CHAPTER XXXVII. 



SWAPPING HORSES AND HORSE JOCKEY TRICKS. 

 Author's experience in trade — Brighton Market — Swapping with a minister 

 — Putting off for slight faults — My neighbor's horse trade — Getting 

 a fitty one. 



WHEN quite a young man, having much confidence in 

 my own knowledge of horses and in my ability to 

 handle them, and always having a great love for them, I con- 

 ceived the idea of " turning an honest penny " by engaging in 

 the risky and somewhat uncertain business of "swapping" 

 horses. 



I expect that if in my first trade I had been swindled out of 

 my horse entirely it would have been the best thing for me, 

 but, perhaps unluckily for me, my first four or five trades were 

 quite successful. I then thought myself on the sure road to 

 prosperity, especially so if I could bring my conscience to a 

 point wherein I could exaggerate just a little on the qualities 

 and value of my stock in trade. 



Of course I took it for granted that whatever others told 

 me of their horses could be relied upon ; I did not suppose peo- 

 ple would lie in a horse-trade any more than in any other busi- 

 ness transaction, and right here is where I got badly left ; for 

 now, after forty years in business of different kinds, I find many 

 whose word is not worth a picayune in trade when a lie will 

 make them a dollar, more or less ; yet I believe a man will 

 sooner lie in a horse-trade than any other. Why is this ? Is 

 there or should there be anything demoralizing about horses or 

 horse-dealing ? 



It has been said of all animals from man down to the low- 

 est, a woman and a horse are the most deceiving. Not know- 

 ing as much about women as horses I cannot exactly decide in 

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