262 LIFE WITH THE TEOTTEES. 



t 



the ability that John has in what is called all-round driving 

 I am not prepared to say, but any horse that Jim has in hi» 

 stable will be as well trained and driven and will come as 

 near performing in a manner to get him the money as any 

 one I ever saw. His public record I think bears out all these 

 statements. 



The Yolunteer family of horses, with which the Gold- 

 smiths made their reputation, are famous. Mr. Alden Gold- 

 smith bought Volunteer years ago when the horse had na 

 reputation himself or as a sire of trotters'. He was at that 

 time one of the most stylish and finished animals I ever saw 

 and with a little training gave promise of speed of a high 

 order. The one trait in the Volunteers which gave them 

 more reputation than anything else was their extreme game- 

 ness, their ability to hang on until every other horse and 

 man had become tired, which has been proven, not only by 

 their races of mile heats, three in five, but also by their grand 

 performances in longer races, notably Huntress' three-mile 

 race where she beat the record of the world. I have never 

 seen a Volunteer act, under anything like favorable circum- 

 stances, as though he would show the white feather. When- 

 ever I see a horse' s pedigree with a Volunteer cross in it I 

 consider it a point in favor of the pedigree. 



The first time I saw Protection, the only thing about him 

 that I in the least admired was his pedigree. When they 

 informed me that he was by a well-bred son of Volunteer 

 and that his dam was said to be a thoroughbred mare I took 

 some interest in him. On further investigation I found that 

 he could trot a quarter in thirty -five seconds. After that he 

 showed a disposition to give it up, as it were, was liable to 

 break, act badly, and get distanced, the direct opposite of 

 what I expected to see in a Volunteer. I kept an eye on Pro- 

 tection and in two years from the first time I saw him induced 

 a friend of mine to buy him for $1,500, with the privilege of 

 training and trotting him whenever I wanted to. The fol- 

 lowing spring I sent for the horse, and, thinking that it may 

 be of some interest to my readers, will give them a general 



