LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEKS. 387 



around tlie track where he was to be shown, I told my friend 

 that one of two things was the case, and either the track 

 was not a mile, or the man was crazy, as Rarus in his 

 palmy days could not have trotted a mile over as poor a 

 track as that in 2:20. The gentleman brought his horse to 

 the track, warmed him up with as much flourish as though 

 the best record in the world was in danger, and came up 

 and got the word. We started our watches on him and he 

 ■finished the mile in 2: 39 J. As I do not want to jar the 

 feelings of my readers I wiU not record in this book the 

 sentiments I expressed at that time. 



I remember a man who in my younger days brought a 

 horse to New York to sell on a contract to show 2:45 with 

 him, and for every second he beat it, he was to receive one 

 hundred dollars over a stated price, and for every second he 

 fell short of that time he was to take oflE a hundred dollars 

 from the same price. When he showed the horse he went 

 a mile in three minutes, which, if the man had been com- 

 pelled to live up to the letter of the contract, would have 

 cost him five hundred dollars in money. 



After a gentleman has bought a horse the next thing is 

 the management of him. When you buy a piano and pay 

 four or five hundred dollars for it you carefully house it, 

 no one is allowed to play on it unless they are known to be 

 experts; you have it carefully examined at stated intervals 

 to see if it is in tune, etc. , and under such careful manage- 

 ment it lasts a long while. Horses, as a rule, are treated 

 very differently. A gentleman of wealth buys himself a 

 horse for which he pays a large price. Having perhaps 

 never having had the time or inclination, and never having 

 made any study of the horse family, he places him in charge 

 of some of the many men servants around the house, most 

 of whom are not employed on account of their ability as 

 first-class grooms, but for their usefulness in taking care of 

 the lawn and other duties about a gentleman' s place. With 

 this combination of driver and groom one would hardly ex- 

 pect any wonderful results in the way of speed. Taking it 



