St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-07
FLOODED HORSES.
What Kentucky Men, Women and Children
Think Of Them.
Anecdotes of Famous Blue-Grass Equines
---Gen. Grants Apt Reply.
Louisville Correspondence.

arrangement to consult a man only on horses,
or on books, or on steam, and, whenever
he appears, considerably to turn the con-
versation to the bantling he is known to
fondle." like to hear people talk about
that which they best understand, and, nat
urally, that is apt to be the subject which
they have nearest at heart and have most
thoroughly studied. So when you want to
talk "horse" look up Kentuckian and you
will find your time will not be wasted.
In spite of the rage that the whole state
got into when Gath wrote The First Citizen
OF Kentucky is a horse, it is very near the
truth. If one understands ssfrst" to mean
that which is generally considered the most
important.
Almost every child you meet in the Blue
Grass country can tell you about Lon gfellow,
Ten Brock or Tom Bowling, while great
many of them DO not know the name of the
governor of Kentucky. They know that Ten
Brock at four years old ran three miles in
5:261s and four miles in 7:15M, and at five
years old ran two miles in 3:274, far better
| than they know the church catechism. They
can even tell you the very year and day of
the month when these great feats were ac-
complished.
| Few are the Kentuckians who can describe
| to you the sad death of the lamented McWhir-
| ter, who ran his two miles in $3.50, without a
| touching lowering of the voice and a suspi-
cious moisture a ut the eyes.
| After a visit to one of the great stock
| farms one can appreciate this enthusiasm.
| Indian Hill, the beautiful stock farm of
MIR. T. Veech, is quite near Louisville, and
very numerous are the visitors to it during a
year. The celebrated trotter Trinket hailed
from here, you know. Last year, at his
spring sale, Mr.. Veech sold beautiful little
three-year-flly, Femme Sole, for 5000.
Even Richard Ill, who offered kingdom
for horse, would be surprised, think, at
the prices that are paid for some of them
in these days. The colts at Indian Hill
| are looking none the worse for the long,
cold winter, except one poor little fellow who
slipped on the ice as he came out of
his stable one morning. Even should he re-
cover entirely from his lameness you may
be sure Mr.. Veech will tell all about the acct
dent when he is offered for sale. Last spriD o
| at the sale colt was put up and sold while
Mr.. Veech was engaged elsewhere. He ar
| rived just as the horse was knocked down to
the highest bidder. He stopped the auction
eer and told him to state that the horse had
| | cen hurt while a colt, and although in his
| opinion it did not injure the horse, still he
wished attention called to the scar and then
the horse could be resold. This
was done and Mr.. Veech lost 500
| by his candor. Some time ago Mr..
| Thorpe, Louisville merchant, bought colt
! from Indian hill and afterwards laughingly
! told Mr.. Veech that the horse had disap-
! pointed him greatly. Whereupon Mr. Veech
| gave him the best colt he had that year. This
colt is now the promising horse Greenlander,
that trotted in Chicago last year.
CHILD's QUERY.
These horsemen seem to know and love
their horses as man does his children. One
| morning one Of them missed fine young
mare which had been grazing in field with
eighty others. Search was made far and
near for days, but she was nowhere
to be found. At last noise was
heard in stable that had not
been used for some time, and on examina-
ton she was found in between the floor and
the ground. What she went in for and how
she ever got in have remained a mystery to
this day. The space was so small that the
floor had to be taken up to get her out. One
of the most beautiful sights | ever saw was
the show of fine horses at the Louisville Fair
grounds several years ago. The "Presbyter-
ian race-track," as it was laughingly called
by the wicked ones of Louisville. was very
much amused by little 6-year-old girl who
sat near me. Her mother was telling her
about the horses, their names, etc. ''That is
Harold" she said, pointing to a group
standing near, ''the father of Maud s; that
ugly white mare is Miss Russell, the mother
of Maud s, and the little colt is Lord Russell,
Maud SIS little brother" The child was
deeply interested, being Kentucky-born, and
after thinking for some time she asked her
mother in the most puzzled way: ''If Miss
Russell is the mother of Maud s, why is she
called Miss Russell-why don't they call her
Mrs. re-"
Last year they had a number of the great
stations at the Louisville exposition. They
were in stalls in an annex attended by a
crowd of adoring trainers and stable-boys,
but Mr. Harper was himself in
Longfellow's stall, you may be
sure. Some luckless man had brought
| a splendid Louisiana horse, Louis Napoleon,
| to show, and great seemed his chagriu that
the partisan Kentuckians could scarcely
spare glance as they hurried nv his stall to
reach those of their beloved Longfellow, Ten
Brock, King Alfonso and Springbok. AS
] we stood by King Alfonso the old colored
man in charge invited us to come nearer, as
surfing us he was 'as gentle as a lamb" One
man, deceived by the mans words and the
| horse's looks, walked forward to pat him,
whereupon his majesty bit at him and al
most caught his hand. / reproachcd the man
| for telling such stories, when he said, 'La,
| he would not hurt Anybody, he was only
nipping at him in play" /, however, kept
at safe distance, as l made up my mind, If
| was killed, II would not make any differ
ence to me whether had been maliciously
bitten or playfully nipped to death. These
stable boys have the most wonderful memo
ries for the names, ETC., of all the horses on
| the places / asked one of Mr.. Harper's
| bows what had become of little mare, Salle
NJ, that had been named some years ago for
a friend of mine. He quickly answered:
eyes, know the mare you speak of, she is
not dead, she was by Longfellow, dam
Platina She was considered very speedy,
but she went lame, and now she has q very
promising colt by her side.n
GEN. GRANTS REPLY.
The Kentucky women are as enthusiastic
about horses as the men. They unhesitat-
| ingly place the horses before themselves as
the great attractions of the state. / remem-
Der hearing conversation between Gen.
Grant and Kentucky girl at the st. Louis
Merchants exchange in 1875, when Gen.
then president) Grant was visiting the st.
/ Louis fair. A number of ladies were intro
duced to the president, whereupon he spoke
in very high terms of St. Louis, the fair, etc.
''You are mistaken, Mr.. President: we are
not from st. Louis" laughiDgly said one Of
the girls; ''we are from Kentucky, very
fine state, you know, which possesses three
things all men of taste must appreciate"
Smilingly, the president asked her what
| 81 $50 Che answered ssTa have the