JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 9 



to my father in regard to raising mules, said to him, 

 the finer the mare the finer the mule. The same will 

 also apply to the jack. 



Some time in the thirties my father went to Bruns- 

 wick County, Virginia, and purchased a very fine black 

 jack with white nose and belly. He was said to have 

 been the third descendant of the Royal Gift to Gen. 

 George Washington after the Revolutionary War. I 

 have made reference to the Royal Gift in my essay on 

 ''Reminiscences," written in the American Jack Stock 

 Stud Book, giving a history of the early breeders of 

 jacks and jennets as well as all of the importations 

 made in the United States except the last, which was 

 made by my son, James M. Knight (who lives at 

 Murfreesboro, Tenn., and made the last importation 

 in 1893). I have requested him and my son, William 

 E. Knight, who resides at Nashville, Tenn., and who 

 has made three trips to Europe to purchase jacks and 

 jennets, to write a history of their travels and pur- 

 chases for this book. They are both engaged in 

 handling that stock at their respective homes, Mur- 

 freesboro and Nashville. Their sale stables are easy 

 of access at their places of abode. They both made 

 a trip to Europe with Mr. Roth, who was a native 

 of Hungary, and who could speak a number of lan- 

 guages. When he was with either of them no inter- 

 preter was needed. I heard J. M. Knight say he 

 never knew Mr. Roth to meet a man on land or sea 

 with whom he could not converse. I think he told 

 me he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean about thirty- 

 five times and had traveled over various parts of 

 Europe. It has been the custom of most of the Ameri- 

 cans that have gone to Spain, France or Italy to pur- 



