Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-01-18
JOSEPH BATTELL
Middleburv, VT.
THE VICTORY OF VERNON
written Tor the Middlebury Register.

Mark Flelu the MluuleDufN hEGlSIER
came to me as an exchange, and since,
from the effects of the depression OF the
horse industry, that pet of mine has
taken its departure along with many
other publications of the same class,
the REGISTER has continued to show It's
kindly face with uninterrupted regulari-
ty, and Is now, as in the better days that
passed, one of the most welcome and
cheering of all my Typographical friends.
| set a high value upon it for many
reasons, but especially because it is Il
live representative of that great Yankee
State which, small as it is in territory,
has, to a greater extent than any of its
sister commonwealth, seeded the whole
Northwest with the blood of the best
horses and the most profitable sheep
that have ever been propagated on this
side of the Alleghenies. The Morgans
have not only given us our grandest
roadsters, but have furnished the found
atlons of the very choicest of all our
trotting pedigrees, while the MerinCs
have made princes and barons OF the en-
terprising farmers of Wisconsin, Mime
sofa, Iowa and Northern Illinois.
The horse has, of course, out-traveled
the sheep, as he always does There
fore we find the descendants of tie Black
Hawks, the Morrils and Fearnaughts in
almost every section of the entire West,
North aid South; and so incompatible
was their popularity up to 1860 that but
for an accident they would to-day doubt
less be far in the lead numerically as
well as intrinsically. That accident was
the simple fact that Hambletonian hap
pened to be in the right place and in the
ownership of the right man to secure
the unlimited patronage of the Bach
mans, the Boomers and nearly all Others
of the weathiest and most influential of
the breeders and fancIers of New York.
As it was British gold that delayed
Gruchie and beat Bonaparte out of the
battle Of Waterloo, so it was Gotham
gold that stayed the progress of the
Morgans and beat Vermont Black Hawk
out of the first place among all trotting
progentors.
This most important fact, which has
entirely slipped the observation of the
West, was not realized even by Vermont
itself till within the last few years. And
it would seem that the very first proper
ly equipped and qualified Vermonter
who saw how the Green Mountain king
had been dethroned, and who saw the
only way in which that king could be
restored to his royal right was Joseph
Battell, of your own bright and ntellec-
tual city. With this gentleman to see
was to act; to feel the necessity of
movement was to put that movement on
foot. Without hesitation he opened
Morgan stud book, established a depart
ment in the MiddlcbuIy REGISTER,
threw himself into communication with
leading horsemen and leading horse
papers all over the continent, and boldly
announced his fixed determination to
gather from every quarter the scattered
remains of the long neglected Morgan
family, and to retrieve that historic tribe I
AiOi NiIC OUSCuIllN lDLO ]
which it was rapidly falling. He knew
the wilderness through which he had to
pass. He knew the mountainous obsta-
Giles which he had to surmount. He
knew the fierce hostility of the clans
that would be massed to dispute every
inch of his progress. But, with the
anOintment OF a Moses, the unwaverinO
faith of an Abraham. and the intrepid
valOr of "A Joshua, he went steadily for
ward, relying upon the inspiring Justice /
of his cause, and never doubling the .
ample sullicency of his own resources
The spectacle was grand thrilling. .
supremacy heroic. 1t was no less than
that of single man fighting his wav
step by step, first for that recognition
which enlists the confidence of the pub .
lie. and then for the ground which is .
required for the establishment of new
enterprise which is at war with ruling
interests and with an all-prevailing fash
ion. But out of this severest of all the
severe struggles known to the history
of the livestock ventures of America
came the invincble son of Vermont with
victory securely perched upon his ban
ners, and with a strong, well organized
following which, sweeping the CONT
nent from the Atlantic seabOard to the
Pacific slopes, and from the northern
line of the queens domnions to the
Southern spurs of the Cumberland noun
tains, assures, not only the ultimate res
toration of the great Morgan family, but
the progressive advancement of that
family to an historic position higher,
more commanding, and far more glorious
than it eyer occupied in all the days of
its brilliant past.
This is not said in flattery, but simply in
justice to Mr.. Battell, and in the hope of
adding a SOUR to that shirt of m ts1usiasn,