198 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
“Tf a stranger entered his stall,” relates a former 
owner, “he would act as if he was going to kill him, 
.and yet he was perfectly kind. It was only his fun. 
Whenever a woman entered the stall, he would be 
extremely gentle. I used to let him loose in the 
stable, and he would come rushing, stamping up, 
showing his teeth and acting as if he meant to 
slaughter me on the spot. But when he reached me 
he would poke his nose in my face as pleasant as 
could be, and invite me to stroke him.” 
Altogether, Flying Eaton was a perfect cob, with 
speed and endurance such as very few cobs indeed 
possess. 
Within a few miles of the small town where Fly- 
ing Eaton was foaled, a stout little Morgan mare very 
much like the dam of Flying Eaton used to be driven 
by.a farmer’s boy. She also was a high stepper, and 
so courageous and ambitious that she never could 
be ‘persuaded or compelled to walk while in harness. 
The hills are very steep and long in that neighbor- 
hood, but she invariably surmounted them at a lively 
trot; and on the one or two occasions when a serious 
attempt was made to moderate her impetuosity, she re- 
sisted so strongly as to upset the vehicle in a ditch. 
This little mare became the mother of a very hand- 
some, high-stepping chestnut colt (his sire being the 
Eaton horse) which, though weighted with the name 
of Shepherd F. Knapp, made a reputation in this coun- 
try, in France, and in England. Mr. Burdett-Coutts 
speaks of him.as being “unsurpassed for pace and 
action,” and he conjectures that this horse derived his 
gait and style from the Norfolk trotter blood of Bell- 
founder. But this is a mistake; Knapp, as we have 
seen, had not a drop of that blood. 
