Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-06-22

These last performances, it is to be OBJ
served were made while in her teens, af-
ter she was deemed to have been worn
out.
They are not mentioned as very extra
ordinary performances, but as specimens
of the work expected from her. There
can hardly be doubt, that, at this period
of her life, there have been days when
she travelled over 100 miles. On holt
days and days of good seighing, which
are here on the Cape rather scarce, she
has always been in great demand. On
these last occasions. particularly, she
might be seen passing and repassing from
early in the morning till late at night, at
the top of her speed; and scarcely reach
ing the stable door, before a new party
would jump into the sleigh and off she
would go again.
She has been more times to Gloucester,
Salem, Boston, Essex, Ipswich, New
buryport, and | might specify most of
the towns all along shore, from Cape Cod
to the Kennebec. and has worn out more
carriages and less whip-cord than any
other horse ever owned in this region
She first showed her speed and bottom
on the road between Concord and Hop
kinton, before she was brought from the
country. There, in a general race of
pleasure parties, up a gradual ascent, a
mile long, known as Diamonds hill, she
passed, with three men in a wagon, thir-
teen carriages in succession, being the
hindermost at the foot of the hill. and
taking the lead of the party at the top.
And to prove that the old mare has "a
few more of the same sort left she
passed. a few months since, five stable
horses, on the road from Gloucester to
Rockport. Indeed, ! can say that she
has been left behind by no horse since |
have owned her. drive her without a
whip, and when a dashing stced comes
up on either side, and she hears the rat
Ting of another carriage, or the jingling
of an extra set of slcighbells, her indig-
nation always gives way to her disdaln,
as she shakes them off and relapses into
her regular trot. Her physiognomy, OF
late years, grows more striking by her
''loDg teeth which, whether they cut
anything else or not, are the first to cut
the air when she travels, must be familiar
to many of the stable keepers in Essex
county. She is now % years old; heI
eye is as bright as a hawks, her wind is
sound, her limbs are straight and smooth
and she still puts her foot to the grounC
with emphasis. From the time of hel
first appearance here, up to the present
hour, she has been equal to all demand,
made upon her. And it is only within
one or two years that she has been ia
vored at all in regard to long routes.
She has been one of the least eXpensiv,
horses to keep have ever known, being
an exceedingly small eater, and neve
costing cent for extra grooming, farri
cry, or any extra attention whatever
while the gross amount of her earnings
it is believed will surpass that of an
work horse in New England. Her mott
has been "always ready. no matter hoy
long her previous journey, or how re
Gently returned from it. Whenever
horse was called for at her stable, if tn
mare was in, she was forthcoming. Fo
the first ten years of her service, it wa
a common saying of her owners. "yo
-,
last half of her service, "you cannc
kill the old mare. She has been drive
by all classes of persons and borne a
kinds of treatment; stood out shiverins
after the hardest drives in the colde.
days of winter, and been covered wit
foam the hottest days of summer. AnC
after all, no one who has seen her whe
she has been out in my yard this wintt
and witnessed her gambols would |
surprised at the question of a member {
the committee on horses at the exhibitio
last fall, who saw her in one of the pen
"What colt is that
will only add that other horses ma
have lived longer, and gone faster an
farther than has the mare, whose chara
ter and performances are here sketcheC
but question whether one can be foun
that has endured such service for so Ion
a series of years, and can show so goo
a front, or trot a mile with her.
BENJAMIN HASKELL
Rockport, Feb. II, 1852.
THAT GOOD OLD MARE.
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