TROTTING FAMILIES. 43 
Justin Morgan was no trotter, and not till the third 
or fourth generation did a trotter arise in his family, 
but he was distinguished in three ways, as a draught 
horse, as a short-distance runner, and as a military 
charger or parade horse. In his day there were no 
race-courses and no stated races in Vermont; but when 
the sporting element gathered at a tavern on a spring 
or summer evening, they were wont to amuse them- 
selves by running their horses on the level road in 
front of the tavern, the prize being a gallon of rum, 
and in these races Justin Morgan is said never to have 
been beaten. On the same occasions a contest would 
often be had in pulling logs ; and when the other horses 
concerned had done their best, it was the custom of 
Justin Morgan’s owner to hitch him to the heaviest 
log that had been stirred, then to jump on himself, 
and the little horse never failed to move the load. 
When ridden at a muster, his proud carriage made 
him the cynosure of all eyes; and he was so intelli- 
gent and tractable that women could ride him. In 
fine, Justin Morgan was an animal of extraordinary 
utility and style. To an extraordinary extent, also, 
he stamped his image and impressed his qualities upon 
his descendants. 
Unfortunate indeed is the American in whose ears 
those magie words, “Morgan horse,” awake no recol- 
lection, or not even a thrill of sympathetic interest. 
For nearly a century the Morgans have served the 
farmer, the stable-keeper, the minister, the country 
doctor, the mounted militiaman, and all other people 
who desired to travel quickly or to be carried hand- 
somely. Wonderful truly (and perhaps at times a 
little apocryphal) are the stories of Morgan intelli- 
