Reminiscences. 205 



" American Deer," and many another bygone 

 celebrity of the cinder path. It was not very 

 difficult to persuade him to take me with him 

 on most of these occasions, and I then ac- 

 quired a taste for running which resulted in 

 the accumulation of a certain number of silver 

 cups in later years. Needless to say my 

 father always took the keenest interest in my 

 performances. At the time that he was 

 dying, I had won a certain challenge cup 

 for two years in succession, and only one 

 more victory was needed to make it my 

 own property. He knew that he could not 

 possibly live until the day fixed for the 

 race, and his latest command was that I 

 was on no account to resign the cup, under 

 the idea of paying respect to his memory, by 

 not running in public so soon after his death, 

 but that I was to run and win. I ran, as he 

 ordered, and, under the circumstances, I don't 

 think I could have been beaten on that day. 

 Fancy a man in such a state of suffering 

 having a thought to spare for such a trivial 

 matter, though nothing which interested any 

 of his children was ever trivial with him ; 

 but it was so with my father all through his 



