FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



every place where they are possible, and in many 

 localities where they would seem impossible ; the 

 plain fact being that Americans, as a race, are not 

 enthusiastic sportsmen, and care little for outdoor 

 exercise for recreation's sake. This is of course 

 the thoroughly natural result of inheritance, en- 

 vironment, and tradition. Our children's chil- 

 dren, the descendants of all our latter-day polo 

 players, huntsmen, golfers, riders, drivers, yachts- 

 men, etc., may logically and probably prove the 

 most thorough and genuine sportsmen in the 

 world, but we are, most of us, too near as yet to 

 the counter, the desk, the office, the plough, pick, 

 and shovel of hard-working, frugal, determined 

 ancestors, whose pleasure was work, whose relax- 

 ation was preparing for more work, and whose 

 enthusiasm was all for the mighty dollar, its ac- 

 quirement, its husbandry, and its augmentation. 



What the Narragansett pacer was to the Provi- 

 dence Plantations, was imp. Diomed and his de^ 

 scendants to the Middle, the middle Southern, and 

 the middle Western States ; but the ambling pal- 

 freys of those days would find but little favor in 

 modern eyes, either in gaits or appearance. The 

 thoroughbred — the pure blood — was but little 

 used for riding, although his more or less direct 



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