The record-union., 1892-09-10
LESSONS OF THE TURF.
Men Should Profit Through Life
From Some of Them.
What a Montana Clergyman Learned
by Attending a Modern
Racing Meeting.

The Rev. DIR. Rounder, Montana
clergyman, recently attended the races at
Butte, from which came the inspiration
OF the sermon which he delivered the fol-
lowing Sunday. He does not share the
views of many of his brethren, who de-
hgnt in launching anathemas at the turf,
but gathered valuable lesson from what
he saw and heard
Il must confess said the reverend
gentlemen, that J. did admire those
| horses. believe that many of them have
/ better blood-truer blood, houester blood
than the men who are driving them. The
only creatures on the track that you could
swear were absolutely on the square were
the horses themselves. They all tried to
win as hard as some of their drivers tried
not to win. If / were a horse and was
leading in race, and my master should
give me mean jerk of the reins to send
me off my feet, and let some contempt
IDLE scrub Of a horse go flying past me
/ and win, should send my heels through
the dashboard, and throw him heels over
head TO the ground.
The horse races are great deal like
humanlty'S race. | notice that all the
horses must enter the track by the same
gate, and whether they are fast or slow,
winners or losers, high-bred or mon
grelS, all must pass the same Judges
stand. All must be judged whether they
go past the grand stand amidst the shouts
that greet The winner, or the ieers that
proclaim the last horse in the race
Il notice that the finish shows the race
horse. 1t is not the horse which prances
and cayortS the liveliest at the startino
J most thar tho + -
Is not always the horse that wears the
| gold-plated harness. or has the finest an
ceStry, or the sleekeSt skin, or sells favor
/ tie i'll the pools, or that has the best bot
tom TOR long race. 1t is the finish that
! proves the race horse.
| The saddeSt spectacle on the race
| track IS the horse that breaks under the
wire. 1t Is the saddest thing in the hu-
| man race, too. After running the race of
! life faithfully and well, past the quarter
/ pole, down the back stretch and into the
| home stretch, alter resisting all the temp
/ tatlonS and judgements which WouId
draw one irom the path; after striving to
win the fight with all the energy of youth
and manhood; and then at last, when old
! age has come, when the fight is nearly
/ completed and the victory III sight, to tail
/ at the last moment and break under the
| wire. II is the saddest spectacle in life!
! a horse breaking at the finish is like a
/ lILclil W IlO HIS DIllt al fortune DV wears OF
| hard ana earnest labor, and then lost il in
his old age by one bad speculation: or
! like man who has lived moral life and
! gained the respect of the world. to lose it
! by a false step after his head is crowned
with silver.
II notice that no horse can live to-day
on the victory of yesterday. A horse
may make the grandest race on record.
! He may win for his master and for his
friends bushels of money and receive the
applause, the adulation OF the grand
stand full of people. But when he races
again tomorrow he must win again or
| the people will all turn against him. II
| he falls he receives the eXecrations of the
same people who yesterday applauded
him, but in proportion to two jeers for
| one cheer. You cannot live tomorrow
| on the record you make to-day, or to-day
on the record you made yesterday. Life
! must be one constant striving.
1T is the horse that draws the crowd
and makes the money, but it is not the
! horse that gets the money. The hardest
workers in the world seldom get the bulk
| of the reward. The horse does the work.
his master gets the money. If the purses
are increased, or if the entrance money is
reduced, the master gets all the benefit.
! There is no increase in the wages or de-
| crease in the work for the horse, how
| ever the value of his services to his en-
| pl0yer may be increased. 1t is like
some other kinds of protection l have
| heard of.
"'Score with the pole horser There
are good many false starts in life be-
cause men won't do that The soldier
wants to be q Captain before he has be-
be fioor-walker before he has learned to
sell goods successfully. A good mechanic
thinks how much better foreman he
would make than the man who is over
him, and spends the time in criticising
him that he should spend in learning the
details of his trade.
81 notice that many races are lost be-
cause a trotting horse tries to run. or a
pacing horse changes his gait into trot,
1t is like a good blacksmith who spoils
himself by becoming a poor merchant: or
the good miner who becomes a contempt
IDLE lawyer, or thinks he would make a
successful Congressman. 1t is a wise
man that sticks to his own sphere-who
finds his natural gait and keeps it.
doubtless there are lots of horses that
| look over the palings into the track and
watch the races who feel that they could
go faster than the high-bred, conceited
horses entered for the trot But thew
never had an opportunity to show what
they could do on race track They
were not trained for race horses, although
they feel that they have it in them. They
are only road horses, or pillow horses.
or they draw delivery carts. They never
hear the plaudits from the grand stand.
They never pass the judges stand in a
neck andneck race. They never run for
office. They do the work they have to
do faithfully and we'll, known only to
their neighbors and their fellow work
men. These honest, faithful men who
stick to the work they have to do, and do
| it well, are the men who make the nation
and preserve it. If all men were LAWYERS
or politicians the country wouldn't last
very long. If all horses were race horses,
horse flesh would be a drug on the
market. My brethren, learn from my