Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-05-18
THE MORGAN ROADSTER.

When the doctors gig, the minister's
and lawyers chaise and the farmers
wagon came into use, superseding horse
back travel, it was found that Morgan
horses could 90 faster and farther and
oftener than any horses known IN the
land, and ready and remunerative sale
for them was found at Boston and the
villages round about. Their fame
spread as early as A. d. 1918 Morgan
stallion was taken to Ontario, New
York, and A. ID. 1922 another was added.
From the inbred descendants of these
two came the mare that, bred to Henry
Clay, produced George Wilkes.
The Morgans were small horses.
Grant had not as many inches as Robert
E. Lee, but he made him lay down the
prize of battle. Corbett did not carry
as much avoirdupois as John l.. Sullivan,
yet he put him to sleep in a battle with
fists. If the liveryman of Massachusetts
wanted to increase his stock, he went
to the foothills of the Ascutnev mount
ain and got what he wanted, always the
same enduring horse. If the Boston
merchant wanted a span for carriage, he
sent to Zach Parker of Ludlow, Wind
sor county, and got two horses that
could stand the cobblestone pavements
for twenty years. The schedule time
from Keene, n. H., to Boston of the four
and six-horse Concord stage coach with
the twelve inside and six outside passen-
gers, baggage for the lot strapped on
the rack behind and the United States
mail under the drivers seat, as driven by
Hiram Hodgkins, Josiah Whitcomb, old
Nicholas and Gardner Hall was ten miles
per hour, including stoppages,- and these
Morgan roadster horses averaged less
than $50 pounds. The stated load of
Josiah Goodel, from Boston to Brattle-
boro, for his eight horse teams, was a
ton to a horse. beside the wagon; if ne
cesstated, the load was made ten tons,
when yoke of oxen would be hired to
help over Ashburnam sand and up the
team horses averaged less than 1850
pounds and put in a quarter of century
of hard work, eating less than half
IA bushel of oats per day.
Courage! Strength. These Morgans
had courage like to that of Jubal Early
and the strength to win of the quality
possessed by Phil Sheridan. The Nor
gans had not extreme speed, but they
had endurance that lasted day after day.
They knew not the "bike nor the kite
but they went down and up with a sure
step the stony, rough paths on their
native hills. Their "Air Drinkers
blood. made positive by inbreeding,
mingling with the blood of the Anglo
Arab, Messenger, and with that of the
Tripolitan Barb and Grand Bashaw,
made extreme speed in the llght-harness
horse in 1898. Witness Saladin, the
brother of Stamboul and Ayres p,
grandson of Clay Pilot, at kirkwood,
Del, July 4, , :053, 2:034.
Home surroundings of horses, as with
men, have an influence on succeeding
generations. The home surroundings in
Vermont of the parentage of Chief JUS
tice Luther S. Dixon, Senator Matthew
Hale Carpenter in Vermont, President
James A. Garfield and Secretary Jere-
mah NJ. Rusk in Ohio were not Mandy
pamby. So the hard work of the Nor.
gan horses done on hill and mountain
side strengthened their courage, broad
ened their bodies, hardened their bone
and muscle, but it shortened their stride
and when the railroads came to New
England, and the horses for long day
and week drives with power to repeat the
effort were no longer demanded, fashion
called for taller, more toppy horses fol
the covered buggy and the barouche
About this time the county fair associa
tions began to build round tracks on leve
irons make horse-races, and it was founc
that the shortened step of the Morgan
made him unable to successfully com
pete in such contests of speed with the
Messenger from Long Island and thu
Bashaw Clays from central New York
In these same days came the Thurstor
horse to western Vermont, who, mated
with the grandaughters of Messenger
from Justin Morgan, soon established ;
breed that claimed rivalry at the fair
and in the villages with the new Morgan
family. GEORGE f. BRYANT.
Madison, Wis.
IMPORTED BELLFOUNOER