- 

 in-the-United States Senate-Thos. H. Benton conversa- 

 tion, and, well, there are authenticated cases where a 

 "novice" raised to an emergency, especially in a trotting 

 race, and the summary must tell whether "the gentleman 

 from Missouri" was "next" to his job. That was Sagwa's 

 only start in public. They do say though, that the gentle 

 denizens of the Buckeye State, especially that portion re- 

 siding in the territory originally known as the "Western 



