Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-08-18
IN DOUBLE HARNESS.
From the Horseman

From the Horseman.
The ideal American driving equpage
is the fast and pertectly-matched team of
trotters harnessed in neat and perfectly
lifting American harness to the American
road wagon, built at once for beauty and
utility, combining, like the horses. with
strength the litheness and equality" that
are essential to speed, The beauty that
distinguishes such Il rig, from the per-
fectly-gaited horses and the eXqustely
wrought harness to the substantial but
airy vehicle. is the beauty of practical
utility, IN such an outfit there is nothing
4 useless, nothing merely Of cumbersome
and vain show, but every ounce and
every inch has its use. How on the
plane of practical common-sense may
we contrast such a road outfit with the
+ awkward and numbering "drags" and
carts" the laboring, perpendicuarly
gated horses, and above all the prepos-
, ferrous harness and clanking chains and
ftfappngs-wi the inevitable liveried
! funky-with which the devotees of for-
eign fashion swarm the boulevards of
our great American cities in these latter
days: In theeyes of the typical Ameri-
can citizen the one thing is handsome be-
cause it has practical beauty. because it
is perfectly adapted for its proper use.
and because it reflects notable American
everyday cOmmOn-sense. To him the
other is a fantastic travesty, an awkward
and impractical thing of angling and
tinsel pectacle-something that might
have strayed either from Forepaugh
parade or London lord mayors show.
Tine beauty, utility and luxury of the
American fast road team have long been
recognized by men of prominence. wealth
and culture in our great cities-but more
particularly in the East, and especially in
New York, where the friendly rivalries
of the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the
Works, the Boomers, ct al, in the owner
ship of fast trotting pairs, have been of
inestimable benefit to the development
and advancement in favor of the trotter.
Among the wealthy citizens of the East
ern section who have evinced enthusiasm,
liberality and taste in this direction
figures Hon. Charles NJ. Reed of Erie, Pa,
who fills the place in relation to the trot-
ting horse in that city that was occupied
by the late Hon. w. l.. Scott relative to
the thoroughbred. Mr. Reed owned the
black Peacemaker gelding Midnight,
2:lSi, during his racing career, when as
five and siX-year-old, driven by John
Shillinglaw-both new to the grand
circuit-he was one of the cracks of the
big route. Mr.. Reed sold his campaign
err to j. d. Rockefeller, his penchant al
ways being rather for fine and fast teams.
He mated Tony Newell. 2:l94. and Tele-
phone, 2:2l4 on that road: and. later, the
subjects of our admirable Illustration, the
fast team Evangeline and Lunette, which
: were recently driven from Girard, Pa, to
: Erie, Pa, a distance of sixteen and seven
twelfths miles, in 49I minutes. \ stand
ing start was made at Girard at } 30 a.
m, and at 6;l94 a. IN. they Were in Mr..
Reeds barn at Erie, and the drive was
over road in poor condition and not at
all free from hills. Our hackney friends,
who doubt the utility of the trotter as a
Journey horse, and who affect to believe
that the hackney might compete with the
trotter over long distance of country,
will perhaps appreciate this sort of road
capacity. The mare Evangeline, Is hand
somely-turned brown mare, by Elevator,
son of Hambletonian, out of Valdue, by
Valline, the second dam being an Ericsson
mare. Under the name of Ella MCGEE
Evangeine took a record of , ;29i in 1892
Her companion, Lunette, is brown
= daughter of that handsome horse The
a King (son of George Wilkes, out of a
e daughter of Norman d., and with a
maternal pedigree on close thorough
= records at Pattie More, ? 80. These mares
q (Which were mated by Budd Doble) are
< perfectly matched in color, gait and sizt,
: and make pair that we may fifty portray
z as representative of the highc class Amer
t can road team--a type of horse, by the
y way, worthy of all encouragement and
= patronage by our wealthy citizens who
7 relish the health and the pleasure of fast
: road riding. and atype for the production
: of which the shrewd breeder may strive
with sure profit. Beauty and speed