158 THE HORSE 



origin, not in any observed preponderance of pre- 

 potency on the sire's side, but simply in the fact 

 that a mare could only perpetuate her qualities by 

 the slow process of single births, whereas a stal- 

 lion could be the father of a great number of foals 

 in a single year. 



But it is quality, not numbers, that counts ; the 

 man in the scriptural parable justly reckoned the 

 one pearl of great price more valuable than every- 

 thing else he possessed. Nature gives but spar- 

 ingly of her very best, in any event, and when it 

 was demontsrated by experience and cold, actual 

 dollars and cents that the single foal of a choice 

 mare was sometimes worth more than all the foals 

 in toto that his father ever produced from mares 

 less carefully selected, then brood-mares rose to 

 their true place of honor. The Arabs knew the 

 value of their mares hundreds of years ago, but 

 we often have to re-learn lessons which have been 

 thoroughly mastered at some time in the past. 



When Jay-Eye-See first trotted his mile in 2 :10 

 on the track at Providence, Rhode Island, his 

 speed was regarded as phenomenal and there was 

 naturally more or less discussion of the chances 

 of ultimately lowering the trotting record to two 

 minutes and the length of time it might take. As 

 a matter of fact it took nearly twenty years. 

 Whether this is a long time or not depends upon 



